We tried the most ICONIC FOODS & DRINKS of BERLIN, GERMANY! 🇩🇪 - (German FOOD TOUR)

It's like delicious sweet mouthwash. I wish my mom would have made this. Best kebabs ever. Hello everybody and welcome to another video. Today we are going to eat our way through Berlin, Germany. When you think of German food you probably don't think of Berlin but I'm from here. I was born and bred in Berlin and let me tell you there's some really good food here and there's also some dishes that originated in this region. So in this video we're going to show you some of the must-try things you have to eat when you come to Berlin. So let's eat. If you go on a food tour in Berlin of course you have to eat currywurst and we decided to start with it. This is a wurst or sausage topped with ketchup and curry powder and apparently this was invented in 1949 by a woman called Hertha Heuwer. I think she had a stand in Charlottenburg and I read that she got some spices and ketchup and Worcestershire sauce from British soldiers and kind of created this dish. Apparently the one that's popular in Berlin or was popular for many many years is the one without intestines so ohne Darm. You can also get it with intestines but I think there was a period of time where animal intestines were kind of rare scarce so like they couldn't get it so that's how this became popular. When I was a kid I would always eat the one without intestines. I don't know I think my mom thought we would think it's gross. I think today it's mostly popular with intestines. So let's try this. Let's see if it still tastes like my childhood. Tastes delicious. The ketchup is kind of sweet. It tastes really tomatoey kind of like a little bit like tomato puree in it and yeah it's just really nice. It's not spicy at all if you don't like spice and yeah it's not snappy because there's no intestines but yummy. If you don't know anything about a sausage the outer casing of a sausage is typically an intestine and that is what all the meat all the filling is stuffed inside but this one has it taken off. So let's try this. I would say that I typically prefer any sort of sausage with the casing because it gives it this nice snap and this is missing that it's really soft but it's still delicious without. The curry sauce is really sweet. It's got a little hint of that curry but it's not super strong and we also got it served with hummus or french fries and of course a massive glob of mayo and even though I am from Canada from North America where you eat ketchup with fries mayo is king. I definitely prefer it. The place where we bought this currywurst is called Konopkes. This place has been around since the 1930s but they've started serving currywurst in the 1960s I think. So it's one of the or the oldest place that served currywurst in East Berlin. That's where we came here. It's usually a line and it's like this very iconic place that's underneath the train tracks so it's very Berlin like and that's why we're over here because it's super loud and they only serve it without the intestines just like I think it should be in Berlin. This mayonnaise for the hummus with the fries looks like dutch mayonnaise like the best the best and I ordered hummus rot-weiss and that means red and white fries that's how you order it in Berlin or in Germany. It's delicious. Although currywursts are great there's another sausage that we suggest you try if you ever come to Berlin and that is the Kettwurst. The name Kettwurst actually comes from Kett which would be the ketchup part and Wurst or sausage so that is where the name comes from. It's actually been around since the GDR days back in the late 70s so it's been a while and as you can see it is a hot dog. It's normally a Bockwurst if I'm not mistaken and it's inside this bun but what makes it unique it is actually placed inside a hollowed out bun. They actually have this special metal spike that they use to ram a hole in it. They dip it into ketchup and then they put it in here. First it's boiled and then it's put onto a metal spit to turn around until it gets nice and crispy on the outside. It smells absolutely delicious. Let's give it a go. That is absolutely delicious. If you're from North America it tastes pretty similar to your standard hot dog except what's cool about this is that obviously it's stuffed inside the bun. All your ingredients, your sauce is inside the bun so it's pretty handy. It doesn't make too much of a mess and yeah it's just unique. It's something special that you should probably try if you come here because it's good. Although I'm from Berlin I'm actually from the west side so I didn't know Kettwurst until I was like 15 or even older. I think I read that these became popular in the GDR when restaurants couldn't keep up with people or something around the TV tower in Berlin at Alexanderplatz and then they needed fast food, street food and this is when they invented this and after reunification Kettwurst pretty much disappeared. I think there's only like a few, a handful of stands left in Berlin but we came here so I think we've had those once before though and I think it was delicious. I think the ketchup in this is a lot more like the curry ketchup you get at