German Fast Food

When I was in Berlin in the ‘80’s, we used to love a couple of German fast food items that you could find in little street side stands called imbisses. Now there is a little stand in Leesburg at the old Mighty Midget kitchen where you can find this food - we stopped in after the cabin work day Sunday.







One item was called currywurst – a beef sausage cut into slices, topped with a curry-ketchup sauce, and served with fries. This was served hot, so it was great to find an open imbiss after a night-time bar hopping expedition – even better if it was cold out, and you were near the bus stop back to base.

As second item was called doner kebaps (this is often spelled in many different ways). The origin of this item is Turkish – overseas, the stands were mostly in the style of a storefront diner rather than a little food stand. This is because they used a rotisserie as part of the preparation and I guess there wasn’t room in a little imbiss stand for it.

Whenever some of us get together from the old days, these delicacies are sure to be one of the topics of conversation. I often associate the food with an event for some reason – the currywurst from the little stand near the train station where we caught overnights down to Frankfurt, or at the one that was exactly halfway between the Irish Harp and Nada’s – two nightspots we went to.




Or the doners from the little joint up the street from Tempelhof, walking distance from base, where you might head late night after a swing shift. Or the one at the Alt Mariendorf metro station, where we would call for carry out – surprising a helpless one-person kitchen with an order for 50 sandwiches! When Mary and I visited in 2001, we grabbed a doner in the Potsdam train station before heading out to Sansoucci.

The doner stand in Leesburg is near the train station and they have a website at “doener-usa.com”. Here are some photos - of bratwurst, currywurst, and the style of doner they prepare. Seating is beer garden style (their pamphlet hospitably and correctly spells it "biergarten") and they have Warsteiner on tap. Take this as a recommendation!