Indian restaurants and curry houses

Silly question, but does anybody know where I can find a really good authentic Indian restauraunt in Berlin?

I've been disappointed with most of the restauraunts that I've visited in Berlin as they serve indian food which has been mellowed for the German taste (too mild and too creamy) - none of the restauraunts that I've visited are a patch on the decent places you can find in almost any UK city and it's now something that I'm really starting to miss...

Thanks for any tips!

I know one that I think is ok, as they are used to catering for the British expats's tastes, when you order something they ask you if you want the taste 'watered down' or 'original'.
It is called Kabir and situated in Carmerstr., Charlottenburg, near the Ernst Reuter Platz U-bahn

Amrit on Oranienstr. is really good in my opinion...

Amrit
Oranienstr. 202/203
U-Bahn: Görlitzer Park / Kottbusser Tor

There are also restaurants in Mitte (Oranienburgerstr. 45) and in Schöneberg (Winterfeldtstr. 40) although I have never been to either of these...

I love Masala! A bit off the s-bahn/u-bahn path, but worth it.

Monthly specials that are really innovative. (see website)
very nice owner and staff too...

www.restaurant-masala.de

There are three Indian restaurants in Schoeneberg that I know of, all very close to each other, near Eisenacher Str. U-Bahnhof.

There are two near a church (can't remember which church, unfortunately). I remember that their stuff wasn't very mild and creamy.
And there's one for sure on Hauptstrasse (a little past Akazienstr., on the way to Kleistpark U-Bahnhof). I used to go there after school. They have lunch specials for 4.50€ that includes a small portion of a main dish, rice, and a small soup. Their butter chicken is pretty creamy though, I think.

Amar, Schlesische Straße 9 Berlin / Kreuzberg is the only decent Indian Resturant I have found in Berlin. Amrit on Oranienburger strasse was not to my taste.

The best Indian I've been in Berlin was the Amrit at Winterfeldtplatz. Also, I know some good little Indians around Prenzlauer Berg but by default they all seem to cook on the mild side. If you want a dish spicier just ask for mittelscharf or if you're feeling very brave, try Indisch-scharf .

What about naan, I'm dying for some real naan, not this unrisen/uncooked yeasty stuff. Do any of these restaurants have tandoori ovens or those rounded stones on top used to cook naan? I have yet to find one in Berlin in 8 months here!

If you want to taste real authentic naans cooked in what seems to be the only tandoor in Berlin then head to Heat Restaurant, in the Radisson Hotel next to Alex Platz..the place is a bit on the expensive side but the naans are authentic and the indian dishes are presented well and don't taste too Germanfied.
P.S. the centre piece in the hotel, a 5-6 floors high tropical fish tank is worth a visit just on it's own.

Had a great meal at Amrit (Winterfeldtstr. 40, UBahn Nollendorfstr). Good food and service.

Being half Indian myself I stopped going out looking for Indian food in Berlin. The only place which was not too bad was the restaurant called Maharashtra, in Fuggerstrasse 21 / Schöneberg, -but this information is already two years old! http://www.maharadscha2.de/
Here is an overview of all Indian restaurants in Berlin: http://www.indiandinner.com/
If you find authentic Indian food in Berlin, please let me know immediately! ;-)

In the fall I visited a place with other TT members called Calcutta, in Schoeberg (http://www.befo.de/calcutta/). Apparently it was the first Indian restaurant in Germany and both the service and food were very good.
However I happen to think that an excellent Indian place is in my neighborhood of Steglitz and it's called Nirwana and located on Schlossstrasse, a few doors down from the Park Schloss movie theatre.
My father in law is a homeopathic doctor with many collegues from India, and when they come to Berlin, he takes them there to eat and they really like the place. The service and menu there is
excellent as well.

It's really a big problem to find a good indian restaurant here - especially compared to the UK (due to british/indian history and thus the small number of indian immigrants in germany, I guess). In general, Namaskar is considered the best indian restaurant in Berlin - unfortunately I didn't make it there, because it takes some time to get there from my place. It's located in the northern part of Wilmersdorf, Pariser Str. 56. http://www.restaurantnamaskar.de

I agree with Sunny; Masala is awesome. The owners are really nice, too. My hubby really likes the Chicken Tiki Masala (spelling?) and I really dig the samosas.

