Ishin Sushi Restaurant in Berlin. Photo by Claudius Prößer.

By Susan Buzzelli—

Let’s face it. A Cheapo in Berlin can only eat so many fat- and calorie-laden Döner Kebabs and Currywursts before feeling weighed down. Luckily, Berlin is rife with cheap, healthy, and delicious Asian food joints where budget hunters can fill their bellies for far less than €10.

Here is the lowdown on our favorite Asian eateries in Berlin:

Japanese: Ishin
Mittel Str. 24 (one outlet of a city-wide mini-chain)

Packed to the gills at lunchtime, Ishin offers tasty and authentic Japanese food at shockingly reasonable prices. Though it is only steps from the touristy Friedrich Strasse-Unter den Linden corridor, it is beloved by locals and rarely discovered by tourists.

Dominated by long black tables that you share with other diners, the bright, no-frills space feels like a bustling cafeteria. We love the inexpensive and consistently fresh sushi, but most diners go for the Don, warm rice topped with diverse toppings, such as steamed salmon. Gyoza (fried dumplings) are also popular.

Stop by for dinner or on the weekend, when it’s slightly less jam-packed, to score happy hour prices on sushi (the super filling 18-piece salmon menu is €2 off, making it €8) and other dishes.

Cheapo bonus: The brisk servers drop off a free mug of green tea at your table, which you can re-fill yourself at the sushi counter.

Vietnamese: Manngo and Orchideen Garten

Berlin is particularly well stocked with Vietnamese eateries, but most of these restaurants are surprisingly pricey. Our favorite budget-friendly spot is the tiny Manngo (Mulack Str. 29; off Alte Schönhauser Strasse), but if you really want an insider’s steal, head to the teensy Orchideen Garten (Anklamer Str. 31).

Run with efficiency and friendliness by an extended family, this little neighborhood spot serves up one of the most delicious Phos in town. Prepared to order, the huge bowls of steaming noodle soup, topped with your choice of chicken, tofu, or beef, is garnished with chili and a lemon wedge so that you can adjust the flavor.

We love this place (which happens to be around the corner from this blogger’s Berlin apartment) so much that we’re hesitant to share the address. But the soup, as well as stir fries and barbecued ribs are so good, we can’t keep it to ourselves. Look out for specials.

Since there are only three tables inside, go during off hours to ensure a seat. Alternatively, take a seat at the restaurant on the corner. Owned by the same hard-working family behind the Garten, Lemongrass (Anklamer Str. 38) serves up Thai dishes and sushi in addition to Vietnamese classics.

Korean: Yam Yam
Alte Schönhauser Str. 4

Korean food is the newest addition to Berlin’s trend-obsessed food scene. The cheapest (and, we think, the best) spot opened in 2009 on Mitte’s main shopping drag, Alte Schönhauser Strasse.  Most dishes on the menu at the minimalistic Yam Yam are less than €7—and everything is authentic.

Classic dishes like bulgogi and steamed dumplings integrate organic meat and veggies. And every entrée comes with your choice of “banchan” (side dishes). When in doubt, go for the kimchi (spicy, garlicky, fermented cabbage). Our favorite dish is the freshly steamed dumplings, served piping hot in a steamer basket. If you go for a chili-spiked dish, be sure to order our favorite drink, house-made lemonade. It’s a cooling antidote to the heat.

Pan-Asian: Asian Deli
Lychener Str. 28

We love Asian Deli, despite its tacky yellow and red interior and tiny bamboo bench seats. The reason? Low prices and huge portions, of course. Choose among Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, and Thai dishes.

There isn’t much that’s authentic here, but the Pad Thai is one of the most decent in a town. Show up at lunch, when you can chose between two different soup-entrée combinations for €5.50.

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The new Currywurst Museum opens its doors in Berlin.

Photos and text by Susan Buzzelli in Berlin—

Berlin bursts with street food kiosks specializing in Cheapo-friendly treats. It’s easy to snack on anything from Turkish Döner kebabs to vegan cheeseburgers here. But one speedy snack has been around the longest: the currywurst.

