Jun 19, 2015

The Bird, Berlin

Selma Restaurants, Travel Berlin, Burgers 1 Comment

Berlin offers so many different food options you almost don’t know where to start. But one thing that would not be excluded from our list is burgers, proper good burgers. We’d been to Burgermeister several times but our friend promised us something even better this time, The Bird Berlin: “All burgers are made from 250+ grams of premium German beef. The quality is high enough that other places would serve it as steak, but here it goes through our grinder every day to become the best burger this side of the Atlantic. Grilled to order and served with our freshly hand-cut fries, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a homemade pickle.” We couldn’t wait!

What our friend failed to mention, was that this place is always packed, especially in the weekend. The second thing he failed to mention is that he didn’t make reservations. The third thing he failed to mention was that the restaurant is near the football stadium and the Women’s Champions League Finals had just ended pretty much as we made our way to the restaurant. We didn’t find any of this out till we were almost there and he sort of shrugged and said he was hoping for the best. Say what? You promise us the best burgers, and then we might not get them because you didn’t make a reservation and a giant crowd of hungry supporters is between us and our burgers? The night was about to turn murderous. But luck was on his side. After being sort of laughed at, in a friendly way, by the waitress inside about the possibility of getting a table (we would have to wait until 10pm), we actually got a spot outside at the long picnic tables that can’t be reserved. We hovered uncomfortably around a happy family of 5 as they were finishing their meal; our hungry and desperate looks hurrying them along nicely. We took our seats, cursed our friend for another five minutes, and finally settled down when we were given the menu.  It wasn’t the warmest of nights, but all was quickly forgotten when I read the magic words, “pimp your fries with chili cheese”.

We ordered our burger (the ghetto deluxe) with a side of chili cheese fries. What can I say about this burger? It was awesome. The meat was flavorful, cooked just right, texture nice and loose. Toppings didn’t overwhelm but complimented the meat, the bun was soft, an English muffin, but didn’t soak through from the juices. How can you go wrong? The chili cheese fries were amazing as well. I even left half of my burger for Pano to finish off so I could get through my pimpalicious fries. Words can’t describe these burgers, so just go there and try them for yourself.

We were stuffed afterwards, but it was so worth it. We stumbled back past the football stadium just as the winning team was leaving in their bus. A small crowd was waving them away when the bus nearly collided with the sign posts strung up above the gates. Apparently, the bus didn’t fit underneath it. We, and the police escort, watched in amusement as the bus backed up, tried a sign-less gate, and the cheering and waving started all over again. Winning! And I’d like to believe that we won that night, too. Despite adversity, we made it to White Castle… I mean The Bird. The Bird is the word.