10 Best Local Dishes from Berlin

Currywurst is one of the best and most easily accessible foods you'll find in Berlin, a mix of pork sausage and curry powder. The food originated when British soldiers in Germany in 1949 brought curry powder with them and Herta Heuwer got a hold of it. Heuwer mixed the powder with pork sausage and other ingredients to create the iconic dish.

Getting your hands on this dish is as easy as walking down the street. You'll find numerous restaurants and street stands all over town that offer currywurst, as it's one of the most common foods in the entire city. It's often served with fries or bread rolls.

Königsberger Klopse is a speciality dish consisting of meatballs often made from veal and served with a white sauce and capers. In traditional preparation, the meatballs are made from finely minced veal, though there are more affordable alternatives like beef and pork that are pretty easy to find.

The white sauce is creamy and made from roux, cream and egg yolk. Capers are also an important ingredient for their signature flavour. You'll find this dish often served with boiled potatoes or beetroot. It's available in many varieties in affordable and fine dining restaurants throughout town.

Wiener Schnitzel is a popular dish in Berlin that originates from Austria and consists of a thin fried cutlet of veal garnished with parsley and lemon. In Berlin, you'll find that this traditional Austrian dish is also often garnished with anchovy and capers.

While typically made from veal, this dish has substitutes available if you're looking to dine on a budget. Pork is the most common substitute for the veal, with talented chefs being able to coax an immense amount of flavour from it all. It's available all over town in fancy and modest restaurants alike, though the veal version is typically found in more upscale establishments.

Eisbein, which literally means "ice leg," is a dish consisting of pickled ham hock that is cured and boiled and often served smoked. You'll find this dish all across the country, but the Berlin version of it is most commonly served with pease pudding.

You'll find the dish most commonly served on a bed of sauerkraut. You can also find restaurants in Berlin that adopt traditions from other areas, such as southern Germany's tendency to serve it with mashed potatoes. It's available all over town.

Döner Kebab is a traditional Turkish meat dish that made its way to Berlin and has evolved quite a bit since its initial introduction in the city. This dish is a kebab that is cooked on a vertical rotisserie with outer layers being cut off as they cook and are then served.

These dishes in Berlin are often served tucked within bread with some slaw and salad alongside the meat. Sandwich and wrap forms are the most common, and you can try them out for yourself from proper sit-down restaurants and street vendors, especially in areas heavy with Turkish migrants.

Kartoffelpuffer, or potato pancakes, are fried potatoes crafted with peeled and shredded potatoes along with onions, baking powder and flour. These fried treats, which are nearly universally appealing, are often served with applesauce.

While you can get these potato pancakes all year long, they tend to be more popular around the Christmas season, with street vendors and markets offering them more often from late November to December. They're available in quite a few local restaurants all year long too. Be sure to partake in this treat.

Senfeier is a vegetarian German egg dish that features boiled eggs served in a creamy and smooth mustard sauce alongside various sides and garnishes. Considered a comfort food, the boiled eggs are the star of the show here, while the mustard sauce adds a delicious richness to them.

You'll find this dish mostly in breakfast and lunch restaurants, with it being considered a comfort food or light dinner rather than a full-on meal. The sides it's served with typically include mashed potatoes, rice or vegetables like carrots and peas.

Berliner Pfannkuche is a sweet German doughnut made from fried yeast dough with a jam filling complemented by icing and powdered sugar. The type of jam or marmalade used in the doughnut can vary quite a bit, and you'll even find options made with chocolate, pastry cream and champagne.

The name of this dish depends on where you are. In restaurants popular with travellers, you'll find that it's called a Berliner, while more traditional local restaurants will refer to it simply as Pfannkuchen. You'll find it available throughout the city.

Bretzels are to Berlin as croissants are to Paris, with these doughy treats being a staple for locals looking for a quick and savoury snack. Bretzels in Berlin are a little different from pretzels you'll find elsewhere, though there are many different varieties available.

Bretzels, the German name for pretzels, tend to be of the hot and puffy variety that's knotted and salty, whether you're buying them at a street vendor or in the bakery of a supermarket. Speciality bakeries are where you'll find the best quality, so be sure to check out the local options around where you're staying.

Berliner Weisse, or Berlin White, is a local beer that's cloudy, sour and delicious offering a satisfying local taste of wheat beer from Northern Germany. It's made from malted barley and wheat, though the malts are prepared in such a way that colour formation is minimised with low temperatures.

This beer is about 5% alcohol by volume and is one of the most popular drinks in the city. You can find some that's produced right in Berlin if you're looking for premier authenticity. It's available virtually everywhere that sells drinks.