I'm going to be in Berlin for a few days at the end of the month, in the Treptow - Friedrichshain area. I would have thought Berlin was big enough to run to a couple of decent curry houses, but strangely enough the search didn't throw anything up - plenty of curry, loads of Berlin, but not both (or maybe there were so many Berlin entries that I overlooked something).

If anybody knows one, preferably with Tandoori, then I'd be glad to hear where it is.

Cheers
Roy

Topics merged by admin

If you are looking for a curry hous that is of similar quality as in Glasgow (or Hamilton for that matter) then forget it., coz the just do not exist.

There are a few which after several years of living here are acceptable, but I will not even list them here because you will certainly be dissapointed.

Having said that the best I have been to ( and still not even near Glasgow level) is Amar

The do not seem to have a dedicated web site.

Although it is in Kreuzberg, it is on the border of F/Hain and Treptow. Walkable distance from Treptow Park S-bahn too.

namaskar is arguably the best indian restaurant in Berlin (including tandoori), but it is in Charlottenburg. (Amar is not that good in my opinion). A friend of mine told me, that Seth in Friedrichshain (Rigaer Straße/Proskauer Straße) is not bad if you tell the waiter that you don't want the dishes european style...

I'm Indian, and after a lot of disappointments I don't go to any of the Indian restaurants in Berlin. The only restaurant I'll eat Indian food at is Der Imbiss, next to 103 on Kastanianallee (just around the corner from Zionskirchpatz). They are not an Indian restaurant per se, it's more "fusion food" but they have a proper Tandoor oven and are known for their "naan pizzas".

Their menu is quite limited but they do a proper Dal, excellent Naan, a decent veg curry and tandoori salmon.

Thanks for the suggestion. im of indian origin too and was dying for a home style curry yesterday. I went to some place just off Danziger str and they didnt even have any rice

Arman, Mehringdamm 45, Kreuzberg

i went there and its quite nice

Thanks for the answers so far.

@black1, I did try Googling and got a fair number listed, the problem is, it's a bit difficult to judge what the quality might be like. I don't really have a lot of faith in the judgement of a Germn national when it comes to curry!

@Deccie, after living in Germany for over 20 years, I gave that idea up a long time ago. I'm just looking for something comparable with the three or four half-way acceptable restaurants I know in Hamburg.

I am a lamb Korma fan so I didn't want to get into recommendations of Tandoori too much. There are some OK ones in Oranienburgerstr and near Savigny Platz.

Tandoori aint authentic Indian...its what us English cooked up!

I think you mean balti - which comes from Birmingham.

Tandoori is something else isn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoori_chicken

I've now got a bit more info and have heard that we'll also be visiting a friend who lives not far from Savignyplatz. Not far from there are a couple of Indians, one, the Ashoka, is occasionally described as being either a Bistro or an Imbiss and languishes down at place 51 on qype (does have 4 Stars, though, although I haven't figured out how the Star rating works since restaurants higher up in the rating list sometimes have less Stars than those further down the list - curious!), however, the only comment is from (presumably) a Brit who reckons this place proves it is possible to get a decent Indian outside of Southall - so it can't be that bad.

The other one is the Kabir, which manages position 11 and 5 Stars on qype. Sounds a better proposition on paper, but all the comments appear to be from Germans and from 2007, although the comment from one guy that "scharf" means "scharf" has got to be a good sign!

Anybody had personal experience of either of these (or any other - preferably in walking distance - near Savignyplatz)?

Strangely enough, the Kabir doesn't show up when I enter "Indisch Charlottenburg, Berlin" in Google Map.

Ashoka is OK. I don't know the Kabir but i'll certainly try it now you mentioned it. I usually don't go down that road so much.

There is a also The Satyam a nice, cheap and simple little indian vegetarian place on Goethestr between Knesebeckstr and Grolmanstr which is good, but no meat of course. It can sometimes be a bit spicy.

There are also some great cocktail places near Savigny and they have good deals/happy hour Mon-Friday 5-8 .

