September 20, 2019

Berlin, Germany Vegan Travel Guide

The third and final destination on my Europe 2018 trip was Berlin! Please enjoy my Berlin Vegan Travel Guide!

It was a short train ride from Prague to Berlin and a decent, but manageable walk to the hotel since one of the city trains was broken.

I loved the hotel I stayed at because it was located right above a café and had modern decorations. The hotel was also vegan friendly and had the cutest roof top area with some drinks available for purchase.

If I had to pick one word to describe Berlin, then it would be without a doubt “hipster” and I loved every bit of it.

Breakfast/Brunch

Berlin was similar to Prague, where everyone stays up later and wakes up later, so we didn’t explore very many breakfast places or cafes. Instead, we went on a morning run to go exploring around the area, which was very empty in the morning. I did look up some good morning breakfast/brunch cafes if you want to check them out. One was called Let It Be and they serve vegan crepes, but I recently learned they might be closed. The other was called No Milk Today and they serve classic items like scrambled tofu, oatmeal, and pastry goodies.

Numas

I did find this great healthy juice and smoothie shop that was conveniently right by our hotel. I tried their Green Smoothie, which taught me that smoothies were more like juice haha, but it was exactly what I needed to start my day.

Lunch

Momos

I noticed a trend that many places with great vegan food reviews serve Asian infused food. This dumpling joint beautifully served up some delicious dumplings. I ordered the Momo’s Vegan Experience to be able to try all their dumplings and sauces. This entailed Mushroom-Potato, Pumpkin-Chickpea, Potato-Cabbage-Carrot, and Broccoli-Shiitake-Tofu dumplings with Soy-Sesame, Lemon-Mint, and Spicy Ginger Tomato dipping sauces. I tried every combination of dipping and they all tasted great. After I ordered their Think Pink dessert, which was a raspberry sorbet with pink peppers, and it was the perfect end to a great meal.

The Bowl Bistro

Conveniently right by the U bahn station was this great spot serving up some delicious healthy and fresh vegan dishes. For an appetizer, I ordered the Baked Battered Cauliflower with Sweet Fiery Chili Sauce, which was the best “cauliflower wings” I have ever had and it wasn’t oily and greasy. For entrees, I got to try their Watermelon Cucumber Pesto Salad and Falafel Bowl. They were both great resets to get back on a plant-based diet. My favorite was the salad because it was incredibly refreshing, and I actually want to try to recreate it.

Alpenstueck Bäckerei

I was determined to find the best soft pretzel while in Berlin and I did just that! Located less than a mile away from the hotel was this little café that many raved about their soft pretzels. I was in love. These soft pretzels are nothing like the ones you get at sporting events or music concerts back in the United States. These were much more authentic and were well baked on the outside and soft on the inside.

Dinner

Vegan Food by Attila Hildmann

I found a ton of articles about chef Attila Hildmann and everyone raved about his burger joint, so I added it to my list. I went a bit out of my way to catch the U Bahn and walk to find this place but it was completely worth it! I tried their Daisha Burger, which was an Asian take on a burger, where the rice and nori were the bun. I also tried the Chili Cheese Burger, which was filled with delicious vegan chili. The burgers were delicious, but I didn’t stop there and ordered some fries and Matcha Soft Serve. I was so happy I got to try it out. It was everything I could have hoped and dreamed for and I loved dipping my fries in the matcha haha. There were cookies, chocolates, and spreads on display as well, so I couldn’t resist buying some Matcha Cookies, and Matcha White Chocolate!

Savory Chay

Just off the beaten path, we came across this great Chinese/Japanese restaurant that was serving vegan options. I found this place by researching around and reading some reviews. I ordered a vast array of items such as their Chia Aloe Vera Lemonade, Vegan Chicken Skewers with Teriyaki Soba Noodles, Vegan Mango Steak Salad, Vegan Hacao, and of course for dessert Coconut Mango Sticky Rice. I was shocked at how realistic the Vegan Chicken and Vegan Steak were and the flavors for all the dishes were spot on delicious. I am always a bit more particular with my Asian food, but this was fantastic!

