Berlin Diaries: Eating Our Way Around Kreuzberg on a Walking Food Tour

When I was researching recommended places to eat prior to our April trip to Berlin, I notice many of my recommended foodie Google Map pins clustering around one area – Kreuzberg . Interestingly, the area is isolated from my Google Map pins signifying my tourist tick list. So what better way to discover Kreuzberg – one of Berlin’s best foodie neighbourhoods – than on a guided walking food tour?

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We booked our Kreuzberg and Neukölln Food Tour via Get Your Guide. If you’d like to check out other options for food tours in Berlin, check out more tours on Get Your Guide!

Why Kreuzberg?

During the Cold War, this part of West Berlin attracted many migrants, many of whom were artists, students and bohemians. Today it’s a multicultural and vibrant neighbourhood that still retains an alternative element. Both Kreuzberg – and neighbouring Neukölln – are popular areas for foreign nationals. Multiple languages are spoken, there’s little need for a car due to public transport access and living costs remain relatively low compared other Berlin districts.

If you want to blend in with locals in Kreuzberg, our guide recommends that we take a walk along the Landwerhkanal to Admiralbrucke where everyone gathers at golden hour to socialise, drink and listen to music. Oranienstraße is a vibrant nightlife hub that combines tradition and modernity, subculture and mainstream. Cafes nestle next to cocktail bars; the cuisine as diverse and colourful as the clientele. Middle Eastern restaurants, European tapas bars and döner kebab takeaways line the streets.

Kreuzberg has such a mix of cultures that reflects in the food. It’s not so much about traditional German cuisine as dishes with a twist, taking inspiration and ingredients from far afield to create what are now classic West Berlin dishes.

Did you know that the döner kebab was invented in West Berlin? Turkish-born German immigrant Kadir Nurman was the first to serve vertically roasted and seasoned meat in a flatbread in 1972.

Why choose this Kreuzberg and Neukölln Food Tour?

We booked the Hidden Flavours of Kreuzberg and Neukölln food tour via Get Your Guide, despite it being a brand new tour with very few previous reviews to trust. Our gamble paid off. Berlin offers other food tours but what set this tour apart was the fact that our guide Gabriel was himself an immigrant, creating a new life in a new city and he was giving us his experience of the best places he had discovered since moving to Berlin and starting a family.

I’ve seen other food tours described which hit some of the most common foodie spots. On this tour however we saw a different perspective, and we visited local spots that we probably wouldn’t have ventured to – or even noticed – independently. Our tour combined local knowledge and lesser-known spots with classic Berlin dishes with a uniquely Kreuzberg twist.

Food Glorious Food: Our experience on the Kreuzberg and Neukölln Food Tour

When we emerge from the underground at Kottbusser Tor we know immediately that we have stepped away from “tourist” Berlin. Much like some areas of Birmingham, this is an extremely ethnic neighbourhood, evident by the people and the shops. In all honesty, it didn’t feel like an area I’d like to linger too long alone after dark. Although running five minutes late our guide Gabriel keeps us informed of his ETA via WhatsApp. We anxiously look for others that may look like they are joining the tour, but it turns out we’re Gabriel’s only guests today. Our small group tour is very small indeed.

Gabriel made Berlin his home six years ago, moving from his native Peru to marry a Berliner. The passion and love for his adopted city shines through. Between stops Gabriel shares fascinating insights into the city, and in particular Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The largest population is Turkish, which explains many of the foodie influences in this area. It’s a fascinating deep dive into an area which is still largely off the typical tourist trail.

Eating our way around Kreuzberg and Neukölln

It’s time for our first dish, and probably the first time I’ve ever eaten a kebab sober and in daylight. We have the most delicious döner kebab from Hasir Restaurant– yes, a kebab in Berlin is to be savoured, not scoffed at 3am whilst waiting for a taxi, a puddle of lettuce gathering at your feet. There’s enough walking between locations to let the food settle a little before the next stop. This time, it’s a schnitzel, fried potatoes and a beer at the popular canal side meeting spot Ankerklause. After seeing the portion size we’re grateful that we have a plate to share. There’s so much that we even ask Gabriel if he wants to dig in.