the grocery store, the stuff that's already pre-mixed and at the currywurst stands it's more like curry powder on top. I really like this though and I really like this concept. It reminds me of the sausages in Vienna. Another famous Berlin street food which is apparently sold even more often per year than currywurst is the Berlin Döner Kebab and I grew up with this. I ate this all the time. This is basically the German version of a Turkish kebab and Turkish immigrant workers in the 1970s came over to Berlin or Germany in general and they brought this. Legend has it that a guy called Kadir Norman in West Berlin in I think 1960 something invented this. He had a stall in West Berlin and this became super popular and basically it is usually veal meat, vegetables like cucumber and tomato flatbread. In German it's called Fladenbrot. It's always this like triangular shape or at least that's what it was like when I grew up. Now you get like different types of breads and has red cabbage. In this case I asked for extra red cabbage because I love it and whenever you get a kebab abroad you usually don't get it and that's what makes a Berlin kebab a kebab. And we got garlic sauce, herb sauce and a little bit of spicy sauce. I'm super excited because I haven't had this one from Berlin in many years. We got this from a place called Imo Bistro. We thought that was very fitting because maybe one or two of us used to be emo when we were a kid. A little bit emo? I don't know. This place also had really good reviews and they were super nice. So delicious. It's like really crunchy from the vegetables. The sauce is delicious. The meat, that's always what matters. But it's really good quality and I don't know what people say. I think Berlin has the best kebabs. I know you get them in Turkey but they're different. You get them in other countries. They're always different. They never do it right. They don't put the sauce in the right spot. They don't put the meat and everything in the right order. This is the best. I love it. Tastes like childhood. You have to get this when you come here. Even though this place was called Imo Kebab the workers did not have swoops or any piercings or anything like that and they were not sad. They were actually very friendly. Although Ania already mentioned the typical ingredients in a kebab. You can not only get veal you can also get chicken in a kebab and I think ours is actually mixed with the two meats and in my opinion that is the best way to get it. And the vegetable mix that we got also seems to have shreds of carrot and I think even corn which is not very typical. I don't know if I've ever had that in a Berlin kebab before but this looks incredible and it is hefty. All right where do I even start? This is absolutely delicious. This is one of my favorite street foods if you want to call it that especially in Berlin on a late night out or on a hangover day. These are absolutely perfect. So it's been years since we lived in Germany in Berlin but a kebab only used to be around 3 euros 350 and now it has actually doubled in price. This was 7 euros I think or maybe 650. So 650 so yeah they've almost doubled in price in the few years since we've been gone. So kind of insane but still worth it. Pretty much every donut kebab shop sells ayran as well which is that Turkish kind of salty drink. This one is a cherry version. I assume it's not gonna be salty. Never had that before so I had to have it because that cat she was called cherry. Now you're drinking her? Oh that's delicious. It's sour and as Brandon said the kebabs are super expensive now. I can't believe it. When I was little they used to be like two Deutsche Mark or maybe four I don't know but they used to be two euros and then it just went up and just in the last two years or something they doubled. It's crazy but still delicious. But it's sad. But it's depressing. It's depressing. Although this is the OG kebab there's actually another variety that has become increasingly popular over the last couple years so maybe we should try that one out as well. The next type of kebab you need to try if you come to Berlin is the Gemüse kebab. Now we got this from a place called Ruhem Gemüse kebab but you can get these all over the city. Now if you're wondering what the main difference is between this and a regular kebab it is that it has fried vegetables on it. I think usually it's potato, sometimes it's eggplant, zucchini, onions, all these different sorts of fried vegetables. It's also topped with lettuce, tomato and another difference is that it is topped with cheese. Now this thing looks absolutely stacked. It is hefty. We actually used to get Gemüse kebab all the time when we were living in Berlin and it was always one of our favorites. So let's see how this compares. I don't even know how I'm gonna start with this. It's gonna be hard to get everything in one bite. What makes this kebab stand out is that salty sour cheese, these deep fried vegetables give it a nice little crispness and this bread is also super fresh. If I had to choose between a regular kebab and a Gemüse kebab I feel like it would depend on my mood but I highly recommend that you try both because they're both