Kimchi Princess

A buzzing Korean restaurant with sizzling BBQ grills, Kimchi Princess is the perfect place to kick off a long Berlin night. Visit this place to catch young people cooking large quantities of meat on their table top grills and to have some great Korean food.

One of the biggest restaurant trends in Berlin during the last years has been the rise of Korean food, starting with just a handful of restaurants a couple of years ago I pretty much see a new Korean restaurant popping up every month. Korean food has become fashionable in Berlin and the crew behind Kimchi Princess has been a main contributor to this trend, showing Berliners just how tasty and hip the Korean cuisine can be in their Kreuzberg eateries.

And hip it truly is, visit Kimchi Princess on a Saturday and you will squeeze in next to the young and beautiful chatting intensively to outcompete the loud music. Kimchi Princess is located right off U-Bahn station Görlitzer Bahnhof next to it's sister restaurants Angry Chicken and Soju Bar in a great, open-space venue. The venue is cool, replicating something I would call a chique, Asian warehouse look. The whole restaurant is situated in one large, open space venue where the kitchen is upstairs. The walls are from a red container and tables are massive specimens that can fit dozens of people. Summer time there are plenty of seats outside as well, turning the whole place into a massive BBQ factory. The place has taken it's name from the Korean fermented cabbage, which is done exceptionally well at Kimchi Princess, hitting just the right degree of fermentation and the right amount of spice. But the reason you should bring your big group of friends to this place is not the Kimchi but the BBQ, Kimchi Princess does some of the best (if not the best) Korean BBQ in the city and it's a tasty and social food experience you shouldn't miss while you're here.

And here the complete BBQ guide: It doesn't matter if you go for the classic Beef or Pork Bulgogi or if you choose to go with a modern version like the fantastic Entrecote (cut into the thinnest slices), they are all very tasty. Therefore I would always try to go for a mix and order some Bulgogi with the Entrecote for example. The classic Bulgogis are marinated in the famous Korean, peppery hot sauce but the Entrecote and the Pork Belly aren't marinated and are just about the pure meat flavour. The thin slices of Entrecote meat just scream at you to throw them on your table grill. Once you've ordered the waiters will bring your table grills to the table and turn them on to get the heat up and after a while they will come and put either all of the meat or parts of it on the grill. Along with the BBQs you get a wide selection of sides in the form of rice and mixed pickles, a delicious must have for every Korean meal and the selection here is always fresh and interesting. BBQ's are by far not the only thing you can eat at Kimchi Princess though, they also serve a very good Bibimbap, dumplings and Kimchi Pancake, which I would recommend as a starter. But the star of the Princess is undeniably the BBQ, simply because it's a great and very social food experience to throw meat on a table grill they put in front of you. And it tastes bloody great.

For me Kimchi Princess is not the winner when it comes to the best Korean food in Berlin though, Arirang is in the end far more authentic. Kimchi Princess wins another category in my world, because the venue, the food and the buzzing atmosphere make it one of the best places to start a big night in the city with a large group of friends. Book two days in advance and you can easily get a big table for eight and share three grills and a couple of Sojulizers or another one of the pretty tasty drinks they mix here. After that you spend the next hours in a social BBQ frenzy where the hip waiters make sure that you don't run out of drinks.

And last but not least, Kimchi Princess might just have the best restaurant slogan in Berlin: Let them eat .. KIMCHI! Yess! #kimchilover