Berlin vegetarian-friendly budget meal advice

In general eating out in Berlin is very cheap, some areas cheaper than others. Bistros, local fast food, sandwiches from bakeries, etc. Of course you can stay in a hostel with common kitchen, e.g. one of Meininger or Schulz Hotel but you will not save a lot by self-cooking.

US cafe chains are the most overpriced in Berlin.

In Berlin still residents have majority in most parts of the city - so you will find also supermarkets.

There is the budget food staple of the Doner Kebab, I could survive several days just on those. Currywurst more a snack than sustenance, but lots of places selling sandwiches and many reasonably priced smaller restaurants for sit down or take away.

If your hotel does not have breakfast, it might be worth searching for a place with at least a refrigerator, maybe a kettle, not sure how common that is. You might look at Hostels, getting a private room, they also tend to have common kitchen areas available.

Ethnic food is great, but I think you will be surprised by how much German food is vegetarian. Berlin has a ton of places like this. Look at the Happy Cow app.
German fast food is not like American fast food unless you are going to a Subway or Burger King. Little hole in the wall places selling Asian boxes, or middle Eastern falafel, Turkish pizzas, fruit stands selling cut fruit, wonderful fresh sandwiches at every bakery.

Doug, please edit your post with that ridiculous comment about lamb, etc. because nothing in your post is accurate.

You are trying to joke around that Turkish restaurant employees have no idea what vegetarian is, yet go on to say your daughter had a vegetarian Döner.

Secondly, Germany is not Europe and Döner is not the same name in every country, and thirdly, no one would know what you are talking about with the old movie reference. It would really be rude to even say anything like that.

For something a little spiffier and yet affordable, try Vapiano. It's a German chain of Italian restaurants, modified cafeteria-style. There are tons of vegetarian options. There's a salad station, a pizza station and a pasta station. You choose whatever ingredients you want and they put it together on the spot, including fresh cooked pasta to order.

I am going to assume that vegan options would be acceptable to you both, so here goes....... We were in Berlin for three weeks in June 2018. While we cook most of our own meals, owing to both personal choice and budget, we did go out more than usual in Berlin, as there were some delightful options. I will also add that we don't do fancy meals and eat our largest one at mid-day.

The food court at the Mall of Berlin has veg/vegan friendly options. As we live in a falafel wasteland (borrowing from Pam in Idaho), that's an option we always search out. We found a good one in the mall, Boussi: https://www.mallofberlin.de/en/stores/boussi There were also quite a number of other places at which we could have eaten, but we discovered that after we were full. We did go to Boussi twice, the mall is air-conditioned and it was hot. :-) One interesting place had potatoes that were riced and topped with your choice from a generous list.

We like Indian food, which can most definitely be veg-friendly. Often times there are daily specials, which is nice. We enjoyed this one: http://veggievega.berlin/ I got the daily thali plate, Denis got a jackfruit curry plate. It was rather far from our apartment, or we would've gone again.

We went to the RS recommended Chutnify, which was edible but meh.

We got good dosa plates at Satyam: http://www.mysatyam.de/ They also have a Sunday buffet.

We did find a place to try a setitan based vegan doner. It was, um, trying to be polite here, underwhelming. Nope, it was just plain awful. And so not worth the trip there and back.

Japanese is not, in our experience, really veg-friendly. We found a delightful exception in the vegan restaurant Ryong: http://ryong.de/ That's one I definitely could have repeated.

Vietnamese is not something we've ever had. We went to Vegi-rou twice: http://vegi-rou.de/

There are also prepared options at outdoor markets. We found the Turkish Market a lot of fun. And who doesn't find fresh baked flat breads comforting? And speaking of breads, hearty German breads make delightful partners to salads composed of market fresh ingredients, especially when it's hot outside.

There were lots of other options on our list that we just never got to. As Jo says, check Happy Cow. And thanks for the food memories, as I had to go look back at my journal. Now I'm hungry though. ;-)

Donna

THanks, Donna! Lots of good suggestions and also advice of what to avoid. I've copied your whole post into my "trip notes."

You're welcome! A couple of other thoughts........

