What I ate vegan in Berlin, Germany
I recently visited a friend who lives in Berlin. As this was my first visit there since being vegan I was keen to sample as many treats as possible. It was so easy to be vegan in Berlin, I was overwhelmed with options and often just stumbled across clearly labelled vegan choices.
Brammibal's Donuts
I had been really excited to visit Brammibal's donuts for a while now after I discovered them on instagram months ago. Their donuts just look incredible, and they are!
However, donuts is not all they had, oh no! Brammibal's also have a food menu which includes a bake'n' and scram bagel (rice paper bacon with tofu scramble and tomatoes). This is what I had and I confirm it was amazing, probably the tastiest tofu scramble i've ever eaten, and the bacon was so good and very clever.
They also offer a 'chickpea tuna' melt bagel, pancakes and tofu benedict on an English muffin with mushrooms.
Overall, Brammibal's was amazing. Everything I had was incredible and I would recommend it to anyone. It is also in a quirky area of Berlin and is on a busy market street, great for picking up some fruit and veg on the way home (I also spotted a few vegan street food options along the market too!).
Lily's Beef & Vegan
On my first evening I was looking for something wholesome and came across Lily's online. I was intrigued by their extensive burger menu including 36 different options including 'skyscraper' burgers which were piled high. The menu said that any burger could be made with beef, chicken or vegetarian or vegan and the vegan burger options were a seitan burger or a bean patty.
I decided to go for the John F Kennedy Burger which came with cheddar, bacon and BBQ sauce and I went for the seitan option. As you can see my burger came piled high with vegan cheese, vegan bacon, BBQ sauce and an onion ring, all topped off with a giant gherkin.
We also ordered fries and could choose sweet potato, curly or regular and went for half and half curly and regular. The amount of choice on the menu was crazy, including burgers featuring mac & cheese, donuts, waffles and pancakes!
I have to say, my burger was amazing! All the elements worked so well together and I loved the seitan patty too. The attention to detail was impressive and it definitely satisfied my greasy burger craving. Lily burger is a must for anyone visiting Berlin, there really is something for everyone (meat eaters too of course!)
Emma Pea
When looking for vegan places online I came across Emma Pea. It is in a super trendy area of Berlin which has lots of bars and clubs and hosts a fleamarket on a Sunday. We actually passed another vegan restaurant and a vegan street food stall on our way to Emma Pea on the short walk from the U-bahn station.Emma Pea is a fully vegan bar and kitchen and offers a daily special, a cheese burger and a soup of the day and quiche of the day. However, it was the mexican food that caught our eye!
My friend went for 'Asian Fusion Tacos' which were BBQ 'pulled pork', slaw, rice paper taco shells with wasabi mayo. I was surprised to find the 'pulled pork' was not jackfruit as I've tried before but I think it was mushrooms. I tried it and the whole dish was really nice, if a little too spicy! The rice paper shells were interesting as they were fried and had the texture of prawn crackers (without the prawn of course!), I really liked them.
I went for the 'Fiesta Quesadilla' which was made with sweet potato puree, 'cheese' sauce and rosemary. It was really tasty and comforting. I'm not sure what the 'cheese' sauce was but it was delicious!
Both were really tasty. I personally thought the cookie would have been great with a big cup of tea as it was the dry biscuity kind rather than a gooey chewy cookie. The chef was actually English and he happened to agree with me but said that the Germans didn't understand that!
The atmosphere in Emma Pea was great and even if you're not eating there, it's a great place to go for drinks.
The Bowl
The bowl actually caught my eye as it is located in the same building as Veganz- a vegan supermarket and a vegan shoe shop. As it was lunch time we stopped at The Bowl to eat before going wild in Veganz (look out for a separate blog post for that haul!).
The bowl had lots of salads in the fridge section, a selection of wraps and sandwiches and lots of amazing looking cakes on offer! My friend went for the wrap of the week which was sweet potato mash, lentils, aubergine, onions and coriander. I tasted it and it was wholesome and earthy and the aubergine added lots of flavour.
I had a 'Laugenknoten' roll which had hummus, curried cauliflower, tofu slices, spinach and rocket on it. It was really delicious, the curried cauliflower was a real winner!
We both had iced coffees and there was a selection of flavoured syrups and soya, almond, oat and rice milk to choose from!
Curry at the Wall
You can't go to Berlin and not have currywurst! This stand offers vegan currywurst and vegan bratwurst hot dogs. I'd never had currywurst before but I really liked it. The sauce was kind of like BBQ sauce mixed with curry, that's the only way I can think to describe it.
Not much more to say than that, It's a must!
Delabuu Ice Cream
Gimmicky as it is, I have never had ice cream rolls and I was really intrigued to try it! The base used for every ice cream at Delabuu is vegan and then there are lots and lots of options of what you would like in your ice cream- each individually priced and the vegan options are clearly labelled. When you go in your take a tick card and choose all the 'mixlings' that you would like.
For vegans you have fruit, oreos, waffles and vego to choose from. There is also the option to add some chopped up chocolate bar. They use Veganz chocolate bars which come in 'milk' and white chocolate varieties. I went for white chocolate with coconut! You then choose a sauce including vegan nutella and peanut butter and then toppings including nuts, chocolate flakes and sprinkles.
It's fun to watch them make your ice cream as they pour on the mix and then add the 'mixlings' and chop it all up. I went for strawberries and the vegan white chocolate. They then spread the sauce (I went for vegan nutella), pour the mixture onto the cold plate to freeze it and then they roll it up (it made for a great boomerang!).
Once the chocolate topping had been added it was time to enjoy it, and boy did I enjoy it! It was delicious!
As I said, it's a little gimmicky but with the vegan options there is the chance to make what ever ice cream you dream of at Delabuu and watch it made fresh in front of you.
Die Rebellion Des Zimtsterns
Whilst exploring the East Side Gallery I needed a refuel. I headed to this cafe as it is vegetarian and organic. They had a couple of vegan strudels available and I went for a traditional apple, cinnamon and raisin to take away. This cake was delicious and you would never tell that it was vegan!
I also got an ice coffee with soya milk.
Delores
On my last evening in Berlin we went for mexican food at Delores. We shared a boat of corn chips with guacamole and they were fresh and yummy.
Delores had several vegan options including burritos, burrito bowls and quesadillas. I went for a 'vegan lover' burrito which was humungous! It had guacamole, 'smoky corn soy meat', smoky peanut salsa, mexican super rice, black beans, fajita veggies and lettuce in it. Although it was far too big to eat it all it was really tasty. The guacamole and soy pieces were my favourite.
Marche Bistrot
Inside Berlin Shonefeld airport there were two Marche stalls. I was surprised to find very clearly labelled vegan options including an apple strudel (It seemed to be a classic!), a soya yoghurt pot with berry compote, a vegetable flatbread and a cous cous pot.
I had the cous cous and also bought a ciabatta roll. The cous cous was tomato based and had rocket, tomato and cucumber in. The ciabatta roll was really soft and fresh.
Berlin is incredible for the sheer amount of choice for vegans. There are delicious treats around every corner. It's definitely worth a visit!
Berlin is incredible for the sheer amount of choice for vegans. There are delicious treats around every corner. It's definitely worth a visit!