Germany
:
Vegetarian
[This section is in the earliest
stages of development: 28 December
2006]
Germany in General
There is at least one vegetarian restaurant or partially vegetarian
restaurant in most of the German cities I have visited over the past few years:
Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Mannheim. However, despite its high profile
political Green movement, and public concern for 'organic' food,
Germany
is not blessed with a wealth of vegetarian restaurants. Neither have I noticed
much German supermarket food being labelled as suitable for vegetarians.
However, health food shops, and shops selling organic food, are, in my
experience, not hard to locate, making vegetarian picnic food relatively easy
to obtain. Open markets, such as are found all over
Italy
,
are not apparently where German people buy fruit and vegetables.
The bad news is that much traditional German food is heavily based on
slaughtered animals and on animal products. As in
Britain
,
many people in
Germany
appear to find it strange to want to avoid eating dead animals. Unlike in
Italy
(where olive oil is used), the fat in which German food is cooked may well
originate from rendered animal flesh. This latter point is significant, for in Berlin
I experienced difficulty in a non-vegetarian restaurant because the chef,
although willing to prepare something meat-free, could not guarantee that the
oil used for frying was suitable for vegetarians.
In many hotels, a buffet breakfast consists of slices of processed dairy
cheese, slices of pig, slices of squashed animals, and chickens' eggs in one
form or another. There might also be breakfast cereal served with cow's milk,
dairy yoghurt and kwark.
Berlin
To date, I have eaten in/from six (semi-)vegetarian establishments in Berlin,
in one restaurant that serves vegetarian food, and in one restaurant that can
no longer be described as vegetarian-friendly. There are other places for me to
eat in Berlin, and I look forward
to trying them.
Berlin is a big city, and
Greater Berlin is huge. Although Berlin
public transport is wonderfully efficient, travelling even from one side of the
city centre (e.g. Charlottenburg) to another (e.g. Kreuzberg) can take quite a while. Choosing a place to eat,
therefore, depends in part on where you are when you want to eat. Also, being a
big city, there are places in Berlin
(as in London, Paris
and Rome) where the less-confident
person may be unwilling or unwise to venture.
The popular eating places can get very busy, and unless you speak German,
making a telephone reservation can feel quite daunting. Eating early is one way
to avoid having to telephone for a reservation.
Brick-bats: some details on the (
UK
)
Vegetarian Society website are seriously out of date. Restaurant/Cafe Tiago is no longer at Knesebeckstrasse 15 (Charlottenburg): maybe it has moved, maybe it died, but it ain't where the
Vegetarian Society says it is. Further, Voltair,
at Stuttgarter Platz (Charlottenburg) cannot be described as vegetarian-friendly,
never mind "vegan-friendly".
Garlands: good sources of
information:
Books: The Rough Guide to Berlin, Time Out Guide to Berlin
Magazine: Zitty (a Berlin
weekly 'What's On', cover price: DM4)
On-line:
Time Out; Zitty On-line; Vegan.de.
| |
 Baharat Falafel
Winterfeldstrasse 37, 10781 Berlin
tel: (030) 216-8301
[U-Bahn (U1/2/3/4) Nollendorfplatz]
Busverbindung: M19]
Daily: 12:00-02:00 |
 vegetarian (“Vegetarische Koestlichkeiten aus dem Orient”) falafel take-away shop, with a few bar
stools inside. Inexpensive (5 small falafels with salad in pitta bread: E3.50). Vegan awareness: when I said that I
am vegan the serving man explained that one of the sauces is made with (cow’s
milk) yoghourt, and I was given the choice between two other sauces that were
not made with (cow’s milk) yoghourt. My falafels were fried on the spot, and
they were tasty. ?Kurdish / ?Iraqi music on boombox. There is a large step into the shop, so
wheelchair access would be impossible without help. There is no toilet.
