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'Berlin Currywurst' Brings German Street Grub to Chelsea Market

By Gwynne Hogan | November 4, 2015 6:44pm
 Berlin Currywurst will open in Chelsea Market this December, a spokeswoman for Chelsea Market said.
Berlin Currywurst will open in Chelsea Market this December, a spokeswoman for Chelsea Market said.
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Facebook/Berlin Currywurst

CHELSEA — A German-couple who fled their corporate jobs for the restaurant business in 2010 will bring a classic Berlin street dish to Chelsea Market this January, according to a spokeswoman for Chelsea Market.

Berlin Currywurst, specializes in the sausage, curry, ketchup combo that's a staple of the Berlin street food scene.

Legend has it that currywurst was the invention of a Herta Heuwer, a German housewife after WWII, whose British husband brought home curry powder from England. Heuwer combined traditional pork sausages with ketchup and the imported spices and started selling her invention on the streets of Berlin with remarkable success.

"It just became an iconic street food," said Hardeep Manak, 35, co-owner of Berlin Currywurst. "It's like a flavor explosion in your mouth when you bite into it...it's a very eclectic flavor."

Before getting into the restaurant business, Manak and his wife, Lena, 30, traveled extensively for their marketing jobs, and were shocked that in cities like L.A. and New York you couldn't find a decent currywurst.

Since 2010, the Manak's opened two restaurants in L.A. locations using all of Hardeep's mother's recipes. The Chelsea Market location will be their first in New York City, Manak said.

Berlin Currywurst is one of seven new eateries opening up this winter in a new kiosk area in Chelsea Market called 409½ West 15th.

Diners at Berlin Currywurst can select between pork, veal, beef, chicken or tofu sausages, orange-ginger, garlic or classic currywurst sauces and sides of fries (German, not French), sauerkraut and beet salad.

The restaurant will also dish up sausage hash, breakfast sandwiches all day and German-style meat loaf.

"There's a great history behind this dish and we're glad to bring it to the East Coast," Manak said. "We're very honored."