überlin

One of our first ways of bringing the überlin community to life was with our Berlin Burger Tour. The plan was to chomp our way across the city, make new friends, while at the same time settling that important question: where can you get Berlin’s best burger? It was a great idea, but we cut the tour short after just three evenings, as Zoë and myself went to The Bird – and we decided that we’d just eaten the best burgers in Berlin! The only problem? We had to go all the way up to Prenzlauer Berg to get them…

Well we have good news for all lazy burger fans who live south of Pberg – The Bird West is now open on Kottbusser Damm, on the border of Kreuzberg and Neukölln! Larger than the original American expat hangout, and much bigger, the new Bird was nonetheless packed when we first visited. Luckily, we managed to get seats at the bar, conveniently close to a broad selection of beers from the US, the rest of the world, and even back home (Brew Dog FTW). A psychic chef surprised us with what we were planning to order anyway – a succulent beast of a burger topped with bacon and cheddar (The Filthy Harry) and an immaculate fillet steak, both accompanied by a epic stacks of perfectly-crisped fries. The New York cheesecake that followed was both totally uncalled for, and an absolute treat.

If you’ve been to The Bird East, you know what to expect from their Western outpost. If you’ve never been to either location, you’ll probably feel like you’re stepping onto American soil when you walk through the door – a sensation supported by the food, the buzzing atmosphere, the excellent customer service… everything about the place. We’ll leave the investigative reporting to Stil in Berlin and declare the Bird our favourite burger in Berlin, and our favourite environment in which to enjoy it.

About the Berlin Burger Tour

“The best burger in Berlin? Really?”

That question popped into our, and our fellow Berlin bloggers’, heads every time we read a post about yet another great burger joint here in our (adopted) hometown. So we decided to find out for ourselves, once and for all: where can you get the best burger in Berlin?

Organised by Digital Cosmonaut and Travels of Adam, a bunch of us set out on a tour of Berlin’s hamburger hotspots, to find out which is best. This here data nerd couldn’t help but get scientific, and draw up a survey that would give us a fair system of evaluating each place on its own meaty merits. Essentially, we scored according to flavour only – of the burger, the Pommes (fries/wedges) and the sauce and seasonings. I decided to record some other “data” that might help inform the final outcome: variety (the number of different burgers on offer), the availability of bio (organic) and vegetarian alternatives, and price (of a basic hamburger and fries).

Stop 1: Berlin Burger International

Burgerific photo credit: Travels of Adam

A relative newcomer to the Berlin burger scene, BBI opened less than 18 months ago in Neukölln. A hole-in-the-wall at-counter-service place, it makes up for the lack of space inside with generous seating outside – which is not much use when you’ve brought along 20 bloggers and buddies, who are all trying to find shelter from the torrential rain. Despite the horrible weather, expectations were high, with some of the Americans in our group declaring this their favourite burger place in Berlin. So, without further ado, here are those all-important scores, and some comments from the “judging panel”:

“Expensive!”

“Slightly charred, not particularly juicy. Better fixings than burger.”

“Burger too thin – would have preferred smaller diameter, thicker patty. Meat was a little dry.”

“Overpowering sauce meant I couldn’t taste the flavour of the meat.”

“Too much salad on the burger and the lettuce was a little bitter. The burger was a bit charred which would’ve been okay if it was thicker and more rare and juicy inside. There was supposed to be cheese on it but I am not sure if that is what that thin film was because I couldn’t taste it. But, was pretty good.”

Next stop: WHITE TRASH FAST FOOD!

Berlin Burger Crawl is an open group. To find out what’s going on, follow the hashtag #berlinburgertour on Twitter. If you want to get involved, tweet at @uberlinblog, leave us a comment below, or drop us an email. We’re going to have to book tables at some of the more popular/restauranty places, so do let us know if you plan to come!