We stop for a local Berlin schnapps at Bierhaus Urban, a neighbourhood pub that is open 24/7. It tastes suspiciously like brandy and coke. Which is exactly what it turns out to be, although it’s much heavier on the brandy than the coke. It’s name is “Futschi” which is essentially a mild swear word which is acceptable for children to hear. We teach Gabriel the word “fiddlesticks”, a British equivalent. Then it’s time for a currywurst from Gold’s Döner. Unlike other currywurst I’ve sampled previously this isn’t swimming in sauce but manages to make the sausage the star.

Finally, we head for food truck Nor El Din Konditorei Karabella on Hermannplatz, a square with a plethora of Turkish food vendors. Gabriel serves us a typical Middle Eastern dessert known as kunefa, a pastry soaked in syrup with a layer of gooey sweet cheese in the centre which gives a very satisfying cheese pull.

* If you think there’s a distinct lack of food photos on this food tour blog, you’d be right. A sign of a good food tour is when you forget about taking photos because you’re far too focused on the food 🤣*

Getting to Kreuzberg

Kruezberg is located in central-east Berlin. You can easily reach Kottbusser Tor – the starting point of our tour – by taking the U1 or U8. Our hotel was just steps away from the U8 platform at Weinmeisterstrasse which made getting around very easy! We ended our tour near the Hermannplatz U-Bahn station, handy for hopping back on the U8. As our next stop of the day was Oberbaumbrucke and the East Side Gallery we took the U8 to Kottbusser Tor and transferred onto the U1, getting off at Schlesisches Tor

Is a Berlin food tour worth it?

A walking food tour is definitely worth it if you want to visit beyond the tourist areas. There’s a whole different culture around the cuisine of a city and a local-led tour like this one really gets to the heart and flavour – pardon the pun – of the city.

Berlin has so many different eating options that it can be overwhelming even making a simple decision on where to eat and drink. For us, a walking food tour took some of the planning out of our itinerary and allowed us to let our guide curate our menu for us.

Of course if you already know a city well, or have a pre-planned list of food destinations, then a food tour may not be for you. There’s not a lot of choice in what you eat, meaning you have to be open to trying different foods, or go hungry and waste money! I sadly had to sit out a whole pasta course during our Rome Trastevere food tour ( don’t worry, I chose to drink the wine instead 🍷)

Food tours can be great – usually – for meeting other travellers. The group dynamic at our tapas crawl in Seville was part of what made the evening so memorable. However when we met up with Gabriel at Kottbusser Tor it quickly became clear we are the only guests on the tour. But what could feel awkward soon felt like a friend taking us to his favourite spots in the city he now calls home.

If you’re planning on booking a walking food tour, my top tips are to wear comfy shoes and something with a stretchy waistband 😉

Final reflections on our Kreuzberg and Neukölln Food Tour

I have no doubt we’d have sampled currywurst, schnitzel and doner kebab at some point during our stay in Berlin. We’d have probably stood in line at Curry 61 or Mustafa’s Can Gemüse Kebap, along with a host of other tourists who’d seen the same Instagram posts and YouTube videos that I had. What we wouldn’t have had though was the benefit of a knowledgeable guide willing to share his love of the city and its food; someone who might have been a stranger but shared his favourite places as if we were friends.

I’d definitely revisit this area on a return trip, now knowing where the hotspots are – and where to avoid. Gabriel pointed out the areas where locals gather, particularly in the evenings to socialise and listen to music and just enjoy the community.

One last tip? Come hungry. And don’t plan anything too heavy for dinner later on either! We had enough food to keep us going for most of the day. yet we didn’t feel too full. A good food tour like this one will keep dishes spread across several stops and in manageable portions!

This tour wasn’t just about eating. It was about seeing a city and its food though the eyes of a local, someone who has chosen to make this city and this area home. It was about discovering spots we would have never considered independently. And it was about finding out more about how communities, culture and cuisine connect.

You can book this Kreuzberg and Neukölln Food Tour here! Definitely book in advance to guarantee your spot as this is a small group tour. A VERY small group tour in our case 🤣

Have you been to Berlin? What did you think of the food? And I haven’t even touched on the beer here – Berlin’s biergarten scene is legendary!