Goulash in Kreuzberg: G wie Goulasch

It’s August, the weather finally resembles something like summer, and the city is slowly falling asleep. We might not have the real Italian or French vacances-shut-down, but it’s certainly a downtime, with shops and restaurants going on holiday. And locals leaving the city, while loads of tourists flock to the major sight seeing spots – so most Kiezes do feel quite sleepy. And while I’m not going to be totally absent, I too will take August to slow it down, recharge batteries, and explore the city from another perspective (outside of its borders). So here’s a recommendation I wanted to give you all along: a very pleasant restaurant on the quiet Chamissoplatz square in Kreuzberg called G wie Goulasch, made for summer night dinners.

This place is everything we all love about Kreuzberg: small and welcoming, polite and delicious, unpretentious and ambitious. Take a seat at the pretty curbside tables to enjoy the still fairly long and warm summer nights while munching their many Goulaschs, and sipping on a glass of Belgian Trappist beer. The menu is small and changes every month or so: one simple appetizer soup, one salad, several kinds of goulash, one of them vegetarian, a cheese plate and a dessert, that’s it. Currently served: iced yoghurt-cucumber soup with mint, beef goulash, and either chicken or mushroom letscho – a tomato-paprika-stew –, with either Eiernockerl, potatos, or bread; and a Rote Grütze with vanilla sauce.

Special praise has to go out to the dollop of tasty sour cream on top of my mushroom letscho, that tied the whole dish together: the earthy mushroom flavours with the fruitiness of the paprika and tomatoes, and the wholesome Eiernockerl, a kind of egg noodle – I seriously enjoyed it.