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Why are all Indian restaurant menus the same in Berlin?
Like Chicken Madras? What is that?… I noticed in the 2 months that I've been here and trying 5-6 different Indian places that all of their menus look almost the SAME. And some very interesting items:
Like Chicken Madras? What is that? There's nothing like that in India. If I assume they are referring to Tamil Nadu, it's not close to the Chettinad taste either
Vindaloo? That's not even the most popular goan curry. Also it's made with pork in Goa.
Kadhai chicken? Miles away from tasting anything that's made on a Kadhai (pan) - it's more like a soup with big bell pepper pieces floating.
Broccoli? Why is that even on the menu? We got Broccoli in India maybe like a decade ago.
And why are most of these places serving some lentil soup (+mango at times) with papad?
Who has invented this standard menu? Do most restaurants have the same owners?
you're spot on about the menu thing, it's basically a germanized version of what british curry houses started serving in the 70s. the reason they all look the same is that most of these places get their spice mixes from the same wholesale suppliers, like the ones on beusselstraße or in the neukölln industrial area. it's cheaper to buy a pre-made "madras" powder than to actually toast and grind your own spices.
broccoli is definitely a german thing, they think it elevates the dish or makes it healthier. same with the random cauliflower and potato they throw into everything. the papad and mango chutney starter is just a ritual that got stuck, probably because it's cheap to serve and fills you up a bit before the main course.
if you want something closer to actual indian food, skip the restaurants with the glossy menus and try the south indian places on sonnenallee, like the one near the u-bahn exit that does proper dosa and idli. or go to sarvanaa bhavan on kottbusser damm, it's a chain but at least they don't pretend chicken madras is a real dish.
yeah you're basically describing the 'european indian restaurant' template. it's not just berlin, it's most of germany and the uk too. the menu comes from a specific era of indian migration in the 70s/80s when bangladeshi and some indian chefs adapted dishes for a german palate that didn't know cumin from coriander. chicken madras and vindaloo are pure british curry house inventions, they don't exist in india.
the broccoli thing kills me too. that's a deutschland addition, they think it makes it 'healthy' or something. same with the papad and mango chutney combo, that's a starter ritual that got standardized in london and just stuck.
if you want actual indian food, skip the places that look like they have a printed menu on glossy paper. try delhi 6 near hermannplatz, or bhatt curry house which is more of a canteen vibe. or just go to sonnenallee and find the south indian spots, they don't bother with the butter chicken template.
its basically the indian restaurant template that got standardized for european tastes in the uk in the 70s and 80s. a lot of the owners here are bangladeshi too, not actually indian, so the menu is a mix of what sells and what they think germans expect. if you want real stuff skip the glossy places and hit up delhi 6 near hermannplatz or the south indian spots on sonnenallee
What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.
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