Berlin: Markthalle IX: Street Food Thursday

Markthalle IX or Market House 9 is an indoor market located near the U1 U-bahn station Gorlitzer.  To get there, you walk through a little park that has a church in it.

After you get to the end of the park, there is a lovely colorful setting of chairs, bikes and people enjoying food from a cafe.

After one more block, you are there! The bikes of the people inside are lined up along the streets.

You enter a stone building with a great big arch.   Depending on when you go, it could be completely packed, or you could have plenty of room to breath.  There are red and white striped tents that the different vendors have. Strings of Christmas lights are hung around the tents and over them to create a festive and almost-outdoor-market feel.

There are plenty of places to sit down and eat inside.  Sometimes it gets too crowded and people enjoy their food outside.

There is even a little playground inside for children.  This photo was taken when it was really busy, so it is hard to see.

After you get a feel for the atmosphere, it is time to walk around and figure out what to eat.  I recommend just walking around (multiple time)  to see what food options are available.

There are several vendors that sell cheeses, others sell meats, and even more sell wine, beer, mixed drinks, tea and coffee.  One vendor in particular sells tapas.  You get a tray with pieces of cured meats, cheeses, fish, and olives.

Each vendor sells something different.  For meals, there are plenty of assembled meals to buy.  For vegans, this is paradise.  There are multiple food stations dedicated to vegan food.

Mediterranean Street Food Platters from a Vendor

Meat eaters, do not despair, there is plenty for you to eat.  There is a vendor that sells fish (menu below)  There is also a supposedly amazing bbq vendor.  They have baked potatoes, beef brisket, pork belly and other barbequed meats.

After that, there are plenty of asian food vendors.  This is one particular Taiwanese vendor that served Taiwanese burgers.

I decided to order one of the burgers.  They have an original with pork belly, and a “skinny” version with chicken.  When I was there, they had already sold out of the chicken.  So, being on the pork belly!

After assembling it for me, it was time to get what was mine.

The final product.  It was soooo good. It is hard to tell what it is from the photo because they put on a lot of cilantro, just the way I like it.  This was definitely fabulous.  I would recommend it to anyone.  The pork belly was fabulous, and incredibly tender.  I am sure the chicken version would be very good as well.  And as a bonus, if you order the chicken version, your belly will not look like a pig’s belly!

That was not the only kind of exotic food that was there.  There was also a korean place that sold kimchi.

There was some latin american food as well.

There was also an African food vendor.  In addition to that, there were two vendors that sold pies.  Now, by pies, I do not mean american pies, like apple pie.  I mean pies from the United Kingdom:  Steak and ale pies, apple and pork pies, and more.  If anyone is missing there British food, hop on down and get some good old hardy pies.

There was this place that served cups of food.  There layout always looks so nice.  The photos below are of the same vendor, but on different nights.

My friend and I both got a cup from this vendor.  The savory cups were 3 euros while the sweet cups were 3.5 euros.  Below is a photo of another friend holding the cups we got.  The savory cup has potatoes and herbs in the bottom, with speck in the middle and a pumpkin puree on top.  This was then garnished with a potato chip.

For dessert, there were plenty of other options.  From pastries and cookies, to mango lassies, to mint-lemon iced tea and cucumber ginger ale, to apple cobbler and cheese cake, to sorbet, ice cream and gelato, you can hardly go wrong.

Below is the stand that sold the Lemon-mint iced tea, and some apple crumble.

Overall, it was a fabulous market.  I definitely recommend it.  It would be good for friends to hand out.  It is also a perfect place for a date.

This market is every Thursday from 5-10pm or as the Europeans like to say, 17:00 to 22:00.  There are other markets located at this place.  This information is specific to the street food market.  Have fun!!

Hours: 17:00-22:00

Address:  Eisenbahnstraße 42, 10997 Berlin