freaking delicious. I think the place we went to is one of the most popular Gemüse kebabs in Berlin. The most popular Gemüse kebab stand is actually Mustafa's Gemüse kebab. They've existed since me and Brandon lived in Berlin like eight years ago maybe even longer and the lines there are always super super long. We've never tried it but I'm pretty sure it just tastes like any other kebab or any other Gemüse kebab. Let's see what this one tastes like. This is actually quite different than a normal Gemüse kebab that I grew up with especially because of all the potatoes and the cheese on top. This one also doesn't have red cabbage. I think this is one of the more popular Gemüse kebab stands in Berlin. There was actually a little bit of a line which is weird to me because I've never lined up for Gemüse kebab before. But yeah this is delicious. I don't know which one I like better. I think I like the other one better because it's just like nostalgia. This is what I grew up with but this is still really really yummy. Yeah the one that was in our old neighborhood was definitely better than this one. That one was stacked full of vegetables and not just these little pieces like big chunks of fried eggplant and fried potato. So if you are from Berlin please let us know in the comments what is your favorite spot to go for a Gemüse kebab because this one is decent but it's not the best we've ever had. Still if you're in Berlin worth a try. They also had other versions of this just like a vegetarian version with the vegetables and then a halloumi version. So if you are vegetarian you can definitely find something as well. And there's also lots of other doner kebab places now that have vegan options and vegetarian options. So if you're vegetarian or vegan you can have a We saw one earlier that actually had seitan as the meat substitute. Yes Berlin's crazy at this point. They have so many vegan and vegetarian options so you're gonna be happy here if you're vegan or vegetarian. We now came to another place with some more Berlin food and this place is called DDR Speisegaststätte Pila and they opened in 2006 and basically they're serving food from the GDR before the wall fell in Berlin. And we're gonna start with the drink. So this drink is called Fassbrause. The translation of it means keg soda because they usually made it in kegs. I don't know if that's still how they make it. And you would get it on draft. So me and my family would go to the pub, my parents would drink beer and we would drink this and we would call it Kinderbier. And nowadays you can get it in bottles. This is I think very specific to Berlin and doesn't really exist that much anymore apart from maybe yeah in bottles. So cheers. I haven't had this in, I don't know, since I was 10 or something. 20 years, over 20 years. I don't even know what this tastes like. Does it taste like beer? No it almost tastes like apples actually. Maybe like a less carbonated Apfelschorle. Apfelschorle is another drink you drink in which is like apple juice with bubbles. Tastes a bit like ginger ale to me I guess. I don't know, like apple juice. We are so lucky that the German sun god smiled upon us. It stopped raining finally and now it's bright sunny and amazing outside. So let me try this. It's really good. It's nice and cold and refreshing. I don't think it specifically reminds me of anything but it does taste I guess as you said a little bit like apple juice. But I have no other basis for comparison for this. I really don't know. So if you grew up with this in the comments and you are better with describing things, let us know what this tastes like to you. We got another drink and this time we got a Berliner Weisse with Waldmeister syrup in it. Now if you don't know what Waldmeister is, it is I guess woodruff. I don't even know what that is. Some kind of herb, some kind of plant and I guess that's where it gets this green color from. But this is a very popular syrup in Germany. I think the translation Waldmeister is what, forest master? So pretty weird strange name but pretty cool. I think that you can get Waldmeister flavored candy and things like that too, right? Yeah. So let's try this. It looks like a witch's brew, like a witch cocktail, like bright green crazy color. That is so sweet. It does still taste like beer but you taste the sweetness a lot more than you taste the beer. I feel like a child could drink this but it's really interesting and if you come to Berlin you should definitely try this because it's very very unique. That tastes like childhood, not the beer part but the Waldmeister. We would get so many different candies. We used to get these like leaf candies that tasted like this. It's such a German flavor and I feel like I've never gotten it anywhere else in the world, like this flavor. This is very sweet. I never really used to drink Berliner Weisse. You can get this in a raspberry flavor as well. So there's either pink or green but I think the green is more fun and I think my mom used to get this one. They have all types of dishes here from Berlin. They even have the Catwurst that we already tried but we decided to get Königsberger Klopse and this is a dish that I did grow up with. I usually