Crossing Bornholmerstrasse on Friday night on my way to meet friends, I found myself walking behind a young woman wearing a short, close-fitting plastic jacket, leggings and ankle boots. It was -3 degrees. I was muffled in a full-length coat resembling a sleeping bag, two tops, a giant cardigan, a thick skirt, thick black tights with socks over the top, wool gloves lined with fleece, a chunky scarf, a knitted hat and knee-length boots. I was still cold. What was this lady's secret? Her outfit left no space for a little Winterspeck, or "winter lard" – that soft, comforting layer of flesh best developed when the cold weather kicks in. Did she have anti-freeze in her veins? Or was she just very, very cold?
The quickest way to get both warm and speck'd if you're not impervious to frost like this lady, is to raid the local Imbiß. You go out, freeze, order some hot food and devour it as you stamp some life into your feet. A standard doener will do, but gentrified Prenzlauer Berg has a better class of lard.
Currywurst und Schampus in the Saturday Kollwitzplatz market have elevated Berlin's humble signature dish, a pork sausage with tomato ketchup and curry powder, into something ludicrously sophisticated. The pommes are served with truffle mayonnaise, and my pick, the "Spezial Currywurst" with creamy mayonnaise and raw red onion, is almost too rich to snarf. The ritziest wurst on offer is their 5€ Currywurst Gold, spiced with 22k gold leaf. Which is just silly. I don't dare eat it in case the next anti-yuppie demo in the Kiez lobs Molotov cocktails through my bedroom window.
For a more down-to-earth dessert there's a van that parks next to the supermarket at the corner of Winstrasse and Marienburg where the quarkkeulchen – balls of deep-fried curd-cheese dough – are perfect: crisp, not oily, and dusted with enough icing sugar to contrast with the sharp taste of the quark.
After that little lot, you're well on your way to a Speckmantel that'll last you the winter, if you don't try and sleep it off and end up hibernating till May.
Go further: Fancy snacking? John Rambow does and has a soft spot for Grand Street is New York. Find out why.
