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Marcel Galindo

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Many of you might think of Berlin as the country of Döner, Currywurst and beer. But if there is something you’ll find plentyful of in Berlin, it is Vietnamese Restaurants. Several of them are fully vegan, while many who serve animal products also have great vegan options. It would even be hard to live here without eating at any of them. Here are 5 vegan-friendly Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin we visit from time to time. Note: not listed in any special order.


Noras Garden

Originally a hotel, Nora Hotel also opened an all-vegan restaurant called Nora’s Garden this summer. The place really lives up to its name – the wooden interior (walls included) and the plants that fill the whole restaurant make you feel like you got right into your grandma’s backyard. The menu follows their green concept with dishes like “Woody Stick”, “Jungle Fury” and “Give Peas a Chance”, preferably with a Tiger beer to get all set for the wild. If you rather want a swim in the ocean, we’d suggest “Drowning Wonton”, “Salty Cubes” or “Wannabe Fish” – the two latter we’ve tried, and we can certify that it also tastes really fresh, just as the “Slim Chicken” with peanut butter sauce. Fish? Chicken? “Pho real?” Our answer: yes, this is a “Vegan Heaven”. For a full view of their green menu, have a look on their website: https://norasgarden.wixsite.com/vivalasvegan

Nora’s Garden, Simon-Dach-Straße 46, 10245 Berlin – Friedrichshain

Co Chu

Co chu presented their first vegan dishes this winter, including five options in their main menu, and we have already tried every single one of them. All are prepared with tofu which has a very nice texture – crispy fried on the outside, creamy on the inside and deliciously marinated. The food is always freshly made, and the spice combinations of the sauces are well balanced. Our favourite dish is the soup with glass noodles (Súp Miển Tofu), it is simply so tasty and the yellow curry with pumpkin. The service is very friendly with good knowledge about the food that is served. Just make sure you book a table in advance if you plan to visit the restaurant during rush hour, as it often tends to be full (with good reasons for it!). For menu and reservations check out their website here: https://www.co-chu.de/

Co Chu, Invalidenstraße 29, 10115 Berlin – Mitte

Sora

On a haunt for a vegan-friendly Vietnamese restaurant near Ostkreuz? Go visit Sora! It is a vegetarian place but be advised: Almost all dishes can be veganised. Have no anxiety, their menu has a great variety – such as salads, soups, noodles and rice, carefully prepared with much spice, and a rich taste, brought in to our table in haste by a friendly staff that have easy to laugh. We chose tofu with mushrooms and eggplant served hot in a clay pot (“Kho Ram”) and crispy spring rolls with wispy rice noodles (“Bun Nem”) – both quite nutritious and so delicious! The interior consists mainly of wood, and just as the food, it is authentic and traditional Vietnamese, probably made with no ease. This place is a hit and definitely worth a revisit. If you want to see their menu, we give an invite to visit their website (without rhymes, we promise): https://www.sora-berlin.de/menuekarte/

Sora, Sonntagstraße 26, 10245 Berlin – Friedrichshain

1990 Vegan Living

1990 is the kind of place where you go if you want to try everything. With their small bowls that reminds you of tapas, you can order as many if you want – but you’ll have to be very hungry if you want to try them all at once, so we suggest you share them. It is a mixture of traditional Vietnamese dishes and some of their own interpretations. We’d highly recommend the silky tofu encased in crispy green rice flakes with a raspberry chili dip (“Com Chien”, shown on the top) – we could come back only for this dish. But if you don’t feel like mixing lot of tastes, they also have bigger bowls with just one portion. It’s overall a well visited place with a nice location just by Boxhagener Platz. If you want to see more of the restaurant or order a table straight away, head over to their webpage: https://www.restaurant-1990.de

1990 Vegan Living, Krossener Str. 19, 10245 Berlin – Friedrichshain

Mom’s Creation

Met by a cosy and traditional Vietnamese interior and a nice outdoor seating, it seemed like we found a great place to enjoy our dinner this beautiful fall evening. As our eyes glimpsed through the menu of Mom’s creation, we noticed that they had a lot of options, including tofu, seitan and “fake meat” with Vietnamese spices and vegetables. But a few things were new compared to other Vietnamese restaurants that we’ve visited, and without noticing, we ordered almost identical dishes (is this a sign of that we are becoming an old couple?). Although everybody loves the taste of fried chicken, we have never seen it on a vegan menu, nor the sweet but fresh mango sauce. However, if you are more into the “safe” choices, we’d highly recommend the peanut butter sauce – or why not try the (vegan) duck or a crispy mango salad? Serve it with a cup of Asian green tea and you are all set. For a look in their menu, here is their website: http://moms-restaurant.de/ PS. Yes, the Lotus biscuit that came with the tea is also vegan.

