These days, you can’t throw a stone without hitting a Currywurst stand in Berlin. Just follow the sweet smell of a deep fryer and you won’t be disappointed. But if you want an extra special experience, here are a few picks:

Krasselts
Steglitzer Damm 22
Web site

Leave the likes of Konnopke’s to the amateurs. Get off the tourist circuit and get yourself to Steglitz. If not for the Turmkunst, a stop at Krasselts is well worth the trek to the residential district. Instead of the common ketchup, the owner uses a tomato sauce made from a “secret” recipe.

For those of us who like to eat on the go, there’s also a far less messy option: pork on the stick. If there’s a line, it’s not because the place is conveniently located (it’s not). It’s because Krasselts’ Currywurst really is all that.

Bier’s Ku’Damm 195
Kurfürstendamm 195

When you’re done sweeping through the department stores and boutiques of Charlottenburg, head down to Bier’s. Better yet, go there late at night—and you might see society folks in tuxedos and evening gowns. Don’t act all surprised. It’s Kurfürstendamm—naturfürlich you can order champagne with your Currywurst or shish kebab. (This being Berlin, of course, everything’s still affordable.)

Curry 36
Mehringdamm 36
Web site

I know, I know, every guide book mentions this place—and for a good reason. Open into the wee hours, this snack bar, nay, “legendary institution” serves up fresh-off-the-grill sausages smeared with plenty of sauce. The brusque Berliner service is part of the charm.

A magnet for club-goers and bar-hoppers, this lively joint is the perfect place to eat, chat with strangers and watch the sun rise after a long night out. Don’t forget the sauteed onions and fries. You need some veggies and carbs for a balanced meal.

Currywurst Museum
Schützenstraße 70
Web site

Just steps away from Checkpoint Charlie, this compact museum is perfect for the diehard fans. While the admission fees are steep (€7-€11), they do include a complimentary serving of Currywurst. You can watch a documentary called “The Best of Wursts” (rim shot, please), listen to Herbert Groenemeyer’s 1982 rock tribute, browse a 3-D map of Currywurst stands in the city, or trace the history of snacking back to 4,000 BC (popcorn, if you must know). It’s Teutonically thorough fun.

Mobile Wurst

It’s technically not a Currywurst place, but this innovative business model deserves a mention. Men sporting a grill like a backpack hang out on the street, serving pipin’ hot brats for around €1.20. You’ll see them moving about across Mitte, but you can always count on running into one outside the Friedrichstrasse and Alexanderplatz stations.

The post Berlin: The best Currywurst in town appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

——-

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.

The post Berlin Museum Review: The best of the (curry)Wurst appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.