People always have to eat something

Schild Foodmarket Kantini

This might have been the motto under which the managers of the Concept Mall Bikini Berlin have created the food market Kantini. In fact, this area of the mall enjoys great popularity and the official motto “Hier schnabuliert Berlin” something like “Berlin is munching here” seems to apply. It scores with a diverse selection of restaurants, which often have vegan dishes on the menu and is very attractively designed. A great highlight – especially in the warm season – is the large loggia with a view of the zoo. In addition, most seatings are equipped with electrical and USB sockets and you have free Wi-Fi of course. Thus, the Kantini is just as well suited to work at.

If you don’t only come to eat, you should rather avoid lunch time. Between 12:00 and 2:30 p.m. the tables are occupied by people from the surrounding offices, tourists and hungry shoppers. Since the Kantini food market works the same as other food courts, one is not limited to a single restaurant when choosing food and drinks. Everyone can look for what he likes and finally meet at the – hopefully previously collared – table again.

The ones who follow me on Instagram have probably already seen my series about the restaurants at Kantini. In this article you will find a summary that will be complemented when I visit new restaurants there.

Sons of Mana

Kantini Sons Of Mana
This is a Hawaiian restaurant offering a variety of Poké Bowls. Poké is the Hawaiian national dish and a kind of fish salad. The main ingredient is mostly salmon or tuna, but also shrimp or octopus.

Sons of Mana states that it doesn’t offer tuna due to over fishing. What I would like to commendably mention at this point. The bowls of fish therefore contain salmon without exception, along with shrimps, octopus or chicken and deep-fried tofu for the vegans among us. You either choose from the proposed bowls or make your own by choosing from 5 components.

First you choose a base: rice with buckwheat, zucchini noodles or salad. Second, choose the protein component: king prawns, tempura shrimp, salmon, chicken teriyaki skewers, fried tofu or jackfruit. Next you can choose two toppings: e.g. sweet potato, edamame, avocado, kimchi etc. Now comes the sauce: soy lime, soy chili mayo, sesame, wasabi mayo, soy sesame or soy chili sesame. Finally, you can choose two so-called “seasoning”: eg seaweed strips, peanuts, coriander, shiso spice, etc.

Kantini Sons of Mana Ohana Vegan Bowl
On my first visit I chose the Ohana vegan Bowl. The base was rice with buckwheat (optional zucchini noodles). It was made up of wakame (alga), edamame, sweet potato, avocado, cucumber, soy sesame sauce, tofu, wasabi and various leafy lettuce. The list of ingredients already shows that the Hawaiian cuisine has many parallels to the Japanese. The bowl was delicious. I would take it again any time.

Djimalaya

When I read Djimalaya, I could not place it at first. Sounds like Himalayas. 😉 Our culinary journey leads us from the very distant Hawaii to the near East. In fact, the restaurant – with its headquarters in Invalidenstraße – is Israeli street food. Of course, the dishes from the Middle East, such as shawarma, falafel and hummus, are getting on the table. The food is available as a plate or in bread (pita).

Djimalaya Hummusteller mit Spinatfalafel
I opted for the hummus dish with spinach falafel. For drinking I had a fresh beetroot, apple, lemon juice. Very healthy. 🙂 The food was very good to me – there was also fried coriander with chili, which gave it a good heat – and for 8.50 euros it was priced okay.

Pasta Deli

Kantini Pasta Deli
This is an old acquaintance for me. In Q205 between Gendarmenmarkt and Friedrichstraße, where I used to work a few years ago, there was a Pasta Deli in the food court which was located in the basement. I often got my lunch there. 🙂

The principle has not changed much since then. You choose from 5 types of pasta and tell them which of the homemade sauces you would like to have. There are a number of vegetarian options and classics such as carbonara and bolognese as well as exotic variations such as pink Canadian with salmon and lobster butter or Siam mango with curry, mango cubes and chilli.

Pasta Deli Kantini Italian Tomato Pesto
We chose the Italian tomato pesto, which was my favorite sauce already in the past. One vegetarian with parmesan and one vegan without. A fast and inexpensive meal. And I guess almost everybody likes some delicious pasta with a wicked sauce.

Pasta Deli can be found five times in Berlin, by the way. In Kantini it is located directly next to Sons of Mana which you have read about earlier on in this article.

frai

Kantini frai food
We continue with frai foods. Here they basically use a lot of fresh green, sometimes combined with meat or cheese. Followers of practically all current nutritional trends will get their money’s worth here. They offer everything from paleo over low carb to vegan. To make this work for customers, all dishes are well marked.