I'll second The Satyam. Being vegetarian, it was one of the few places where I knew they wouldn't try and slip in some speck or a lump of pork fat. I can particularly recommend the banana curry; something you don't usually get in the UK. Not the hottest of dishes though, but enjoyable none-the-less and cheap as chips!

They've also got a Shiva and Ganesha temple round the back.

I recommend KHUSHI at Kollwitzstr. 37, nearest U-Bahn Senefelderplatz. It's not near where you're staying but it is worth a visit.

@black1, it'll be the end of the month/beginning of August when we're going to be in Berlin, so if you happen to try out the Kabir before then, I'd be grateful if you'd post your impressions.

Now that Ed Bob has merged the threads, I see that at least one person reckoned the Kabir was OK last year (hopefully no change of ownership since then!).

This subject is a depressing one for me. Being a UK expat for 18 months here and never finding a good British curry! We even had relatives bring a full case of take away curry over from London - that was soo good!

I have been to some of the suggestions above but always found that they aren't a patch on any of the Indian restaurants in the UK (to use irishmans words I believe)
So I have now given up. My dream is to open a british curry house here and occaisionally I look for suitable places for it. Any ideas?!

And I crave prawn puree! I asked one indian restaurant waiter and he said they were too difficult to make (funny as in the menu it said " just ask if there is something you want but don't see here")

@griggsey, after more than twenty years here I've lowered my expectations a bit. However, having said that, if you go looking for a British curry you're compounding the problem. The curry houses here are not standardised the way British ones are, on the whole they're a lot more authentic, but that does mean you won't find the wide range of choice that you would expect in a British restaurant. If you're prepared to be flexible and try a few things out you can often find excellent individual dishes. It does help if the restaurant uses the authentic names, any place offering "chicken curry, mild, medium and scharf" I leave to the Germans!

I'm new to Berlin, but I found an Indian place today that I loved. It's called Aarti and it's in Mitte at Oranienburger Strasse 26. They have a website at www.aarti-restaurant.de
I had a lamb vindaloo that was as hot as any vindaloo that I had back in California. I'm not sure where this stands as far as "authentic," or how it compares to the British places, but the San Francisco area in California has a huge Indian population and I ate Indian all the time there. This place was a huge surprise to me!

I like the Neu Dehli in Pankow (Wollankstr. 2? near Schlecker on the corner); it's the one I judge the others against and it's good.

I also quite like the Simla next to the Kultur Brauerei back entrance off Danzigerstr in Prenzlauer Berg.

I am trying to contact SERENISSIMA but the e-mail address I have appears to be incorrect. Nothing to do with this subject! If SERENISSIMA reads this please contact me:

Mike Woodiwiss - Spectrum International - spectrumint@aol.com or Germany 02432-80365

I'm not trying to offend any national sensibilities or prove my ignorance of the different cuisines but people were talking about spicyness and stuff and I'd say go to this place on Prenzlauer Allee -- they know hot:

http://suriya-kanthi.de/

Satyam in Goethestr is my favorite indian restaurant in germany

I would also recommend Amrit. The vibe is a BIT touristy (okay, a lot touristy) but the food is delicious and authentic. A friend of mine is the head chef. He does good things (;

authentic indian food at amrit? no way.

Kabir review as requested!!

Well I dragged my wife along to the Kabir tonight after a couple of cocktails round the corner. The Kabir is in an upmarket street and the Kabir has an upmarket feel to it too. It's certainly not a calm place, the waiters were running around all over the place and it was full on a Thursday night. It has good decor and lots of nice modern art. It's friendly and has nice tables etc. The food is a little more expensive than other places but it's very good quality and a lot of it. It's very 'meaty', with big lumps of lamb, but very little salad on the side of the meals which was a bit disappointing. Overall it was excellent. The guy on the next table ordered Tandoori chicken and when it came it was enormous; enough for 2 people. So in conclusion the Kabir was very good indeed; excellent quality and very nice for a night out. But I still like the Neu Delhi in Pankow. On another note the Spanish restaurant on the corner of Savigny Platz there on Knesebeckstr, The Mar y Sol (http://www.marysol-berlin.de/en/start.htm) is supposed to be excellent too - need a reservation.