Mom’s Creation, Proskauer Str. 1, 10247 Berlin – Friedrichshain

Berlin has a lot of Vietnamese restaurants, and as it also is known for being a “vegan Mecca”, you shouldn’t be too surprised of the big variety within the cuisine. No matter if you want fresh marinated tofu, fried fake chicken or small delicious bowls of everything, you will surely find something that you like in this city. Do you think we missed any Vietnamese restaurant with good vegan options? Are your top 5 vegan-friendly restaurants in Berlin a whole other story? Please let us know in the comments below!

When an all-vegan burger chain opens in the new shopping mall in town, that must be a sign of that veganism is becoming big. If you want to see it with your own eyes, go to East Side Mall in Berlin and find the restaurant @VincentVeganOfficial. Their most famous dish is the Beyond Burger – for you that haven’t heard of this before we’ll quote the brand @BeyondMeat itself: “the world’s first plant-based burger that looks, cooks, and tastes like a fresh beef burger” (https://www.beyondmeat.com/products/view/beyond-burger#). Exciting, right?⠀

They also have chicken nuggets, currywurst (German sausage with curry ketchup) and other burgers. We decided to wait with the Beyond burger and ordered a “Vegmenu” with a cheeseburger as the main, plus sweet potato fries and a rosemary limo. We also tried the döner (German kebab) with fries. Everything looked so delicious – the melted (vegan!) cheese, the fries covered yellow turmeric sauce – just that greasy as you would expect from a hangover meal, with an ice-cold lemonade on the side to cheer you up a bit more.⠀

The burger patty was juicy, the fries crispy – but the sauces in the burger didn’t taste as must as we would have wanted, and the döner “meat” was a bit too hard fried. And the lemonade tasted of slightly sweetened, well, water.⠀

Our first impression of Vincent vegan did unfortunately not meet our expectations. However, thinking of the many good reviews that the Beyond burger has got, we would love to come back and see if it is as amazing as people say. If you went to the Vincent Vegan, what would you choose?⠀

For a view of where else you might find them, or perhaps have a look at their own clothing brand, head over to their website: https://vincent-vegan.com/

Vincent Vegan, East Side Mall, Tamara-Danz-Straße 11, 10243 Berlin – Friedrichshain

 A rainy Friday evening in Berlin we found our way to the vegetarian dumpling place Momos. We were welcomed by a trendy restaurant with friendly staff behind the counter, ready to take our orders. They had a very simple concept, both regarding their interior and their food. There are six different dumplings you can choose from, of which four are vegan. The dishes are served with a dip free of choice. We ordered mixed plates to try all four, together with dips with a taste of lemon-mint and soy-sesame. With that, we enjoyed a delicious seaside salad with red seaweed and sliced cucumber. ⠀

The dumplings were so tasty, not to mention the dips! But there was a small problem: the dough of the dumplings easily took over the filling, which made it hard to defer which dumpling you were eating. Our suggestion would be to make them bigger because the dough had a very nice consistency – we would just like to know what the filling is like. Another tip for you, potential guests, is to order at least twelve dumplings to get full. If you are really hungry, order more – and don’t forget the sides!⠀

After enjoying our meal, we had a bit of a sweet tooth – and it was Friday! Momos even had a dumpling dessert with banana filling, served with cinnamon and maple syrup. Here the dough did not take over, it was thin and crispy, and the bananas sweet and moisty. They also had a delicious brownie with nuts. Momos is a great place to warm you from the rain! Unfortunately, we had to go out again…⠀

For menu please visit their website here: https://momos-berlin.de 

Momos – organic veggie dumplings, Chausseestraße 2, 10115 Berlin – Mitte