Haben zie vegetarianisch essen?

Ahhhh, Berlin. When its trying, it can really be the most charming city in the world!

I decided to make a stay in Berlin for a few days/weeks before going to Brussels, and I'm so relaxed I hardly want to leave. Its perfect weather, I'm in Kreutzberg, the coolest part of town, and I'm just starting to pick up enough German to ask if things are vegan. (Well, I'm not QUITE there yet, but getting closer all the time.) At any rate, I know all the good curse words. From what I've gathered during my cultural studies, Berliners are particularly fond of three things: parks, poetry, and coffee. Could this be my dream city?!

In terms of food, I've been spending most of my time around the southeast part of town, enjoying the various coffee-shops, bakeries, ice-cream stores and doner stands that have vegetarian offerings. But let's face it, I want real food, and meine Deutch- freund just does not eat often enough. So I had to pack off on my own for a bit, and made a pilgrimage to Hans Wurst, the famous vegan restaurant in Prenzlauerberg. I didn't take any pictures of the food, but it was marvelous. I had a tofu and pumpkin kebab in curry with rice, with a sweet cucumber-berry compote on the side. After how much I had been craving some tofu this was really thrilling. The place was also a bit of a D.I.Y. mecca it seems, with a crafts corner and wide variety of zines, along with a artistic and concert line-up. Nice for me, the menu was double printed in English and German. I will definitely be heading back, if I can figure out how to get there a little bit more efficiently than walking from Alexanderplatz next time.

I also found a cool vegetarian restaurant in Kreutzberg, but I'm not so sure that its vegan, called Naturkost Seerose. This place has awesome fresh juices (like a fizzy carrot-apple that rocked my world) and a buffet of salads and warm offerings, of various vegan-ness.
During the afternoon there is always a friendly group sitting out front, and inside there is charming music and jugendstile furniture. I dig it and I'll be back.

I have a few more weeks here so I definitely plan on straying out of Kreutzberg more often and finding some of cool restaurants everyone else has mentioned during their travels. One helpful resource isBerlin-Vegan, a guide to vegan culture in and around Berlin. In the meantime, I WILL get around to cooking something, one of these days. Something other than coffee, that is.

Song of the Day: Barbara Morgenstern- Come to Berlin