Gryphon Travel

The thing about Berlin foods is that they really aren’t German. That’s one of the things that makes it a great foodie destination, many different foods from all around the world.

When you ask locals what’s good around here the first response is almost always a kebab place. The basic influence here is a huge influx of Turkish immigrants who found jobs as laborers to help rebuild the city after WW2. They serve it many different ways, like a shawarma, or a gyro, but the one we had today, the best in the city, Mustafa Demir’s Gemüse Kebap, was served on a perfectly toasted bun. It was very good.

The spätzle was essentially a macaroni and cheese but using fresh egg pasta (the same pasta David makes with his Hungarian dishes, which they call Nokedli) and better cheese. Then topped with crispy onions. It was delicious and I would like to try to recreate it at home. The flammkuchen was like a thin crust pizza, but with a rich white sauce.

The currywurst was nothing like what I expected. It was a fried bratwurst covered in a homemade ketchup (that doesn’t do it justice. I hate ketchup! this wasn’t that) with curry power on top. This was created from Indian flavors brought by the English soldiers after WW2 that were stationed in Berlin. It wasn’t served with any bread, just cut up, doused in sauce, and eat it with a fork. The line at Curry 61, where we were able to skip the line and get ours first was down the block. This was David’s favorite bite.

We finished the day with a donut and a pilsner beer. The donut was probably my favorite bite. I love a good donut.

Later, for dinner we went to a place called Upper Room Burger near the Zoo. We had ribs, a cheeseburger with Wasabi mayo, and truffle fries. We were a little worried about getting American food in Germany, but the reviews were solid and it sounded good so we did it. It was the right decision everything was great, but the truffle fries were outstanding. Must recreate this at home.