Vegan in Berlin: Part 1

Sorry for the second leave of absence! I spent most of last week finishing up my proposal (and taking Graham to Normandy for his birthday–don’t worry, pictures will come!), which meant that blogging had to fall by the wayside.

While we were in Berlin, we had some fantastic food. One of the highlights of our trip was being able to eat delicious comfort food (usually in the form of a burger) inexpensively. Since we were in Berlin for a while, and ate at so many different places, I've decided to cheesily describe the veg restaurants in Berlin in countdown form. So here you go, the top 7 places for a vegan meal in Berlin. (Of course, I don't live in Berlin and haven't been everywhere, so just treat this as a "top 7 places Amelia has eaten in Berlin.")

7. Maja's Deli

Maja's is a cute little vegan bakery in (or near?) the Prenzlauer Berg area, where they serve limited, light lunches–that change daily–and many different vegan baked goods. We stopped in here on a rainy day for a little cake.

I got a piece chocolate crumble cheesecake,

and G got a slice of chocolate cake.

My cheesecake was fine, although I think that it (and many other vegan cheesecakes, for that matter) was ruined for me by years of eating the out-of-this-world-delicious vegan cheesecakes at the Chicago Diner and at Red Bamboo. Graham’s cake, however, was fantastic. So, if you pay Maja’s a visit, and if you’ve been spoiled by delicious cheesecakes of the past, stick to the more traditional cakes, which are awesome.

6. Cafe V

Cafe V is a very nice vegetarian bistro in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, which offers hearty European dishes, many of which can be made vegan. (No vegan desserts, however.)

Graham got a beautiful pizza,

and I got some delicious vegetable dumplings, served with roasted potatoes and broccoli on a bed of home-made tomato sauce.

The picture above is quite bad, buy my food both looked and tasted wonderful–it was the perfect, carb-heavy warm meal to chow down on after a day of wandering around in a cold, rainy city.

5. Yellow Sunshine

Yellow Sunshine is a vegetarian fast-food restaurant, also in the Kreuzberg neighborhood. Since most of their food is vegan, and since all of their food is delicious and inexpensive, we ate here… more than I would like to admit.

Here are a few highlights. You can get vegan currywurst, served with a mound of fries bigger than your head.

(Going from Paris to Berlin requires some adjustment, in terms of how big you should expect your portions to be!)

You can also get very tasty chicken burgers.

There are just a couple of downsides to Yellow Sunshine. First, it’s much easier to go there if you know how to count to about 200 in German–they use the system in which you’re given a number, and they call it when your food is ready. But, if you’re as clueless about the German language as I am, then any number past 5 will baffle you, and you won’t know when to get your food. Fortunately, the folks at the restaurant are pretty nice, know a little English, and are willing to help you out.

Second, their Mexican burger. As I’ve said before, I’ve really been craving Mexican food, and was hoping for a burger with, well, some sort of Mexican flair. You know how sometimes you’re expecting p, but get something that’s definitely not p, and then the thing you get ends up tasting weird, even though it wouldn’t have been bad at all had you expected it? (Think of expecting to drink water, but ending up with orange juice instead.) Well, that was kind of my experience with the Mexican burger. I think that it’s primary “Mexican” feature was a peanut sauce, which totally caught me off guard.

Anyhow, Yellow Sunshine is great, and you should go there when in Berlin.

4. Vego

Vego is another fast-food joint, although it’s located in the Prenzlauer Berg area (near Maja’s), and is entirely vegan. Definitely head here if you want a giant personal pizza (which Graham had),

or something a little more up-scale, like a chicken cordon bleu burger.

I know, I know. I always go way overboard on the ketchup. I really can’t be trusted with those giant self-serve bottles.

The man working at Vego was great, our food was very reasonably priced and delicious, and it seemed to draw a nice crowd from the neighborhood.

3. Viasko

Viasko is a vegan restaurant and beer garden in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, where you can get delicious European food and giant glasses of beer.

There I am, being overwhelmed by beer.

If you manage to be in Berlin on a nice evening, do try to sit in their garden, which is located on a quiet, lush street.

We went here twice, and both times it was a little dark, so bear with me.

On the first night we went there, I had some delicious flammkuchen, which was covered in caramelized onions,

and Graham had some excellent, home-made gnocchi.

On the second occassion we went there, we had some amazing pumpkin-ginger-coconut soup,

and a beautiful fig salad.

We also tried some dessert, little mounds of vanilla mousse with lots of fresh fruit.

Although the dessert was good, I think it’s their savory dishes that really standout.

In the next post: the top two places to get a vegan meal in Berlin–and they’re spectacular.