tHE beRLINER | Gully Burger’s Sachin Obaid on his favourite spots to eat and drink

When Chef Sachin Obaid is not serving up plates of vada pav and cheese fries at Gully Burger, here's where he dines.

For a special occasion, Ernst in Wedding is my favourite place to go. It’s fine dining, and in my opinion, it’s probably in the top 10 of their type of local cuisine. Before they came to Berlin, there were very few people that actually took care of produce at that level, like going and finding some small supplier from a farm up north. It’s an expensive meal, sure, but there’s a reason behind that.

For a cheap eat, my favourite place is Maiyarap in Kreuzberg. When chef and owner Don first started, he was doing cookie-cutter Thai stuff, but now he’s in his own restaurant, and he’s really pushing the envelope. You get proper Thai soup noodles; the dishes are punchy with acidity and a kick to them. He’s got this Thai boat noodle dish that’s an instant (hangover) cure – if you’re feeling a bit down, you drink the broth and soup noodles and you just feel healthy.

To have a great beer, I go to Muted Horn in Neukölln. It’s actually a world-class craft beer bar and maybe one of the best in Europe, in terms of what they have on offer. If you want to get interesting bottles, like Cantillon or 3 Fonteinen or anything special, they’ll have it.

I don’t drink much coffee, but my local café, Isla, near Boddinstraße, is great. I’m a sucker for their kimchi grilled cheese sandwich. When I need a pick-me-up, I go for a walk with my wife, she gets coffee and I get one of those.

I’d go out of my way to go to Pamfilya in Wedding to get a proper yaprak [veal] döner; it’s the only place I think that does it perfectly. There’s also the Bosnian place Sarajevo that’s really tasty for cevapcici – I go up there and hit both places.

A really underrated restaurant is Ogam, a very mum-and-pop-type Korean spot near Hermannstraße station. It’s very minimal with maybe three tables inside; some Korean friends of mine took me there, and they’re like, oh, this reminds me of my mum’s cooking. If you crave a very homemade-style bibimbap, that’s the place to go.