Food

Rice Up

This little gem is hidden on a dodgy Kreuzberg U-Bhf platform but its great mix of traditional Japanese and fusion ingredients make it worth stepping off your train for. Get there early though to avoid soggy rice.

Image for Rice Up

With rats on tracks and boozers on benches, buying food from a Kreuzberg subway platform might sound like a clear no-go. There’s nothing dodgy about the Rice Up booth, though. They’ve been filling hungry bellies with eight varieties of palm-sized organic rice triangles since last December.

The Rice Up company wraps their goodies air-tight with imported Korean packaging each morning in Treptow to keep the seaweed from turning soggy, then ships them out to their onigiri-only underground vendor, as well as their new Friedrichstraße shopfront (opened June) and cafés like Betahaus.

For €2.50 each (€2.80 in Mitte), pick from classic fillings like salmon and wasabi to more fanciful concoctions like chicken and sweet potato, vegan-friendly lime avocado or shiitake and Hokkaido pumpkin. Fusion lovers, embrace the Mediterranean flavour bomb of feta, rocket and sun-dried tomato or the teriyaki beef, best described as sushi bolognese.

Battle the origami-like instructions to first rip then tear corners off your packaging, wrapping seaweed around the onigiri shoulders.

While end-of-the-day rice can lean to the claggy side, and the salty fillings tend to be overly mushed, Rice Up makes a convenient, transport-friendly snack.