Vegan testing in Berlin

When I was in Berlin last week I used the opportunity to do a testrun of several at least partially vegan establishments. The idea of food not made by me has a certain allure. And vegan Pizza was the lure that took me to Friedrichshain, to a vegan restaurant called Yoyo, it's on Gaertnerstr. 27. I had a very good vegan tuna pizza, surprisingly I even liked the fake cheese. One thing I didn't like was the wooden plate it came on. I mean, is that even sanitary? I must have eaten several chunks of wood along with my pizza. Not that that stopped me from wolfing the whole thing down. They use the vantastic foods veggie fishburger for the tuna, and cheezly mozzarella substitute, the dough itself was nice and thin and crusty. Also a nice plus is that they carry vegan snickers-bar-alikes for dessert. When I took a stroll to the Chapati store, I came along an icecream parlor that offers several flavors of vegan icecream. I had a serving of peanut icecream, which was very good, and a taste of hazelnut (even better) and mango (possibly better still). And here I had thought I'd have to miss out on the summery fun of public icecream cone licking.

The next day I had several destinations on my list, the first was Rebellion des Zimtsterns in Kreuzberg, Schlesische Str. 38. I have to say the street numbers in Berlin render me frequently confused. I walked by this place, and only saw the flag with the name on it when I turned back after a while of fruitless searching. It looked closed, even though it was at least half an hour after it's supposed opening time. No lights, no people, no sign. I don't know what made me try the door, which surprisingly opened. This place is mostly vegetarian, and since I didn't want cake for breakfast, it seemed my only choice were the plintzen. I was a bit taken aback when the waitress/owner brought me a plate with 2 tiny rolls of crepe-like pancakes. I mean, tiny. They were gooey inside, and I don't think they had a filling, but, I was hungry, so I ate them anyway. For 3.90 Euro this was not a lot of food. There was also a tiny side of apple slices with two half grapes, which tasted weird. Coffee wasn't really good, either. I wouldn't come here for breakfast again, unless their menu options were to change. They offer ricepudding and grits, but not in vegan versions.

Still hungry I spent at least an hour at the Kreuzberg Chapati store, and, with a large bag of awesome clothing, went to the Veganladen. When I finally found the store (seriously, Berlin, what's wrong with odd numbers on one side of the street and even on the other?), I was surprised how small it is. I'd been looking forward to the vegan shoe selection, which is housed in a tiny corner. But, it turned out I didn't have any energy left for shoe shopping, so I grabbed a few items like Panda raspberry licorice and left. It's a nice touch that they carry flour tortillas for making burritos at home.

My next adventure took me to a place called Yorck 52, on Yorckstr. 52 in Schoeneberg. I went around 5 pm, had a good, if small, coffee. Unfortunately, most things on the menu were not to be had. They were in a meeting all day, so food preparation was neglected. I didn't feel like a brownie, which was the only item sitting in the case, so I opted to go somewhere else for food. When I asked the waitress/owner to confirm their opening time, she told me they're supposed to open at 10, but most of them are always late, so it would be safe to come at 10:30. I was very glad I hadn't stuck with my original plan of going there at 10 for breakfast. It's probably not all that surprising the people running this place all still have dayjobs.