One Köfte Sandwich to rule them all. Konak in Berlin Kreuzberg is the place to eat grilled Köfte and to experience a piece of Turkish culture and in my humble opinion simply one of the best fast food joints in the city.
The Köfte Sandwich is sometimes called a Köfte Sandwich, but let's not start with technicalities when we can talk about something as sublime as grilled meat in bread. Konak Izmir Köftecisi, or just the Köftemann at Kotti, which would be the commonly used name, is a prime supplier of the Turkish minced meat patties and serves them the proper way: In a fresh white bread sandwich roll with tomatoes, radish sticks, onions, herbs and sauces. That's it. This is by far my favourite place to get the Köfte sandwich, the juicy meat works just perfectly with the condiments and the way they use the bread to soak up the juices from the grill is just out of this world.
“ Once you've sunk your teeth into one of these rolls you will subconsciously start planning the next visit in your mind immediately
Konak is located on Reichenberger Straße, a side street leading to Kottbusser Tor, and from the outside it looks like any other of the 78 Kebab or Köfte joints around Kotti. The inside is on a first glance also not very revealing except the fact that you won't find the giant, rotating sausage of kebab meat behind the counter but a big ass grill where a quiet and serious Turkish man is frantically flipping copious amounts of small minced meat rolls and meat skewers. The secret is in the food, and once you've sunk your teeth into one of these rolls you will subconsciously start planning the next visit in your mind immediately. While you're chewing.
These are your instructions to get your meal at Konak: Order at the cashier on the right side. Get your ticket with your number and wait for it to show up on the screen above the counter. Now, this might take a while, they are always busy and the Köfte are always grilled to order. Don't panic. When your number pops up, walk up the guy standing behind the glass counter and answer his questions about condiments. My tip is Kräuter-Scharf sauce and all condiments. Walk back to your seat. Eat. Repeat from the beginning.
“ I've had many fantastic meals at this place watching the sun rise and I highly recommend that you try the same
Konak is an institution way overdue to get some credit from me. I apologize by officially naming this one of my favourite fast food joints in Berlin. That's how good it is. This joint is pretty much also always open and is therefore the number one destination to end one of those Kreuzberg nights that turned out to be just a bit too long. I've had many fantastic meals at this place watching the sun rise and I highly recommend that you try the same.