We shopped mostly at REWE, a major grocery store chain. Their prepared foods section is good for us. You don't have to picnic, just taking it back to your accommodation in the evening works fine as well. With respect to your travel timing, I imagine there are prepared soup and stew options that time of the year that would just need to be reheated in your room.

Assuming you are always asking for your husband as well as yourself, please consider indicating vegetarian in the title of your post. There are lots of us here, but perhaps we might not read a general eating query, as it mostly doesn't apply to us. In fact, and I don't know if you can, see if you can add that to the title of this one, as you may be more responses. I honestly don't know what made me open this one, but I'm glad I did!

There is a REWE in Berlin Hbf and also in Berlin Ostbahnhof, lower floor. Check if it's still there.

We have had luck in several European cities looking for inexpensive cafeteria-style restaurants, which have a hot counter. You select by pointing. Most have lots of vegetables. I'm sure something like that can be found in Berlin. Only locals patronize such places, usually, so if you want an authentic non-tourist experience, it's a good one.

"Only locals patronize these places." Very true. That's been exactly my experience too.

The REWE in Berlin Hbf has a small hot counter, while the Karstadt near Munich Hbf has a much larger hot counter...all good places to get good cheap German food and talking with locals, if you get that chance.

@Donna-thanks so much for your detailed post! My husband and I are taking our 27 year old daughter with us to Berlin in early December (her first trip to Europe) and she is vegan. Her only drawback about going was the worry over finding vegan options for meals, but the chance to go to Berlin (and Prague) won out. I have printed your post and sure it will make her feel better! Now to do research on Prague. Thanks again!

The Yelp site might be useful, especially if you use the map to locate nearby restaurants.
https://www.yelp.com/c/berlin/vegetarian

I really like momos, which makes organic vegetarian dumplings. I would suggest the Momos Experience -- all 6 dumpling types with all 3 sauces -- food for two for €14,90!

https://momos-berlin.de/

Let's start with the hotel room: Hotel rooms do not usually offer kitchen facilities; you'd have to book something like a Ferienwohnung to be able to do your own cooking.

Having said that, are you aware that traditionally breakfast is included in German hotel rates? With globalization however, things are changing, and especially international budget hotels have started charging extra for breakfast. So when you choose a hotel, make sure you find out about that. A hotel that seems a bit more expensive might actually end up saving you money and precious travel time if breakfast is included.

Museum cafés - yes, they are overpriced like anywhere else. Many department stores do have a restaurant or a cafeteria, but here's a word of caution for you: Tourists tend to end up in the KaDeWe which is really not a budget option.

Finding vegetarian food shouldn't be any difficulty at all. Eating vegan is quite the fashion, and practically every restaurant offers vegetarian and vegan options. I have heard that anecdote ("this is not meat, it's only chicken") many times about a number of different countries, but it certainly hasn't been true for Germany for decades.

You can easily find pork-free fast food at all places with Muslim owners, like the Döner Kebap. Those places usually also have a lot of salads and falafel and other vegetarian food. Make sure it's a Turkish place though; the ones with Greek owners do use pork. Someone mentioned the Currywurst: I wouldn't recommend that because it's practically by definition made from pork.

Depending on where you choose a hotel, it may in fact be a bit difficult to find a nearby supermarket because those usually are in the more residential areas. In the GPS era, it should be possible to find one though. Check side streets, not the main shopping streets. Some department stores also have a supermarket in their basement, but those are usually somewhat overpriced.

Here's another idea for you, and you won't find that in a travel guide or on Trip Advisor or on your GPS: Have a look for hole-in-the-wall Turkish food stores (I hesitate to call them "supermarkets") in side streets or residential areas. They are great for fresh vegetables and fruit and guaranteed pork-free meat and sausages.

I stay in a Pension in Charlottenburg near Kantstraße, which means I'm close to grocery markets, eg, Edeka and other small shops. When I want to buy groceries, I go this place. There are others around this neighborhood.

On dept stores with a good cafeteria...yes, I recommend the Karstadt dept store, don't where one is located in Berlin.

Thank you all for the great suggestions!

I recommend the Karstadt dept store, don't where one is located in Berlin.

Well... the KaDeWe... for instance... It's part of the Karstadt group.

There are more though.

some suggestions from the Washington Post: A local’s guide to Berlin