Sunday, July 12, 2009

Berlin's Turkey Town

Berlin hosts the largest number of Turkish residents outside Turkey. Berlin's Kreuzberg district can be called Turkey Town although, unlike China Towns everywhere in the world where only Cantonese restaurants abound, the area is not just about Turkish kebab restaurants and travel agencies for Turkish residents but also about Berlin's fourth boho area with an amazingly wide range of restaurants on Oranienstrasse and interesting independent small retail shops (and of course graffiti on the walls). Wandering around the area after getting off U-bahn at Kottbusser Tor is a must when you are in Berlin.

As the last dinner venue in Berlin, we choose Hasir at Adalbertstrasse 10, the restaurant launched by Mehmet Aygun, the Turkish immigrant who invented doner kebab. (More specifically, he's the first to put doner kebab on pita bread, something unheard of in Turkey). I always thought doner was a junk food. In this restaurant, that is not the case. Juicy meat makes doner a proper lamb cuisine. Shish kebab is also fantastic. Turkish tea is properly brewed. And the bill is around 10 euro per person. Simply great.

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