used to eat this like as a ready meal I think. Basically it's these, I think usually it's supposed to be veal but cheaper versions are pork or beef. So it's these like meatballs in a white sauce with capers. I heard that sometimes there used to be anchovies in the sauce and egg and white pepper and other things. It comes with potatoes and some, what is this? Kaltsalat? Kösler. Kösler. I don't remember any English words anymore and what's really cool, we noticed that this cutlery is actually from the GDR. It says made in GDR so it's super old. They literally have everything down to the cutlery. Let's try only the Klopse. This is delicious. As a kid I always thought the sauce was a bit strange. It has this weird taste, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the capers. Makes it almost like a bit sour but now I like it. Potatoes are just standard potatoes just like my mom would serve them with like every dish because if you're German you eat potatoes with every dish pretty much or at least when I was little you did. Yeah this is delicious. I've actually never had this at a restaurant or as a home cooked meal. I've only ever had it in a can or in some sort of ready meal so I'm excited to try this. I actually really like this one as well. I absolutely love that white sauce, that gravy. It has like this sourness and brininess because of the capers. It's a little bit salty. The meatballs themselves are really soft. They're typical meatball. Nothing extraordinary but this whole meal is just really good and the sauce is where it's at. Apparently these Königsberger Klopse are actually a Prussian dish. It's not really specifically from Berlin but I think they're mostly eaten in the northern region and I think in the GDR they used to call these Sauce Klopse which means like sauce balls or sauce Klopse. I don't know. They also have a dish here at this restaurant called Grileta which apparently was really popular in the GDR which is like a kind of hamburger I think. We can't try everything but you should definitely come to this restaurant because they have really really cool things and foods and drinks and it's like a museum inside as well. The next dish we're going to try is called Sempf Eier or mustard eggs which looks very unusual but it is absolutely delicious. A little note actually both of these dishes that we're trying are not actually maybe directly from Berlin but they're very popular in Berlin and they are specific to the north. As far as the Sempf Eier goes I actually used to get this at work. We used to have staff meals and they used to make it for us and it seems very strange but it is delicious. It is as the name suggests eggs in a mustard sauce. It's also served with this side of what looks like maybe mashed potatoes and again the same coleslaw. All right let's try this out. It comes with one two three four five six eggs. Six half eggs so three eggs. I was gonna say that's a lot of eggs. Absolutely delicious and just like I remember having at work. Apparently this dish was popular in the GDR times because it's cheap, it's filling, there's a lot of protein in this meal. So obviously people didn't have a lot of money. Good dish to fill you up. Let's try these mashed potatoes. It is so strange. I would never think to eat eggs in a mustard sauce like this but I absolutely love it. I didn't really grow up eating this. I feel like this reminds me of like deviled eggs at least the way my family used to make them for like birthday barbecue kind of meals. This is delicious. I wish my mom would have made this because we never really ate this. Somebody on reddit referred to it as a deconstructed potato salad. That's true. It has potatoes, it has eggs and then I guess you put mustard in right? All I need is pickles. I guess it has the coleslaw. This is nice. The Zennfeier are so weird because I feel like nowhere in the Zennfeier is a bunch of boiled eggs inside and it's a hot dish too. Like this is not cold or anything. So interesting but it's really really good. I love the mustard sauce. It's so nice and mustardy. We now came to Georgbräu which is this beer garden in the middle of Berlin. It kind of looks like a Bavarian beer garden but this place actually has loads of different dishes from Berlin specifically from the city and we're gonna get two different things. I'm gonna start with the beer. This is just a light beer and the meal that we ordered also came with a shot but let's try the beer first. Tastes like a beer. Delicious. And this shot is called corn. It basically means grain because it is apparently a brandy made out of different types of grains like barley, oats or rye and usually it has to have at least 32 percent of alcohol. So let's try this. It tastes like similar to vodka I feel like. You usually shoot this but I'm not gonna do that because then I'm gonna be wasted. This beer is so cute and little. Just look at it next to my face. Delicious light beer but we also got their summer special which is obviously a Hefeweizen. My favorite. It's so good. These are always my favorite as I'm sure I've said a million times in these Berlin videos but this is delicious and I love that you get the combo of the little beer, the shot