Invented in 1949, currywurst is a colorful concoction of sliced sausage, ketchup-like tomato sauce, and curry powder, served on a ridged cardboard plate with a pile of fries (or a roll) is one of the city’s most iconic meals. The high-fat, high-calorie snack is hardly health conscious, but that doesn’t stop Berliners from snarfing down 70 million currywursts each year!

A grand opening for one hot dog!

This street food standby, available at “Bude” (kiosks) throughout the city (and country) made national headlines this past weekend when the Deutsches Currywurst Museum (Schützen Strasse 70, one block east of Friedrich Strasse, U-bahn: Stadtmitte, open 10 AM to 10 PM daily), nestled on a quiet street around the corner from Checkpoint Charlie and the Mauermuseum, opened its doors.

The low-key grand opening, which featured a dancing sausage and free samples, attracted about 1,500 visitors and a gaggle of pro-vegan protesters dressed in pig and cow costumes (see photo).

Vegan protesters get riled up at the opening.

I was one of the first in line to visit the small museum, which charges a decidedly Cheapo-unfriendly admission of €11 (€8.50 for students). Furnished with a sausage-shaped couch, oversized “drips” of tomato sauce suspended from the ceiling, and a life-sized model of a sausage “Bude,” the museum covers every imaginable aspect of the Currywurst, from its 1949 invention by the Berliner snack stand owner Herta Heuwer to the ecological lifecycle of the snack’s cardboard serving plates. (It even acknowledges—but ultimately dismisses—Hamburg’s rival claim that it is the Currywurst’s true birthplace.)

The privately run museum, which cost €7 million to realize, is full of bells and whistles (including a “prepare-your-own Currywurst” computer game) and fun factoids, but it ultimately disappoints with superficial exhibits (in German and English) that stretch the theme too far.

It takes less than an hour to make your way through the entire museum. Some displays, including four model refrigerators representing the eating habits of different Berlin households, are only loosely linked (at best) to the currywurst.

A bit of currywurst history—for free

The museum’s most interesting display provides a brief history of the snack. Heuwer invented currywurst on September 4, 1949, during the lean, post-World War II years, when food was strictly rationed and Germans had to be creative in the kitchen. Based on the national staple—sausage—and ingredients introduced to the city’s residents by British occupying troops, currywurst struck a cord and became a Berlin institution. She went on to patent her “Chillup” sauce in 1959.

The snack eventually traveled to the rest of the country—and the globe. A map in the museum shows that currywurst is available in Bali, Bangkok, Oklahoma, and New York City, where the German-run sausage shack Hallo Berlin! doles out the Berlin export.

Because of the high admission price and superficial exhibits, I don’t recommend a visit to the museum. But I do encourage you to sample the storied street food at one of the city’s countless currywurst stands. Keep in mind that you may be asked to choose between mild or “scharf” (spicy) sauce or a sausage with or without “Darm” (casing) when ordering.

Where to get a currywurst in Berlin

The two most famous “Bude” are Prenzlauer Berg’s historic Konnopke’s Imbiss (Schönhauser Allee 44a, at the base of the Eberswalder Strasse U-bahn), which has been around since the 1940s, and Kreuzberg’s up-all-night Curry 36 (Mehringdamm 36, U-bahn: Mehringdamm), a draw for the city’s club-goers and bar-hoppers.

Vegans don’t have to miss out: tofu-based varieties are available at the sister vegan eateries Yoyo Food World (Gärtner Str. 27, U-bahn: Frankfurter Tor) in Friedrichshain and Yellow Sunshine (Wiener Str., U-bahn: Görlitzer Bahnhof) in Kreuzberg. Don’t expect to pay more than €5 for your own personal taste of Berlin history.

About the author: A Pittsburgh native, Susan Buzzelli has been a sworn Germanophile since she spent a high school summer as an exchange student in Buxtehude. After stints in Dresden, Munich, and Hamburg she settled (possibly for good) in Europe’s most dynamic city: Berlin. When she isn’t exploring Berlin, she’s traveling throughout Germany (with an occasional hop over the border). Her comprehensive guidebook to Germany, Zeitguide Germany, will be published soon. Look for updates on her website, www.susanbuzzelli.com.

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