On the drinks menu, there are a number of fancy drinks and, of course, a handful of smoothies, which currently may not be missing in any restaurant with a health claim. 🙂

frai exotic greens salad
I took the Exotic Greens. There are various leafy lettuce, pineapple, almonds, red cabbage with ginger and half an avocado. With that they serve a fruity mango dressing. A good choice for hot days where I like to eat something light anyway.

Royals & Rice

Royals And Rice im Bikini Berlin
You may know the Royals & Rice. In Berlin they also run a restaurant on Torstrasse. There are further stores in Oldenburg and Münster. At Royals & Rice you can get Asian cuisine with a focus on Vietnamese. The offer at Kantini is a little smaller. There are pho, bowls, curries and a few starters available.

Mango Curry mit Tofu Royals and Rice
And of course there is the Signature Dish from Royals & Rice, the so-called Bao Burger consisting of Bao rolls, beef, Asian guacamole and mango ketchup. They have won several times with it at “Burgers & Hip Hop”.

I had mango curry with rice and tofu. This is also available as a combo, in the vegan variant with tofu a summer roll is added and in the variant with chicken you get crispy dumplings as a starter.

The drinks menu includes smoothies, shakes, drinking coconut as well as Vietnamese soda and beer, but also classics such as juice spritzers and Coca-Cola.

bibi mix

Bibi mix is another Asian restaurant from a total of currently four at Kantini. And here again at Kantini is not the only branch, because Bibi mix can also be found in Rosa-Luxemburg Straße 5 -7.

The menu is kept very short here. There are only four dishes with a few variations. By the way, Bibi mix offers you Korean cuisine.

bibi mix Bibimpap
The focus is on the dish Bibimpap, which is obviously also the namesake of this restaurant. Bibimpap is also available as a vegan version and the veggie fries are also vegan. You can also find chicken wings and pop chicken in Korean sauce.

Chaparro

Chaparro
The Chaparro is a Mexican restaurant and offers burritos, comida corrida, tortas, quesadillas and of course tacos. Lots of fresh ingredients are used to make salsas and the various fillings. Tomatoes, peppers, onions and coriander should not be missing. And of course there are also vegan variations. Incidentally, Chaparro has another branch at Wiener Strasse 14A.

Chaparro Taco
Tuesday is always Taco Day. You can get all tacos for 2 euros. So a good opportunity to try out all the variants.

On the drinks menu you will find homemade Aguas Frescas as well as an ice-cold margarita alongside other refreshments.

Vedang

Vedang Kantini Bikini Berlin Wandschild
Vedang opened its third location at Kantini in early July 2020. The other stores can be found at the Mall of Berlin and at Alexa. Vedang apparently is focusing on shopping centers. At the bikini house, the shop is located directly at the main entrance to Kantini. When you go up the escalator you you have to go straight and will automatically pop into it.

Vedang Speisekartendisplay
When I discovered it, I immediately remembered Lukas’ comment on the Burger Special Berlin. I thought very well, then I can try Vedang right away. At first I was a bit irritated and not sure if all burgers are plant-based. But they are. The company itself says: Vedang – The Future of Fast Food.

So what’s on the menu here?

Vedang Kantini Veggie Burger Menü
There are the classic hamburgers and cheeseburgers, a barbecue burger – which is called
Vedang Barbecue aka Babycue Burger
Babycue 😉 at Kantini – and also a chicken burger. The three specialty burgers to be mentioned are: The Mary Jane CBD burger with 5% CBD oil in the patty, the Beyond Burger logically with Beyond-Meat Patty and the Impossible Burger with the Impossible Patty. By the way, we had the aforementioned Babycue aka Barbecue Burger and a veggie burger with falafel quinoa patty.

The side dishes include nuggets, fries, cheesy fries and chili-cheese fries.

And if you want something sweet, you can treat yourself to a vanilla soft ice cream.

Info Kantini

Address: Budapester Str. 38-50, 10787 Berlin

Opening hours: Mon – Sat, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

www.bikiniberlin.de/de/kantini/

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That’s it for the time being from the Kantini in Bikini Berlin. Have you been to there? And if so, what is your favorite restaurant? I would be very interested. Feel free to write me a comment! And if your darling wasn’t there, I’ll go there next.

Have fun and enjoy,
Yours Arnold

Last update: July 10, 2020