Currywurst Deluxe

The Currywurst is a German original. Presumably invented by a certain Herta Heuwer in Berlin on 4 September 1949 who, out of boredom, started experimenting with the ingredients at her sausage stall, it is now famous on various parts of Germany, mostly Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhrpott, which is close to where we live, so we get our fair share of Currywurst stalls as well.

Basically it’s a hot grilled pork sausage. The key to what makes a Currywurst a Currywurst instead of an ordinary sausage is the sauce, which is ketchup-based but seasoned with various spices, thus achieving the unique Currywurst flavor. Basically it’s a simple take-away dish, not very healthy – mind you, but seriously: who cares? – and usually served with french fries, but one with a tradition and apparently a legend. There even is a novel called „Die Erfindung der Currywurst“ (The Invention of Curried Sausage) by Uwe Timm, just so you know how important exactly we take our Currywurst. It’s literatureworthy!

However, you usually just get it at take-away stand or small tiny diners, served in a plastic bowl, often drowned in the sauce, which is not necessarily a bad sign, depending on the quality of the sauce. You certainly won’t see it on the menu of a restaurant, because for some reason, it’s just not meant to be served at the table on a real plate with real, rather than plastic, knives and forks.

Or so we thought.

Then some day I stumbled upon a small restaurant called Curry Cologne. At first I thought it could only be an Indian restaurant (curry, you see?), but further investigation showed that this was not the case. Instead we’re talking about a small restaurant serving Currywurst, and Currywurst only, but with some deluxing going on. Naturally, we had to check it out, so this Saturday while on another Cologne shopping spree we decided to go have ourselves a Currywurst deluxe, just as the place promises.

It’s located close to the Ring, near Friesenplatz, so you can easily reach it by foot, especially since we had to change trains there anyway. When we got there it was about 1:30 pm and the place, small as it is, was packed. Once we got seated we ordered the Deal, which is one Currywurst, one order of French fries with a sauce of your choice and one beverage for 6,70 Euro. You can have your sausage normal, spicy or fruity (we ordered spicy) and choose between seven sauces for the fries. I took the peanut-saté, Peter ordered fruity Frites sauce (and there’s also Aioli and French herbs). Both were really good, and I must admit that I liked Peter’s sauce a tiny bit more, so I kept on dipping my fries in his sauce.

Both the sausage and the fries were really good, the fries being of the Belgian kind, which is really large and thick and potatoey and also: really hot when they come to your table. And yes, this was a warning: Don’t be as impatient as I was, a burnt tongue hardly ever is worth it.

You can also order a Krautsalat, which is a bit like the German version of cole slaw, or be decadent and order the Candlelight Deal, which is two sausages and two orders of fries, but with wine or champagne.

We left the place content and full. It’s a nice place to get a quick bite to eat for lunch or dinner, with a little bit more chic and definitely more charm and cool then lots of other places serving similar food. The food is good and plenty and the location, just off Friesenplatz (and therefore close to the subway) is great. Of course I have to go back there, if only to taste the French herbs sauce, but also because of the special tingly feeling you get when your Currywurst is served on an actual plate. Yay!

Curry Cologne
Antwerpener Straße 5
50672 Köln
(0221) 58 94 556
info@currycologne.de
The menu (in German)