In 2013,
when we were last in Berlin, there were a couple of good places for a Berlin budget vegan food. Since then, the Berlin budget vegan scene has
gone totally insane, in a good way.
There are signs for vegan food wherever you look and it would be a year’s work to try all the options available. As with any food scene that goes trenderiffic (curry wurst, I’m looking at you), bad apples are popping up everywhere, threatening to spoil the bunch.
We made it our mission to find the best vegan cheap eats in Berlin and taste them for you. We also scoured the streets for nearby alternatives, in case your chosen Berlin budget vegan restaurant is mysteriously closed when you get there.
(This happens all the time in Berlin! Plan ahead.)
From least expensive to most, here’s all the Berlin budget vegan food we tried, with honest opinions about each option.
Vegan & Vegetarian
Fehrbelliner Str. 5, U Senefelderplatz
Photo via Momo.
This tiny lunch spot is hidden away on a residential street. It’s popular with office workers on their lunch break, so expect the tables to be busy if you go between noon and 1:30pm. Inspired by a trip they took to Nepal, Marc and Martin serve plates of small dumplings called momos. Veggie-friendly adventurers, our favourite kind of people!
The dumplings come in six flavours (2 veg, 4 vegan) with a choice of three dips and three plate sizes. The piping hot little pockets were tasty and filling; a medium plate of 14 momos made a terrific lunch.
Price for a vegan meal:
Plate of 14 fried momos with dip: €6.90
Did you know? If you like tall, fit German men with friendly smiles, you will want to visit Momo. Trust me.
Nearby: Cold-pressed juices, healthy shakes, and vegan salads are on offer at
Daluma, Weinbergsweg 3.
Il Casolare, Kreuzberg
Vegan Options (if you ask), Serves Meat
Grimmstr. 30, Berlin, Kottbusser Brücke
If you have a hankering for a traditional Italian pizza, but the closest you can get to Italy is Berlin, then Il Casolare has your back. Il Casolare is staffed by exceptionally grumpy waitresses, who give the impression that speaking to customers is way below their pay grade. Fortunately, the food makes up for the unpleasantries. It’s not a vegan pizza place and you won’t find anything vegan on the menu, but just order one of their selection of veggie pizzas ohne käseand you’ll be transported straight to Italia with the first bite.
Il Casolare has two sister branches in Berlin. Il Ritrovo in Friedrichshain (Gabriel-Max-Str. 2) and I Due Forni in Prenzlauer Berg (Schönhauser Allee 12).
Price for a vegan meal:
Generous personal pizza: about €7
Did you know? Rumour has it that Quentin Tarantino eats at Il Casolare when he is in Berlin.
Nearby: Just across the river at Erkelenzdamm 49 is
Viasko, which will break your budget, but will also fill your belly with vegan delights.
Vegan Options, Serves Fish
Zossener Str. 18, U Gneisenaustr.
Packed out pretty much every time I’ve been there, Sushi Cube won’t win any awards for swift service or relaxed dining. But, it does have an amazing selection of veggie and vegan sushis on the menu at a terrific price. We found it impossible to ask our busy waitress for a glass of water, let alone to find out if the tempura batter has eggs in it, so ask before you order. If it does, there are lots of options that don’t involve any batter at all.
Did you know? In summer, you can enjoy your sushi out on the sidewalk tables – oh so European.
Price for a vegan meal:
Two filling sushi rolls: around €8
Nearby: Planet Veganus is a small vegan bistro just around the corner on Schenkendorfstrasse 1.
Vegan
Innstr. 26, Geygerstr.
After failing to eat at
Sfizy (randomly closed until some day in February) and
Let it Be (doesn’t open until 4pm), I found myself at Pêle-Mêle, a homey little restaurant on a side street in Neukölln. What was going to be just a back-up plan turned into one of
the best budget vegan meals I had in Berlin.
The veggie-burger is a homemade green spelt patty topped with fresh, crisp veggies on a sesame bun. And it was damn tasty. After lunch, I treated myself to a slice of hazelnut chocolate cake for dessert, which was iced with a caramel-like peanut butter topping. Yum.