Sweets

Brammibal’s Donuts

As soon as I came across these vegan donuts when looking for vegan desserts, I immediately made it a mission to find this place. In fact, I arrived right at opening and was the first one there to make sure I had a full selection of donuts to choose from because I had read that they run out of their donuts fast. I narrowed my selection down to four donuts haha, which were Peanut Butter and Jelly, Pina Colada, Lemon Curd, and Coffee Banana. My favorite two flavors were the Lemon Curd and Pina Colada. To this day I still dream about these amazing donuts, but I am grateful to at least have Voodoo Doughnuts in Denver to cure my cravings.

Chaostherorie

Another amazing find while looking for great vegan desserts was this joint! They were serving up some amazing Vegan Milkshakes and I got to try their Vegan Hazelnut Wafer Milkshake and Vegan Snickers Milkshake. It wasn’t my plan to order two, but the first one was so delicious, I had to go back and try their other flavor. I highly recommend checking this place out!

Wald Konigsberger Marzipan

I had never tried marzipan before, but my boyfriend, whose family lives in Austria, said we needed to find good marzipan while we were in Berlin. I didn’t question him when I found out it was a dessert, haha. We took the U Bahn and walked a bit to reach this little family owned shop. They handed us a free sample to try the marzipan, which is an almond paste, and I was shocked at how smooth and light it tasted. We ended up buying blocks of pure marzipan and I wish we had bought more. I have yet to find another marzipan that is as good as the one we got in Berlin.

Drinks

As much as I wanted to try going to a nightclub and seeing the crazy Berlin nightlife that everyone talks about, we didn’t have a ton of time in Berlin and I didn’t want to give up a day of exploring for a night of partying. So, we decided to check out some great craft beer bars that had good reviews.

Mikkeller

This was probably our favorite out of the two and it could be because we had a great time talking with the bartender, but the beer was great too. At least from my boyfriend’s rating, he said it was great. I am no craft beer expert and I usually either like or don’t like the beer. The shop wasn’t very big and it’s a great place if you want good beer to go with good company. Be sure to try their spirits that are distilled from their stout beer as well!

Kaschk

We were able to check out this place because it was close to our hotel and it was more of a dive bar, but they had a great list of beers on tap and my boyfriend loved everything he tried. So, I will have to take that as a win and a great place for craft beer.

Areas to Explore

Berlin has so much history throughout it, albeit a sad history. It is critical that you take the time to soak in everything that the city has gone through. Below are some of my favorite spots I was able to visit.

East Side Gallery (Bernauer Strasse)

If you want to see the long stretch of Berlin Wall all painted and colorfully decorated, then you want to head over to the East Side Gallery. I made the mistake of thinking that the Berlin Wall Memorial had the iconic stretch of wall, but it is actually at the East Side Gallery. I highly recommend taking a stroll and snapping a couple of pictures. There was a great food truck on our walk back from the East Side Gallery to the U Bahn station that was serving up the best Vegan Currywurst as well!

Reichstag

This was a sight to see. It was almost chilling looking at this building and it definitely made me feel like I was in Germany. The Reichstag is the Capital Building and it stands very prompt and is quite the sight to see.

Brandenburg Gate

Not far from the Reichstag you can walk through the Brandenburg Gate, which is a large gate that is the symbol of Berlin. This is a heavy tourist area, but I like to think I did a great job of capturing the gate and cropping out the massive amounts of tourists below haha.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews

Continuing our way through all the tourist destinations we walked over to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews. The design of the memorial was very interesting in that as you walk towards the center of the memorial the sculptures become taller and eventually it’s like you’re in a maze. I spent some time walking around and exploring the sobering memorial.

Alexanderplatz

This touristy area has many shops and restaurants. I would recommend coming here on the weekend for the farmer’s market. I was able to pick up some fresh cherries that were incredibly sweet. Besides that, I ran around the area in the morning, but I didn’t eat at any of the places here.

I had a great time exploring Berlin and the only thing I wish I could have done was experience the nightlife because I know that is a big deal in Berlin. I was starting to get a little worn out from trying to do and see everything, so I was too exhausted by the end of each day to even attempt to try and go out to the clubs or bars. But that just gives me an excuse to come back one day!

Please enjoy my Berlin Vegan Travel Guide helps you on your next trip! Let me know how you like it in the comments below or on social media!

– Janelle