Friday, August 14, 2015

My Berlin Food Journey – Part 3 To kebab or not to kebab

Or is it to kebap or not to kebap…

From my last post (
My Berlin Food Journey – Part 2 Hasir) you saw how big Turkish food is in Berlin. I know when I think of Turkish food I think of kebab.

When I lived in Australia one of my favourite foods was yiros, basically what we call kebabs in Australia. Don’t ask me why. Like any food you have your hit and misses but generally most yiros shops were pretty good. There were two places in Adelaide that were my favourite, Andy’s yiros and Yiros house. Funnily enough I use to go the most with my mum. We went probably once every few months when I lived there and now every time I visit home we head to Yiros house at least once. It’s become a tradition I really look forward to.

When I moved to the UK I was told the yiros was just called a kebab and there was a shop on every corner. I was super excited until I tried them. They were nothing like in Australia, in fact they were pretty gross and I can see why they are only really eating when people are hammered after a big night out! I am sure there are some good places in London, but I am yet to find one.

I now tend to steer away from the kebab at all costs, so when I was planning my trip to Berlin and a friend said you must have a kebab I didn’t take him seriously and just ignored it. It wasn’t till we were in Berlin and our hosts said it was a must that I decided to give it a go.

The guys suggest there local
La Fiamma
Kottbusser Damm 31
10967 Berlin
Germany
Kreuzberg



I had the traditional doner kebab lamb meat in bread with salad and garlic sauce.


t was ridiculously good. Different to the yiros from Australia but a good different. The bread was so soft, meat was tender and full of flavour and the salad was nice and fresh. Although I had already eaten a lot that day I was still able to nearly finish the whole thing and it was huge.

One of the friends I was with was not a fan of red meat and the other was a vegetarian so for them we went down the road a bit to
Urfa Kebap
Kottbusser Damm 33
10967 Berlin
Germany
Kreuzberg


They got a chicken doner and a vegetable and halloumi doner. They both looked amazing and the girls gave great reviews.

Next on our kebab journey of Berlin is the famous Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap.
Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap
Mehringdamm 32
10961 Berlin
Germany


Do you ever have a flashback to something and then when you look into it, that flashback was totally made up! That happen to me in Berlin. When we were walking along Mehringdamm and I saw a big queue for a kebab cart called Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap I had a flashback to a show I had watched a few years back called Anthony Bourdain No Reservations – Berlin. It was due to this flash back I decided we had to go there and eat! Turns out my flashback was a lie, as it wasn’t in that episode and from a bit of internet searching it doesn’t look like Anthony Bourdain has even been to Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap. I’m sure I must have seen it on some show I just have no idea which show!

I’m not upset that my mind was playing tricks on me though because we went and it was awesome.

Other than my fictional memory of one my favourite chefs/authors/television personality giving this place a great review, you could tell it was going to be pretty damn good from the giant queue of people. We first passed by on a Saturday and it was crazy. People must have been lining up for over an hour for food. We decided to go back on our last day, a Monday, for lunch. The queue was still huge!


We waited probably about 45mins. The guys that work here are insane, working in this tiny little box from 10am to 2am.


The wait was worth it though, tender meat, tasty fried vegetables and delicious sauces. It was super tasty and whatever the secret marinade is, it’s fantastic!


I can’t really compare it to the one I had at La Fiamma because I had the chicken doner here and the lamb at La Fiamma. They were both great.

The funniest part of my fictional flashback of the Berlin episode of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations was not that Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap wasn’t on it, it was that Hasir’s was! (My Berlin Food Journey – Part 2 Hasir)

Check it out below, parental discretion advised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLhV6sXExSs
I had completely forgotten Hasir was on this episode. I was lucky my hosts were in the know, so I got to go. When we went to Hasir’s I knew we were going out for a big German meal that night so I decided not to have a doner kebab…which after watching the show again I am kind of regretting. At least I can use needing to go back to Hasir’s for an excuse to go back to Berlin! Will have to swing past La Fiamma and Mustafa’s again to *cheeky smiles*

 

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