Spices

The India Club Berlin on Behrenstraße in Mitte is considered the premier address for North Indian cuisine in the capital. Directly behind the Hotel Adlon, Chef Manish Bahukhandi serves rustic classics with a modern touch, while poultry and lamb are organically sourced from a farm on the Baltic Sea.

Since 1984, Maharadscha in Schöneberg has been a well-established name among Berlin's Indian restaurants. Located on Fuggerstraße, just a few minutes' walk from Kurfürstendamm, the family-run restaurant serves authentic Indian cuisine with over 50 main courses, Tandoori classics, and a warm service that keeps guests coming back.

Miriam Eva and Rüdiger Kebe have been handcrafting over a hundred products in Lichterfelde since 2004, from organic Ras-el-Hanout to the seven-part spice salt series Meehr Salz. The manufactory, shop, and café are together on almost 300 square meters. For exotic spices and ingredients, this means: pure single ingredients instead of ready-made mixes.

High-level North Indian cuisine, just a few steps from Ku'damm: The Anappurna Indian Restaurant in Charlottenburg stands for authentic flavors, carefully selected spices, and a menu ranging from Tandoori specialties to homemade Thali.

Eftekhar Mian's warehouse sale at Volkspark Humboldthain offers nearly 500 items, including twenty chili varieties up to Carolina Reaper and seventeen pepper varieties from Timut to Andaliman. The house blends, from rose harissa to chakalaka, are made according to their own recipes. For exotic spices and ingredients, this is one of the most comprehensive addresses in Wedding.

Zaika in Prenzlauer Berg stands for authentic Indian cuisine that deliberately sets itself apart from the mainstream. Those lucky enough to get a table here can look forward to freshly prepared dishes, warm natural stone walls, and an atmosphere where many neighborhood guests have become regulars.

In 1982, Adib Harb founded Berlin's first Arabian delicacy import business on Potsdamer Straße; today, his children run the establishment. Spices, from Za'atar and Sumac to Mahlab, are cold-ground. They also offer Tahini from cold-ground sesame and wines from Château Ksara. Exotic ingredients are also available here unpackaged in household quantities.

Germany's first chili specialty shop opened in Hannover in 2007. Since 2009, Das Pfefferhaus has also been in Berlin, and since 2017 at Boxhagener Platz. The chili sauces are sorted by heat level, plus there are 119 spice articles and a Mexico section. The pepper selection ranges from Tellicherry to Andaliman to Voatsiperifery.

Neumann-Gewürze has been milling in its own premises on Friedenauer Hauptstraße since 1996 and offers around 2,000 items, from Ceylon and Cassia cinnamon sticks to galangal root and Himalayan crystal salt. Most mixtures are salt-free and without flavor enhancers. For a long time, the company only supplied the gastronomy sector, but since 2016, private individuals can also shop here.

Michael Bär has been running a family business in Berlin's Steglitz Kieler Straße since 2004, which calls itself Berlin's first spice manufactory. More than 240 herbs, spices, and proprietary blends are weighed on-site; pepper is sorted by origin, from Kampot to Cumeo to Malabar. In addition, there are kitchen goods from cast iron pans to Japanese knives.

On Kastanienallee in Prenzlauer Berg, behind the distinctive, inverted W-logo, lies an Indian fusion cuisine that consistently focuses on vegetarian and vegan options. Here, naan isn't just a side dish but the star: freshly baked over an open fire and topped like a pizza.

Steffen Bogs runs a spice manufactory with around 174 products on Rungestraße in Mitte, whose focus is revealed by its name: eleven cinnamon items from Ceylon to Vietnam and eighteen pepper varieties from fermented Kampot to Patagonia. The blends are created in small batches, and in the shop, customers can smell, compare, and taste before buying.

Chutnify in Prenzlauer Berg demonstrates how much Indian cuisine has to offer beyond the standard menu. The South Indian-inspired restaurant, founded by Aparna Aurora, has been known for over ten years for homemade chutneys, crispy dosas, and regional dishes from across the subcontinent. There are now three locations in Berlin.

In Kollwitzkiez, just a few steps from Senefelderplatz, Khushi in Prenzlauer Berg stands for North Indian cuisine with depth: freshly ground spices, a real Tandoor clay oven, and an atmosphere as warm as the food itself.

Hidden in the backyard of the Alte Münze in Berlin-Mitte is a botanical café that combines specialty coffee, vegan cuisine, and an integrated plant shop under one roof. The Greens in Berlin stands for conscious enjoyment, green aesthetics, and regional products away from the tourist crowds around Alexanderplatz.

Kantstraße 101 marks the beginning of Berlin's Asia Mile, and the go asia supermarket is the place to shop there. The chain's assortment includes more than 7,000 items from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, with Thai fruits and vegetables flown in. Exotic ingredients like bok choy or miso paste are found here on the regular shelves.

tschüüüsch on Fuldastraße in Neukölln has been cooking Indian-inspired, now completely plant-based, for over a decade. Curry bowls, tzatziki plates, and meatless doner, plus a project space for the neighborhood. No kitsch, no touristy flair, just real curry.

On Crellestraße in Schöneberg, Mela serves North Indian cuisine with a clear focus: fresh ingredients, high-quality spices, and a tandoor oven from which the skewers emerge. Coupled with warm service, this makes the unassuming restaurant one of the city's most reliable Indian addresses.

At the Indian restaurant Papadam in Berlin-Reinickendorf they not only serve the same-named lentil pancakes, but also many other Indian specialties.

The restaurant Chai Ji offers delicious Indian food without too many typical Indian clichés in Berlin-Friedrichshain.

The Kabir at Carmerstraße in Berlin-Charlottenburg offers a wide selection of specialties from all over India.

On Kantstrasse in Charlottenburg, the Lotus Indian Restaurant demonstrates how far Indian cuisine extends beyond curry clichés: North and South Indian dishes stand side by side, from crispy Masala Dosa to Butter Chicken from the tandoor oven. Additionally, there's a street-facing terrace and two Thali variations, one of which is completely vegan.

Since 2006, Berit Herzer has been running a specialist shop in the Marheineke Market Hall, where around 145 varieties of medicinal herbs and about 197 spices are weighed and filled. Trained naturopaths advise on origin and application. Among the exotic spices and ingredients, the pepper shelf, ranging from Kampot to Tasmania, is particularly striking.

In 2005, Nguyen Van Hien founded a wholesale market on the former VEB Elektrokohle site in Lichtenberg, which today spans 165,000 square meters and houses over 400 businesses. The food department alone offers around 10,000 items. For exotic spices and ingredients, this means: fresh herbs, chilies, fish sauce, and Vietnamese coffee all in one place.

Berlin's largest Asia market is not in Mitte, but in Lichtenberg, on a former GDR industrial site. The Dong Xuan Center brings together over 400 traders from Vietnam, China, India, and Pakistan in six huge halls. If you want to fight a hangover, you'll find fresh ginger, a hot Pho Bo, and everything Hanoi has to offer here.