🇩🇪Berlin, Germany

The Currywurst Pilgrimage

A street food so beloved it has its own museum. Eat it at the source.

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Why this dish?

Currywurst was invented in Berlin in 1949 by Herta Heuwer, a snack stand owner in Charlottenburg who mixed ketchup with Worcestershire sauce and curry powder and poured it over a grilled pork sausage. In a city rebuilding itself from rubble, it became an instant hit. Today, Berlin consumes more than 70 million currywurst a year. There is a museum dedicated to it.

This pilgrimage is not about fine dining. It is about the particular pleasure of eating something humble, perfectly executed, in the city that invented it - standing up, from a cardboard tray, with a small wooden fork, watching Berlin go about its business.

Our Picks

Curry 36

Address: Mehringdamm 36, Berlin Kreuzberg
What to order: Currywurst ohne Darm (without casing) mit Pommes. Specify heat: mild, mittel, or scharf.
Book ahead: No reservations. Queue at the counter.
Pro tip: Without casing (ohne Darm) is the Berlin preference - softer texture, sauce penetrates better. First-timers: start with mittel.

Konnopke's Imbiß

Schönhauser Allee 44B, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg (under the U-Bahn)

A family business since 1930, under the elevated U-Bahn tracks in Prenzlauer Berg. This is where East Berliners have been eating currywurst for nearly a century. The sauce recipe has never changed.

What to order: Currywurst with Pommes and a can of Berliner Kindl beer.

Good to know

Currywurst is everywhere in Berlin - every Imbiss, every petrol station, every market. Quality is remarkably consistent because the dish is simple. The main variable is the heat of the curry powder. Avoid tourist trap restaurants that serve it on a ceramic plate with salad - currywurst is street food and belongs on a cardboard tray.

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