Drinking Out Berlin

 In Berlin, it is harder to get a drip coffee than it is to get booze.  I can name a handful of places near the hotel where we could buy cheap beer.  But coffee?  I would have to consult Yelp.  Sadly, yes, I used Yelp as a reference.  And it is true, the same assholes are writing reviews overseas as they are here in the US. However, if I found a restaurant/bar with only reviews in German, I held those to a higher regard than reviews with 50+ and in exclusively English. Legal drinking age is 16 and the parties don't stop till 8 in the morning. 

So as noted in my previous post, drip coffee is like a unicorn.  It is hard to find good coffee. Much of Europe is on the espresso train. .  Meaning lattes, doppio espresso and cappuccinos.   When we did find drip coffee, it was bad. I usually do not partake in lattes as they have a good amount of real milk and me and a good amount a real milk do not mix.  I can handle the fermented variety, yogurts and cheeses but milk in its purest homogenized and pasteurized form is like poison to me. I figured, why the hell not! I'm going to drink lattes made by the milk of cows because soy or almond was not really an option and like the chickens, they probably lived better a life than those from home. For the most part it was good.  We usually shared so it wasn't a whole lot of milk. And I love latte art! 

Voo Store is something of my dreams.  Pretty clothing and a coffee shop? Emoji Hearts!!!

They were prepping for the Hoff's NYE performance. 

There was one spot in Berlin that did have good drip coffee Silo Coffee. Judging by the fact that we couldn't get a seat, that this place was pretty popular. They served The Barn roasted beans.  So then we took a trip to the Barn and had a latte. Fuck, that's two document lattes. Still nothing at this point. So thumbs up!

Then there is Club Mate. AKA turnt up juice. I fell in love with this so much.  I miss it.

I loved it so much, that I didn't document it. So I took a screen cap of the drink you can make with it. If only I could smuggle it in like the man who wore 94 iPhones.

Beer called Bier.  Creative and tasty. Perfect paring for burgers. 

#tourist

The hotel bar was a favorite of ours.  We met a fellow American that bartended that missed pastrami sandwiches. You can get a Club Mate and vodka. It was also smoke free. 

In a sea of cheap bottled beer there was craft brewery. Hops and Barley

Because why not a tiki bar in Germany? They also played Punk-o-Rama CDs.

I liked the symbol. You could also smoke in the bars.  Which was got pretty unbearable and is what probably lead to the flu like bug we caught. We bought a shirt here and now the name of the bar escapes me. 


Then....

After a night of bar hopping in Kreuzberg, getting off the train one stop early, discovering a falafel spot, then craving pomme frites, the photobooth hapened. The night started off looking for a bar on the second floor above a liquor store.  A typicalbar shift in Berlin is 11pm to 8am. The. Fuck. We knew the bartender through family and she was super nice and bought us a shot.  Which is the smallest shot ever.  Then to the tiki bar, then the bar that we bought a shirt from then going back to the hotel. Which God knows how we actually remembered how to get there. We also had two beers in tow and when woke up there was one. Because that is what you do in Berlin. 

Eating Out Berlin

Berlin is magical. The tap water is drinkable but no restaurant will serve it to you and a drip coffee is almost nonexistent.  Here the currywurst and pomme frites are so abundant, they should be  a currency.  The bars seemingly have no last call and if after last call, you can find the right falafel stand that will serve you a cold bottled beer or tiny bottle of Jager to get you to your next destination.  At 2am,the doner kabab you bought with your Berliner is the best idea you had and you will swear that this is true the next morning.  

Breakfast is the weakest link in the food chain. When most of the restaurants open at 9am and you are jetlagged, the hangry becomes very real. As per the usual, the egg yolks were orange which I have come to terms with. Not because it is weird, but because these chickens probably live a richer life than their chicken friends in the USA.  

Oh yeah, it snowed.  Good thing we were prepared. My parents got me a new jacket and I got a puffy Basquiat puffy jacket from Uniqlo that I wore under that kept, at least the top part of me, warm. Also note, that the "bouncing soles" of my Dr. Martins stopped bouncing in the snow.  They froze. 

The only acceptable sauce for pommes frites is ketchup. I applaud the effort though. The more condiments the better.

Just a normal pic with the Eisbaren Berlin mascot.

Kantine Kohlmann Sometimes you find amazing places when your not looking for it.  Shane knew what he was looking for, but we couldn't find it online. So we took a little walk around Kreuzberg and found Kantine Kholmann right by a Hedgehog bar. It was comfort food for the weary travelers.  Wiener schnitzel, German Potato salad, with a small side of blood sausage. 

You can tell how what season this was taken.  Where are the greens?

Tommi's Burger. Not Tommy's. No chili, just a great burger with some Bier. I over heard a conversation they guys working were having about going to California. Perfect medium burger.  Then we got lost. 

When you are ready to turn up, call me. 

Because Balls.

The hotel we stayed at had a 5 course meal for NYE. Each "course" had a theme.  Course is in quotes because it was like 5 mini meals.  We stayed at the Michelberger Hotel.  At around midnight, we stepped out to celebrate on the streets and to say it was crazy was an understatement. It was cray! I saw guns shot, fireworks in all directions! 

 

I ate sea beans.  I can also get behind house cured salmon. 

Our favorite breakfast was at the hotel.  

Oh you know, giant pomme frites with ketchup.

I wanted to eat all the Haribo! So many varieties it was candy heaven.

Free cheesecake is becoming something of a theme when we travel. In Thailand at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, we were given a free piece of cheesecake.  At the hotel bar, we again, offered a free slice of cheesecake. It must be something in our eyes  We were talking to the bartenders, because, that is what we do.  Like we are silently begging for a slice. Or it is the world telling us that we were in the right place. 

For the Love of Wieners

This is the Part 1 of the few posts about our trip to Berlin and Prague.  The one thing that they both had in common was a love for the encased meat.

You know how New York has the dirty water dog and LA has the bacon wrapped street dog but there, it is a whole other level of hot doggyness. Let's start in Prague.

It has to be love when what seems like a wiener shop chain depicts a gentleman with a wiener in his mouth.  The one above was taken in Kunta Hora, CZ, the one below in Prague.  

I guess it's a pretty popular place. Kosteleke uzeniny. From what I gather, to have this hanging from your establishment is like having the stamp of good taste. This I can only assume. I mean, why else would you have a picture of a dude with a wiener in your mouth if it wasn't in good taste? 

Okay, so maybe it's a Eastern European thing to have your picture taken or drawn whilst eating.  

I mean...errr... it's all about preference in wieners. Either way, they are all good looking.  I feel they have skimped on the mustard though.

These tasty sausages were from Nase Maso. We found this place just walking around and I am so glad we got to eat here. To say that they were tasty is an understatement. The place was awesome and they took a lot of pride in the meat they sourced and the product they put out.  It was so refreshing to see.  They owner worked the cash register. They also took a lot of pride in their beer tap that looked like water fountain. 

The wiener couch at the Currywurst Museum.  Yes, the pinnacle of culture, a museum dedicated to the street food of Berlin.

A map of all the currywurst in all the land! 

I can make your currywurst. Hey yo!

What goes best with currywurst? Pomme frites!

It looks like a phone but it just played songs about currywurst.

At the end of it, we got a little sample. They best part, the little wood fork things! They are actually perfect!