Specialities in Berlin
Looking at the menu of a typical Berlin restaurant, you can’t help thinking that this might just be the city with the greatest appetite in the world. The organising factor of Berlin’s cuisine is meat in every form. Smoked, roasted, boiled or marinated pork knuckles, suckling lambs and wild boars rule the culinary stage of the capital. Though influenced by various ethnic traditions, the Berliner culinary canon remains quite stable.
Eisbein
Eisbein, literally meaning 'ice leg', is the world-famous Berliner take on cured knuckle of pork. In its most traditional form, it's a heavily marbled piece of pork knuckle covered with a crispy layer of fat. The meat takes hours to be braised, but as a result it's very tender and aromatic. The knuckle is always served with a hearty portion of sauerkraut, mashed peas and boiled or roasted potatoes or potato dumplings. According to local legend, the dish was first prepared around 100 years ago in a small restaurant named Görlitzer Bahnhof.
Berliner Potato Soup
This hearty and filling soup is a smooth cream of potatoes mixed with carrots, as well as a variety of herbs and parsley that give it its characteristic flavour. Chunks of cured meat and various kinds of sausage are also added to the soup. It's best served with a topping of bits of roast onion and accompanied by several slices of fresh rye bread. The Berliner version of potato soup was a special favourite of Kaiser Wilhelm.
Boulette
Boulette is a traditional Berliner fried meatball made from ground beef meat and usually served with mustard, pickled eggs and gherkins. Sometimes it's served in a halved bun, which makes it a local version of the hamburger. Not as heavy as the roast pork knuckle, it's still very filling and is considered by locals one of the best snacks to accompany a large glass of cold beer. It should even satisfy those with the biggest appetite, as most bars serve an extra-large version of this specialty.
Doner Kebab
Foreigners sometimes joke that Berliners seem to think that Doner Kebab is their national specialty. Well, it's actually true. It was the Turkish immigrants inhabiting Berlin's district of Kreuzberg that invented the dish in 1971. The original recipe for a Turkish specialty was simplified and adjusted to western European tastes. Its popularity steadily rose throughout the 70s and 80s, and today it's one of Europe's most popular fast food dishes. Usually, it's a mixture of lamb, beef or chicken strips, various vegetables and sauce served in a Turkish pita. A variety using a durum pancake instead of a pita is also quite popular, though a bit more expensive.
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