and the meal together which is pretty awesome. Yeah it does remind me of vodka actually but it doesn't taste that strong. As you said it doesn't have that burn, that kick. I don't think it does have a burn. I don't think so. Not like what we had in Poland. This is really good though but I cannot wait for this food so hopefully it comes out soon. The first thing we're gonna have here is Buletten and this comes with potato salad and Buletten are basically German meatballs. In other places in Germany they're called Frikadellen or Fleischpanzer I think in Bavaria but I grew up with these Buletten. They are ground meat. A lot of times it's a mix of beef and pork and there's onions in there, breadcrumbs and they're basically made I guess in the pan I guess right? Kind of like little hamburger patties. These are quite round. The ones my mom used to make they were more a little bit thicker than a hamburger patty but not like this but these still look delicious. See if it's better than your mom's. Probably. I mean they should be right? These are delicious. Maybe a little bit dry. I don't know but I think usually you eat them with like ketchup and mayonnaise and mustard especially. Yeah that's what I was gonna ask if you like they Maybe we can ask for some. This potato salad looks delicious. Yeah I like this potato salad. It's kind of sweet actually. Almost creamy. I don't know but it's really really yummy. That's a winner. These Buletten are still amazing but I need some mustard or ketchup. It appears that some of the tables already had these little cups with mustard and ketchup packages but ours did not. So we asked the waiter. He got us some. I'm sure this is gonna be even better. I do agree that it's a little bit dry but the meatball is actually packed with flavor. I think that it does need the mustard and the ketchup though. That just takes it to the next level. Let's try this potato salad. This is an oil and vinegar based one by the looks of it. Even though it is oil and vinegar it's really creamy just like you said. I don't know where it gets the creaminess from. I guess from the mustard that they use. It also has these little chunks of pickles in it which we love. And this dish comes with a side salad but just looks like a normal salad so I'm not gonna try that right now. So let's move on to the next dish. The origin of this is not clear but there is a theory that the Protestants like French Protestants brought the Buletten over and apparently it comes from the term boulette. I'm not actually sure. Apparently in French that means little balls and that's why we have Buletten. Delicious. Thank you French Protestants. My absolute favorite German dish is actually Schweinehaxe which is a pork knuckle but normally it is crispy and fried. But we got a Berlin specialty called Eisbahn which is a pork knuckle but instead it's like what boiled I guess. So the skin is really gelatinous really rubbery. It's jiggling. Yeah it's jiggly like if you hit the table it jiggles. Look at it it's so weird. It literally looks like almost like human skin. But even then I know it's gonna be delicious because it's one of my favorite things. Because you're a cannibal? Yeah because I'm a cannibal. It's so fatty look at it. And it's served with pea puree, sauerkraut and a side of potatoes. It's really juicy. It has some of the pea on it. Let's try it. Obviously the meat is still super juicy super salty. In this case instead of the skin being super crispy it's just gelatinous and fatty. So I definitely prefer the crispy version but this is still really good and obviously the meat is where it's at. And this thing is massive. This could easily feed two people on its own. We wouldn't even need another dish but I'm glad we have it. Let's try these peas. Oh that's really good. Better than mushy peas in the UK to be honest. It's pretty flavorful. A little bit grainy. It doesn't really taste like peas to me. I don't know but that's really really good. This actually looks a bit scary since it looks like the pig's still alive. My dad actually used to eat this so it's definitely a legit Gerlindish. The skin might look scary but it's delicious. It's so nice and porky and creamy and it's not really gross at all because it does look a bit unappetizing. Yeah like the Bavarian haxe, the pork knuckle looks definitely way more appetizing. But this is really really yummy. The pork is so soft, so porky, salty. Let's try these peas. They taste different because I'm confused why they're not green. Apparently the Berlin version of Eisbein always comes with pea puree and they're not green so I don't know what kind of peas this is. But yeah it's definitely better than mushy peas in the UK. Good sauerkraut. The potatoes are really buttery. That's delicious actually. This deal is really really good because this is the meal that came with the beer and the corn for 19 something euros. So that's really really good and it's kind of the same price as at other restaurants but they don't come with the beer or the corn. Yeah so you should come here. Especially considering where we are. Prost! If you come to Berlin, 100% you should try Eisbein. It is absolutely delicious but I do think overall I prefer