Recommended if in the area.
|
| |
Cafe V
Lausitzerplatz 12, Kreuzberg,
10997 Berlin
tel: (030) 612-4505
[U-Bahn (U1): Goerlitzer Bahnhof;
Busverbindung: M29;
Bushaltestelle: Goerlitzer Bahnhof]
Opening hours: uncertain, maybe all day/evening |
vegetarian (also serves fish) bar / café / restaurant,
serving Mediterranean food. Some dishes labelled as vegan in the menu. My seitan-stuffed aubergine (with basmati rice) was tasty
and attractively served. Dishes between E5 and E10. Smoking permitted
(throughout?). Staff: attentive, friendly with some English spoken. Ambience:
‘Woody Allen’ (blues / light jazz on speakers); some people eating, others
drinking alcohol, others drinking coffee. A small step at front door is wheelchair accessible to 30 – 40 seats
inside. However, toilets are not only tight, but up three large steps, and
not wheelchair accessible. Recommended if in the area. |
| |
Hakuin Closed down
2005/6
Martin-Luther Strasse 1, 1A, 10777 Berlin
tel: (030) 218-2027
fax: (030) 213-9862
www.restaurant-hakuin.de
[ground floor of a huge office block at a major road intersection; U-Bahn: Wittemberg Platz];
Mondays: closed
Tuesdays-Saturdays: 17:00-23:30
Sundays & holidays: 12:00-23:30 |
vegetarian
(but may be macro-biotic because Buddhist-run); on the expensive side (for
vegetarian food), but the quality of the food justifies the price - what I
ate ('Hakuin im Orient') was excellent; limited vegan, but good vegan awareness by staff;
ambience tastefully peaceful - the main room has an in-floor pond, with
cascade and swimming carp; some English spoken, and menu available in
English; excellent wheelchair access, but some tables are up a step, as are
the toilets; popular with professional clientele; highly recommended |
| |
Oren
Orianienburger Strasse 28, 10117 Berlin
tel: (030) 282-8228
fax: (030) 2859-9313
[next door to Neue Synagogue; U-Bahn: Oranienburger Tor; S-Bahn: Hackescher Markt]
Daily: 10:00-01:00
(appears not to close for Sabbath) |
Jewish
(presumably Kosher)/ Middle-Eastern restaurant, serving vegetarian food;
limited vegan, but good vegan awareness by staff; tables: courtyard and
ground floor, with about 80 seats; disabled access reasonable/good, and level
access to toilets; moderately priced, and good value; good food, but not
cordon bleu; recommended if in the area. |
Samadhi
27 Wilhelmstrasse 77, Mitte,
10117 Berlin
tel: (030) 22 48 88 50
fax: (030) 20 05 89 07
www.samadhi-restaurant.de
[S-Bahn: Unter den
Linden;
U-Bahn (U2): Mohrenstrasse;
Busverbindung: 20; Bushaltestelle: Wilhelmstrasse / Behrenstrasse]
Mondays: closed
Tuesdays-Saturdays: 12:00-15:00
& 18:00-23:00
Sundays & holidays: 12:00-23:00
Restaurant of same name and style (formerly?) at (still listed in Rough
Guide): Goetherstrasse 6, Charlottenburg,
10623 Berlin
tel: (030) 313-1067
[U-Bahn: Ernst-Reuter Platz]
|
South-east
(Vietnamese?) Asian restaurant, serving mostly vegetarian (some fish?) food
of high quality. Most dishes are apparently vegan, although some dishes
include chicken’s eggs. Mid-price: many dishes E10 – E15. Separate room for
tobacco smokers. Excellent wheelchair access to 70 seats inside, and 30 seats
outside on street. Wheelchair toilet on same level. Staff friendly and
attentive, although very limited English spoken. Menu mostly also translated
into English. I ate here twice in April 2006. Highly recommended; worth
travelling to. |
| |
Yellow Sunshine
Weinerstrasse19, Kreuzberg,
Berlin
tel: (030) 69-59-87-20
[U-Bahn (U1): Goerlitzer Bahnhof;
Busverbindung: M29;
Bushaltestelle: Goerlitzer Bahnhof]
Mondays-Thursdays: 12:00-24:00
Fridays-Sundays: 12:00-01:00 |
Vegetarian
fast food shop with indoor seating. Selection of labelled vegan burgers
prepared on the spot for eat-in or take-out. Inexpensive: my seitan burger with salad garnish was E2.69. No wheelchair
access: there are six large steps at the front door. Staff young and
friendly, with reasonable English spoken. Ambience: student. Recommended if
in the area. |
|
|
|
Three other restaurants deserve mention here because they appear in many of
the lists of Berlin vegetarian
restaurants.
