Konnopke's Imbiss ★ 4.6
Konnopke's Imbiss under the Eberswalder Strasse arch has cooked East Berlin's historic currywurst since 1930. Located in Prenzlauer Berg. Booking recommended.
Try: Currywurst plate
History
Kartoffelpuffer (also reibekuchen in the Rhineland) is a German potato-pancake tradition centuries old, but Berlin's particular Imbiss-window and Christmas-market version is what most visitors taste: a shredded-potato cake with a tight light crust, served from a steel hatch with apple compote in a paper boat. Konnopke's Imbiss under the Eberswalder S-Bahn, Max und Moritz on Oranienstrasse, and Zum Schusterjungen in Prenzlauer Berg all serve the canonical Kneipe version.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1kg waxy potatoes (Sieglinde or Linda), peeled
- 1 medium onion
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Half teaspoon white pepper
- Half teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Neutral oil or schmalz for frying (about 200ml)
- For the apple compote: 600g Boskoop or Bramley apples peeled and cored, 80g caster sugar, juice of half a lemon, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sour cream, to serve (optional)
Method
- Make the compote first. Chop the apples in 2cm pieces. Combine in a saucepan with sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick and 4 tablespoons water.
- Cover and stew 20 minutes over medium-low heat until the apples collapse. Discard the cinnamon, stir in vanilla, mash lightly with a fork. Cool fully.
- Grate the potatoes on the coarse side of a box grater into a large bowl. Grate the onion on the fine side directly over the potato.
- Tip into a clean tea towel, gather the corners and twist hard over the sink to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. This is the structural step; wet potato will not crisp.
- Return the dry potato-onion to the bowl. Stir in eggs, flour, salt, white pepper and nutmeg.
- Heat 5mm of oil or schmalz in a heavy wide pan until shimmering.
- Drop 3 to 4 tablespoons of mixture per pancake into the hot fat. Flatten gently with a spatula to a 10cm thin disc.
- Fry 4 minutes a side until the edges are lace-crisp and the surface is deep mahogany.
- Drain on a rack (never on kitchen paper, which steams them soggy).
- Pile 2 to 3 pancakes per plate. Spoon over the cold apple compote and a dab of sour cream if you like.
Tip from the editors. Squeezing the potato bone-dry is the dish; one of the commonest faults is leaving moisture in, which produces a chewy steamed pancake instead of a crisp one. Twist the towel until your knuckles go white.
Where to eat kartoffelpuffer mit apfelmus
Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus in Berlin
Max und Moritz ★ 4.2
Max und Moritz on Berlin's Oranienstrasse has cooked Prussian tavern classics since 1902 in the original ceramic-tiled dining room; the Klopse and rouladen.
Signature: Koenigsberger Klopse, Beef rouladen
Order: The Koenigsberger Klopse with caper-cream sauce; the beef rouladen with red cabbage in winter.
Tip: Closed Monday lunch. The original 1902 dining room is the seating to book; phone two weeks out.
Zum Schusterjungen ★ 4.1
Zum Schusterjungen on Danziger Strasse in Prenzlauer Berg serves unchanged Berlin tavern cooking: Buletten with potato salad, Gulaschsuppe and Eisbein.
Try: Berlin tavern classics: Buletten, Gulasch, Eisbein
More cities are in research. Want kartoffelpuffer mit apfelmus covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.