Schweinehaxe. I prefer the crispy skin because it's just so satisfying. That crunch is so satisfying. But this is still really good. So come here, try it. Try both. Of course we could not have a food tour without having at least a dessert. So we got ourselves a Fankuchen or as some other people may know it a Berliner, which is a donut. So we went to a place called Sugar Clan Berliner. It's been around since 2019 and it looks like they've won all sorts of awards. This is a pretty posh donut shop, if you ask me. The prices were a bit expensive but they look delicious. We got ourselves a more traditional style. This one is filled with cherry jam. It looks perfect, fluffy, sugar-coated on the outside. Let's try it. It's a lot of jam. It's as good as it looks. Super fluffy, super light, really bouncy. That nice sugar coating on the outside gives it a nice sweetness. And the cherry jam inside is really tart as well. I really like this and this thing is stacked. That jam is so sour and tart and it actually looks like squished cherries. So it's really, really yummy. This is probably the most expensive Fankuchen I've ever had. I think normally you just get it at your corner bakery. I don't know, back in the days they were probably 50 cents or less. Everything became more expensive but I'm pretty sure everywhere else you can get it for like a euro. This was like three. It's delicious though and as Brandon said, in Berlin you do not call these Berliners because I'm a Berliner. This is not a Berliner. This is a Fankuchen. In other areas in Germany you call this a Krapfen or there's other words but the real word is Fankuchen, which actually means pancake. It doesn't really make sense. Either way, this is very delicious but we were just in Poland and I have to say Polish donuts are better. They're still good though. The normal flavors you normally get are strawberry, plum and maybe cherry and the topping normally changes. The strawberry one has normally like a sugar glazing then you get like powdered sugar on the plum one. So there's kind of like traditional ones but this shop has all sorts of weird ones. They have dulce de leche, something with pretzel on top. I think they change their flavors as well. I think I saw something like apple pie or whatever they won an award for that one. This one is lemon buttermilk. I love lemon flavored stuff and this one looks delicious. They actually got a mini version and a full version. The mini version is still three euros but let's see if it's worth it. This one has pistachios on top too, like little pistachio pieces. I think the donut in this one is a little bit more soft and like fatty, like more fried. I don't know. I like it a little bit better but I didn't really get the filling. Oh that's delicious. It's so sour though. It's so lemony. It just tastes like lemon juice inside. This is delicious. This one's the winner for me but probably only because the other ones like old school and I've known it all my life. This one's special. Yeah they had some super interesting flavors. They had a berry one as well. They had one called Dubai chocolate. All sorts of unique All right let's try this. Yeah you're right. That is super lemony. Really sour. I like this one better as well. It's just really interesting. It's unlike any donut I've had in Germany before. The inside is really good, really sweet, really tart. The donut's really bouncy and fluffy. The sugar glaze on top is really sweet and you have the nuttiness from the pistachios as well. So this one is definitely the winner. I agree. To finish off this full day of eating, stuffing our face with savory items, sweet items, and everything in between, we are finishing off with a drink. If you ever go to Berlin, you have to try Berliner Luft, which is a mint liqueur. It's only 18% but it is absolutely delicious. I think it's the perfect way to end this crazy food tour. And of course, as we said before, this is Berlin. You can drink wherever the hell you want. So minty, refreshing. It's like delicious sweet mouthwash. No, it's really really good. The translation of Berliner Luft actually means Berliner air. So that's how refreshing it is, how clear it is. I don't know. I'm sure the air in the city isn't that clear. But this is 18%. It does not taste like that. It literally tastes like liquefied after eight chocolate. Like without the chocolate, but like that kind of like mint candy, just like liquefied. It doesn't taste like alcohol whatsoever. Really dangerous. There's a different alcohol in Germany. Pfeffi or Pfefferminz liqueur, which is green. Tastes almost pretty much the same. But yeah, this is delicious. Now I can breathe better. This is the end of the video. We are so full. We cannot eat anymore. And now we have to go on a diet. But we loved eating in Berlin. There's no way you can eat everything and try everything in Berlin because Berlin is so huge. You pretty much need like a whole year, but we'll be back because this is where I'm from. See you soon. But if you did like this video, please give it a like, write us a comment. And by far the most important thing is to hit that subscribe button. But that is it for now. And we will see you all in the next one. Bye.