Abendmahl Closed down 2005/6
Muskauer Strasse 9, Kreuzberg, Berlin
tel: (030) 612-5170
[U-Bahn (U1): Goerlitzer Bahnhof;
Busverbindung: M29;
Bushaltestelle: Goerlitzer Bahnhof]
Mondays & holidays: closed
Tuesdays-Sundays: 11:30-23:00 |
vegetarian,
moderately-priced (Zitty On-line),
very good reputation (Rough Guide) |
Thürnagel
Not listed
in Happy Cow- maybe closed down
Gneisenaustrasse 53 (Time Out on-line)
Gneisenaustrasse 57 (Vegetarian Society;
European Vegetarian Guide)
Schlossstrasse101 (in der Galleria) (Zitty On-line)
Kreuzberg, 10961 Berlin
tel: (030) 691-4800
[U-Bahn: U7, Südstern (Time
Out on-line)
U-Bahn: Steglitz (Zitty On-line)
Daily: 18:30-24:00 (European Vegetarian Guide)
Daily: 18:00-24:00 (Time Out on-line)
Daily: 10:00-24:00 (Zitty On-line) |
Partially-vegetarian
restaurant; inexpensive (Veg Soc) pricey (Time
Out on-line), and frequented by young people (Veg Soc) trendy people (Time Out on-line); 70 seats (European
Vegetarian Guide). |
Despite the Rough Guide to Berlin waxing lyrical about the qualities
of Berlin beer, what I drank in Berlin
was only passably better than the insipid Schwabian beer I drank in and around Stuttgart.
It is my prejudice that the brewers of Brabant are the
most competent at brewing a significant range of distinctive and robust beers,
and that independent British brewers (especially in some of the
micro-breweries) are catching up fast. I guess that my palate is not fine-tuned
to discern the subtle qualities of Berlin
beer. I do, however, enjoy an occasional wheat beer.
A speciality of Berlin is a green-coloured, sweet, woodruff flavouring poured into a weiss bier (wheat beer): "Ein Berliner Weissbier, mit grun, bitte."
(Woodruff is a pert, short-stemmed plant of the bedstraw family with tiny white
flowers. It grows in woods in
Britain
and
Germany
,
and has been used traditionally, in the form of an infusion, as a mild relaxant
for the relief of (tension) headaches. I have long made sweet syrups from it,
as it smells of new-mown hay (resulting from the volatile chemical 'coumarin'), an idea inspired by the woodruff sherbet
described by Gunter Grass in Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum). It was a joy to me to discover that Berliners have been making
such a syrup for centuries. [Question for John Fowles: why did you call the French Lieutenant's Woman
'Miss Woodruff'?])
Mannheim
Heller's Vollwert-Restaurant
N7, 13-15, Mannheim
tel: 0621-153525/26;
[not far from the Wasserturm]
Mondays-Fridays: 11:00-20:00
Saturdays: 11:00-15:30
Sundays: closed |
vegetarian wholefood restaurant;
selection of 50 salads etc.; easy to choose vegan food, as everything is
labelled with full list of ingredients; average prices; good disabled access
for eating inside or in the courtyard (under awning); recommended. |
Stuttgart, Tübingen, Hamburg
& Lübeck
To come. Please be patient.
p.g.h@btinternet.com