Thursday 13 April 2017 at 03:07 with ≡
Back in winter, I finally made the trip down to Berlin to visit a friend! After talking about it ever since we figured we would finally be in the same continent, and after failing to meet in London, I decided to go over during Christmas break (even though she was still studying) because Christmas seemed like the perfect time to visit Berlin <3
Be forewarned - this is going to be a very photoheavy post, and also is probably not an ideal guide if you're into a lot of German / bavarian food. For starters Berlin isn't known for bavarian cuisine and dishes like pork knuckle (they have their own way of cooking this!) and schnitzels did not originate from here! And also because I was going to Prague and Vienna next so it made more sense to eat those kinda stuff there. But rest assured the food I ate was still good and I still would recommend!
Crashing in my friend's hall saved me lots of money, but because of its location (nearer to Schonefeld Airport) meant that I had to take the S-bahn into town everyday. But either way a daily travel pass is just 7 euros which meant I didn't have to walk everywhere, which was great!
First stop was Mustafas Gemuse Doner Kebap at Mehringdamm! This is THE kebap place that everyone talks about and it actually really lived up to the hype.
Like I am still thinking about this kebap sigh. Totally worth my monies because it was bigger than I expected and came with both chicken and roasted veg. Roasted veg in a kebap is pretty much best shit ever and also what ever mysterious sauce they have thrown in has won my heart. Also the bread/pita was yum. Now I'm mega hungry just looking at it.
Fritz-kola the symbol of friendship, also known as Better Coke. Ok I made that all up but it's totes true.
On the same road as mustafas is a branch of Curry 36! I thought I would be able to eat both in a morning, but the kebap was really bigger than I thought sobs. But Curry 36 is also one of The Places to go for currywurst
Walked to Veganz nearby which is a vegan supermarket! Berlin is really vegan friendly and there are a lot of vegan places + most places have vegan options! Got sissy a couple of snacks from Veganz which is pretty big for a purely vegan supermarket!
hello, Christmas markets. My raison d'etre except its the reason that I was in Berlin not the reason I live haha. This was at Potsdamer Platz which was apparently one of the larger ones and has a TYRE RING SLIDE but I was there in the afternoon and either it was much less impressive irl or I was clearly there at the wrong time
got myself some quarkballchen & apfel rings, which are deep fried dough balls made with quark which is kinda like cheese but much lighter! So it was a lighter and fluffier kinda dough balls which were pretty nice! The apple rings were just sad because they were soggy and cold sobs.
memorial to the murdered jews of europe. Honestly so moving to be there and walk through it - the different heights and unlevel ground also mimics the feeling of falling and being lost, which makes it so meaningful and not instagrammable
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| brandenburg gate |
chocolate!! At the rittersport shop where there is so much flavours it is beautiful. They also do this really cool thing were they have test flavours that go at a cheaper price! If they are well received then they end up being on the shelves later and it's totally cool because you get to try a funky new flavour before it ever hits the shelves + save money!! & they actually taste good I had some nut flavour which was yumz (:
being the ultimate azn we ending up at Arirang for dinner because I was kinda craving Korean food and it was obviously cheaper than what I can get in London! This street has a WHOLE TON of asian food (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai etc) and just goes to show what a multicultural city Berlin is (:
When a Korean restaurant serves free flow banchan it already wins my heart <3
Day Two: begins with hipster brunch because this is hipster Berlin! It was between Roamers and SILO but we ended up at Roamers which was truly hipster because it was such a little place on a little street in the middle of literally nowhere but was also so crowded there was a queue at 11ish on a weekday!
Really small interior that is also gorgeous with the amount of random trinkets they had on the shelves and the plants that were everywhere!
highly instagrammable french toast hehe (: also tasted pretty good with the lovely homemade granola that had candied nuts iirc! when brunch is both cheap and good my day is MADE
gorgeous looking cakes (cheesecake and carrot cake) that I really wanted but couldn't finish on my own and unfortunately I had a lactose-intolerant friend ):
I thought I was full but apparently not because next stop: burgermeister! Which is such an institution in Berlin that we had to try it anyway. I love how it's literally in between roads under a bridge. This was the cheeseburger I think? With chilli fries which were like some real thick chips
pretty good! not mindblowing life changing good but good burger good
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| Berlin's iconic East Side Gallery |
Yet another Christmas market! This is Gendarmenmarkt which has a 1 euro entry free, but is totally worth a visit because it was my favourite of the trip (:
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| these cheese balls smelt amazingggg |
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| getting some gluhwein because I wanted to keep the cup hehe |
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| currywurst |
We ended up hitting up the Christmas Market at Alexanderplatz as well, which is lovely because there are so many in the area and they are all pretty huge! The food and stalls are pretty much the same everywhere, but the feeling of Christmas is just so amazing to just walk around soaking in the atmosphere
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| couldn't wait to go to Prague to get my trdelnik fix |
Day Three: while L was off at school I went to get myself some breakfast/brunch! Ended up at KAME which is a Japanese bakery/cafe which was so cute I really did want to eat everything (esp Japanese bread I am a sucker for Japanese bread)
My matcha latte that was served in a bowl and I had to sweeten myself
the main reason I was there - for the onigirazu!! Which is the best cross between sushi and sandwich and should really be more common everywhere considering it's not even that hard to make but looks and tastes so yummoz
Met up w L for lunch at Chen Che Teehaus which does Vietnamese food! Clearly beyond Christmas Markets I've really just been feeding on Asian cuisine, but if you weren't into so much Asian cuisine then I'd say go with Chen Che because it is not only good it's really different from regularly Viet places that just do pho & banhmi and other regular dishes. Plus the place is gorgeous in this little garden and has lovely lantern decor. (it is, however, slightly more expensive than other places, but by expensive I only mean mid-range so it's still worth it!)
L was raving about this and she rarely even raves about food so this had to be good - sticky rice with chicken and other funky vegetables - I can't remember what it was exactly but this was AMAZING. just. go. get. it.
I had some noodle dish which was not too bad BUT
L got the bun rieu (rice noodle soup) which was clearly the better choice! I really like the rich broth here
in case anyone wants to know exactly what we got because I obviously don't remember the names of the dishes (oops) (p.s. after this we ended up going to get some bubble tea. this is the most asian I've been on any holiday)
ventured far far out into ulu Berlin to get to this bakery because I really wanted nussecker or this nut corner thing (because nut + chocolate who doesn't want it) but they ended up not having it! or not understanding either way I didn't get that but ended up which a bunch of other pastries I brought back for housemate M, which were all pretty good! apart from being crushed and one of them had whipped cream which I didn't particularly like
last stop: Markthalle Neun for dinner! This was a really nice space of an indoor food market that reminds me of basically all the food markets I find around Europe HAHA but it has the hippie Berlin vibe yay
asian people need their asian food so we got some buns
wanted to get some donuts back so bad but rmb I alr bought pastries so I exercised some self restraint
got myself a naanwich! Which was not too bad but had so much sauce it was such messy eating. As if that is something to complain about.
cheap and good gelato to end my meal and my time in Berlin
honestly Berlin is a city I could see myself potentially living in, and I feel oddly at home with people speaking German around me (I don't even speak German) so till next time, Berlin
Labels: berlin, december2016, travel, travelogue
