The Bird, Berlin

Hello everyone! I've just returned from three weeks interrailing around Europe with my boyfriend, hence the long gap in blogging. However, eating out every single day has meant I have found some excellent places to share here! Our trip went from Venice, to Salzburg, to Budapest, to Krakow, to Berlin, to Amsterdam, to Paris and then finished up in Toulouse, and every place yielded at least one amazing meal. This first post is my number one restaurant from my travels - The Bird in Berlin.

While on the (very comfy) bus from Krakow to Berlin, James and I both came to the independent conclusion that, having eaten cold meats, schnitzel and goulash to death in Salzburg, Budapest and Krakow, what we really fancied was a good meaty burger, with loads of cheese and loads of chips (for me, preferably with the option of cheesy chips or chilli cheese fries!)!

Therefore, when we got to the hotel, I googled "best burger in Berlin" and The Bird seemed to be our answer. We got the metro there and arrived at about 8pm, only to be told that it was fully booked apart from the bar and outside, and the wait for a table would be around 50 minutes! However, once I've got my heart set on a certain food, nothing could stop me getting it, so we decided to get a drink and wait.

Jealously photographing everyone already eating

The wait actually only turned out to be about half an hour, so soon we were sitting down at the bar to make our all important decision. The menu is really cool and has some advice I would definitely agree with:

I love places where people who eat with their hands are not only tolerated, but encouraged!! And well done burgers = yuck.

Fitting with their no knives and forks theme, they provide you with kitchen roll and also good big bottles of sauce - places which give you little pots of ketchup are the bane of my existence. I end up asking for refills about 5 times!

Our order was taken very quickly - James got some chicken wings (the non spicy version) and then we both went for "Da Birdhouse" (both medium rare) which was two patties, american cheese, bacon, fried onion, ketchup, mustard and pickles and, apparently "enough grease to kill a donkey". I ordered chilli cheese fries too!

The chicken wings were okay but not amazing - the sauce wasn't quite sticky enough and I've definitely tried better ones at both Patty and Bun and the Rum Kitchen. But the burgers, on the other hand....

Look at the piles of meat!!!

Outstanding!

....were just incredible! An amazing pile of well seasoned meat, salty, delicious bacon and heaps of melty cheese, it was an absolute joy to eat! The onions and pickles added a nice bite to it and the meat was perfectly cooked. The chips were some of the best I've ever eaten (salty and crispy but not full of air like the dreaded "chip shell"), and while at first I feared that there was too much chilli and not enough cheese, it soon became apparent that they had layered the chips and cheese. My sort of place.

Our one complaint was that, as James put it, the "meat to bun ratio" wasn't great - a tiny little english muffin to hold all that meat! However, this tiny crime is more than compensated for by the rest of the positives!

At the end of the meal, just as I went to the toilets, they gave tequila to everyone at the bar, and while I was going downstairs I heard a shout of "TEQUILAAAAA" as everyone did the shots! It's a really cool and fun place.

When we woke up the next morning with the memories of these burgers still at the forefront of our minds, we decided to do the unthinkable....a double nighter! We got there at about 17.45, so still 15 minutes before opening time, but there were already about 20 people sitting down outside, so we got ourselves a bench and prepared for some more amazing food. We decided to change things up a bit and I went for the Cheddar Burger, and James for the Flaming Roger (a swiss cheese burger), again both cooked medium rare. I obviously had a second round of chilli cheese fries. Also I'd brought my good camera rather than just my phone to capture the true beauty of these burgers this time.

The Flaming Roger

The Cheddar Burger

Cooked to perfection

I think, if possible, we both enjoyed these ones even more! I did miss the onions and pickles, but got around that by adding the red onion and gherkin provided in the side salad to the bun which worked out very well! The fact that there was only one bigger patty made it easier to negotiate the eating, and the "bun to meat" ration became less of a problem. The meat was even tastier in one huge patty and it was juicy without being soggy, or making the bun soggy. Also there was even more cheese on my chilli cheese fries tonight so it was an all round winner.

James said this was the best burger restaurant he had ever been to!

For me, it only came second to Meat Liquor! As well as the food being great, the staff were very friendly here, which is quite rare for somewhere "cool" - also there was a wide variety of ages amongst the diners which meant it felt inclusive. Also, on a final note - James asked the barman for a diet coke, to which we replied "we don't do anything diet here".....AMAZING! Full fat coke (and food) forever.