When that craving for food hits, we’ve got you covered. And it can happen at almost any time. So be thankful for Berlin street food.
Some of it is awful. But much of it is great – and it’s what makes Berlin such a foodie City. You don’t have to spend big euros to get a marvellous meal.
It is impossible to talk about German food without the sausage or “Wurst” in German.
As a chef I am a tough critic. Be it, street food or sit down if I can make it better at home I am not interested. So it took me a long time to try Grillrunner.
It’s a simple concept.
Grillrunners have a portable grill mounted on a harness with, on their backs, a tank of gas big enough to grill 450 to 500 sausages. A plexiglass sneeze guard protects the sausages and bread rolls.
An umbrella jutting up from the device keeps off rain and anything the birds might drop.
And finally, on their front, sits a tray of sizzling sausages. They like to see themselves as Wurst Warriors or Sausage Soldiers! The usual price is €1.50 so how good could must that be!
You see them all over Berlin but there’s a big concentration in Alexanderplatz ( or der Alex as we Berliners call it) .
I avoided knowing about this – sort of food snobbery – until one day I left my gym in the Alexa Mall and faint from hunger I bought one out of desperation. It was with great surprise that I bit into a snappy skin and as the taste of sausage and mustard mingled on my tongue I realized, this was really good.
The product is a high quality Bratwurst. Get it with bread and mustard, never ketchup as it masks the flavour.
I have since had many of these sausages, and although no longer faint with hunger they still present a tantalizing taste sensation.
As you walk down the street with your crisp mustard covered sausage in the fresh baked roll you will be a real Berliner.