@black1, thanks for the review, sounds promising! When you say it's a little more expensive, what does that mean in real terms, say for two people with only a main course (we're getting too old for three course meals, especially if, as you say, the portions are generous!) plus the usual side dishes, say a naan and a couple of pappadums, with a couple of glasses of wine, to wash it down?

it's not expensive, it's cheap. main dishes between 5 and 12 euro. i don't like it THAT much btw, it's a bit above average for my taste (3,5 stars).

My main dish was about 9.50, (I normally pay about 7.50) and the whole meal came to about 35 Euros for a meal which had 2 starters, 2 big main courses, 2 mango lassis (I had already had 2 cocktails so didn't want more) and a Bathura which is fine; certainly not expensive, just a little more than some other places. It's not cheap for Berlin. Like I said great food, but an odd lack of side salad.

Other places nearby are cheap (Satyam). I have had some great experiences there; one time the woman in charge gave my small child a tour of the temple out the back, which the my child loved.

Thanks a lot, that sounds pretty reasonable, actually Berlin seems to be fairly cheap in general as far as Indian restaurants go. In Hamburg most of the decent Indians are priced in the "exotic" range, like Japanese restaurants. I know a couple of otherwise pretty decent Indian restaurants where you wouldn't see much change out of 100€ for two people! On the other hand there's a totally unassuming little Pakistani restaurant in Grindelallee which does a fantastic Chicken Kharai and food and drink for two usually works out under 30€.

+1

Hi All, I`ll give Massala a plug too, easily on par with Indian restaurants in the UK. The naans seemed authentic too. Good staff and a monthly specials menu too to keep things interesting. Not as hot as in the UK, so bam it up a notch if you are used to UK curry houses. Never had a problem getting a table either.

hello all,
just joined, so here's a combo of hopefully helpful comments on what I've read:
those plate filling salads (cheaper than spices) and bhaturas mentioned are something typical for Indian restaurants here in Germany (I'll not go into the issue of why they serve duck!).
Have been trying to persuade but pretty well given up trying to get local Ind. rest. owner in Reinickendorf to make food without cream, raita without sugar, and acceptable spice quantities, by which I mean aromatic, not just chilli. He used to work at Amrit- nuff said.
Namaskar in Pariser str, and Kashmir Palace- would never go to either again, poor food and service-imho.
If you've been to Balti Towers (I kid you not!) in Lye (Birmingham, UK) then you know what a Balti should be like.
The Indian in the UK I usually go to has whole fish!
Tikka Masala is not Indian but British, a bit like butter chicken in consistency.
btw, I've eaten Indian in the UK, USA, Canada, Germany and India.
As mentioned, the standard here is very average, I've more or less given up and eat Indian at home.
Chinese restaurants are in the same league here, although I did like Aroma for Cantonese (sorry, I digress and don't really want to start a new thread).

Hi, i'm new here and just trying things out. On the subject of curry and Amrit I thought it was pants. Putting grated cheese on absolutely everything pissed me off so much ...

I suggested Aarti in Mitte at Oranienburger Str. 26 earlier in this thread for a spicy lamb vindaloo, but wanted to pass along two more tips. There's also a fantastic Indian takeaway stall at the corner of Müllerstraße and Kameruner Straße if you ever find yourself in the blissfully unhip Wedding neighborhood (I can say that... I live there).

A British buddy of mine passed along a general tip that I've had good results with. Ask for a vindaloo, "Britischer (British) scharf." That seems to get your point accross much better than, "sehr scharf." This works especially well at the imbiss stalls, as you're often talking to the cook directly.

My husband's Indian, born and raised in West Bengal.

We both like Calcutta, at Bleibtreustrasse 17, about 2 blocks from the Savignyplatz S-Bahn station. It's expensive, but it's good. The owner's pretty passionate about cooking authentic Indian food well. Try the lotus root.

"Shanti" in Oranienstr, Kreuzberg is good. The food is good quality & everything is available "sehr scharf" if asked for.
I told them I was english & wanted it hot & it was, as good as a UK version vindaloo & they even gave me extra hot sauce
if I wanted to get to Fal standards of hotness, definately a ring-stinger!