Did you know?
Pêle-Mêle does an organic vegan gourmet brunch every Sunday from 10am to 3pm. This is a must-eat on my list for next time we’re in Berlin.
Price for a vegan meal:
Veggie burger: €6.50
Side of potato wedges: €2.50
Nearby:The pizza at all-vegan
Sfizy is supposed to be great. Next time we’re in Berlin, maybe I’ll have an update for you.
Vegan & Vegetarian
10777 Berlin, U Viktoria-Luise-Platz
There was a time, about three months into
our cycling trip through China, that I thought I would never be able to eat Chinese food again. That time has passed, so I was excited to find out about Tianfuzius, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in upmarket Schöneberg. Tianfuzius is decked out to impress the well-to-do locals, with a modern, chic take on an ancient Chinese villa. You could easily spend €50 per person on a splash-out meal here.
But, just like the
upscale vegetarian restaurants in China, the dim sum section of the menu offers affordable filling options on a budget. They have a range of dumplings including Xiao Long Bao, Bao Zi, and Jiao Zi for less than €5 a plate. While my order of Bao didn’t compare to the fluffy cloud-like buns of perfection that came from street vendors in remote villages in China, they were pretty good. At least I could be sure I wasn’t going to bite into a bun full of pig!
If you want to splurge, come and try the Mapo Tofu and Green Beans with Mountains of Chilis (my name for them) that we so fondly remember from our time in China.
Did you know? Tianfuzius also offers a lunch box special (Japanese Bento style) for less than €10.
Price for a vegan meal:
Soup plus an order of dumplings: €9
Nearby:
It’s a bit of a trek, but Chay Village on Eisenacher Str. 40 does veggie and vegan Vietnamese food and is the closest good option in the area.
Vegan
Kastanienallee 89, Schwedter Str.
Our meal at Cat Tuong was easily the best we had in Berlin. We were excited to have the chance to sample some Vietnamese delights without
having to pick through our food for random bits of pork or tiny dried shrimp! The menu made us want to come back multiple times, because there was so much we wanted to try.
The crispy Banh Xeo pancake was as tasty as we remember from
the market in Ha Noi and our main courses were rich and flavourful, while being completely different from each other. The best part about Cat Tuong’s meals is how they use thin slices of seitan and mushroom to recreate the delicate pieces of pork (or chicken or dog) so prevalent in Vietnamese cooking.
Price for a vegan meal:
One main dish: €9
Did you know?
Cat Tuong is a famous Vietnamese actress (but the word also means something like “Fortune”).
Nearby:Fill up on vegan salads, wraps, and scrumptious fries at
Fast Rabbit on Eberswalder Str. 1.
Bonus Listing: Vegan Grocery Store Veganz
Vegan
Locations in Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, and Prenzlauer Berg
As proof that Berlin has been possessed by vegan insanity (hooray), there is a chain of vegan grocery stores in the city. Yes, you heard that right. A CHAIN of VEGAN grocery stores. Anyway, they sell every vegan product you’ve ever heard of but can’t get in your town back home.
Gardein? Yup, with more varieties than we could ever find in Canada, where the stuff is made! Beyond Meat? You betcha? Veganaise? Yes, again with more different kinds than I knew existed. Plus, there are oodles of types of Europeanvegan cheese slices and yogurts which are actually good!
While there is a minor snobbery among Berlin’s vegan populace about vegan
“products” (yes, yes, we should all eat raw beans and kale the whole time) for travellers with access to a kitchen, Veganz is tha bomb! Combine some of their non-meat products with a plate full of veggies from the Turkish market and you have a tasty, nutritious vegan meal for well under €10.
Want even more budget vegan
Berlin?
There are about 476 (give or take) budget vegan places we didn’t get to try in
Berlin, not to mention all the high-end vegan restaurants in Berlin.
Check out these blogs for even more Berlin budget vegan restaurants (plus some fancier ones for splurge nights):
♥ Happy adventures (in vegan eating), Stephen & Jane
http://www.myfiveacres.com/
