For a vegan pizza in Berlin, Sfizy Veg was the recommendation of one of the woollen hat guys who staff Dr. Pogo’s vegan supermarket. “There are others, but Sfizy Veg is the best!” he beamed. Sfizy Veg wasn’t far away either, but the first time we actually went there it was closed without any notice why.
But then, on a Sunday several weeks later, we arrived ravenous after a day of cycling along the Berlin Wall. It wasn’t even 6 pm and there were only two people having coffee and cake, but it turned out that most tables were reserved from around 7. There aren’t so many tables anyway, and these filled quickly over the next 20 minutes. The restaurant looks like an old-fashioned pub with cozy interior decoration, lots of Italian posters and embellishments, plus a considerable amount of fundamentalist slogans of the “meat is murder, dairy is rape” variety. For the time being we concentrate on the pizza to come.
All food at Sfizy Veg is vegan, and the menu offers a selection of traditional dishes that are vegan anyway, far more that would in their original version be vegetarian and also some involving vegan “meat”. We order some absolutely delicious Bruschette as starters, and a Pizza Funghi und a Pizza Diavolo.
Both pizzas are served with a vegan mock cheese. The spicy salami on the Diavolo is replaced by spicy vegan “salami”-slices. Both SfizyVeg pizzas look very authentic and both taste quite good although for some reason they don’t smell like Pizza. The mock cheese leaves a bit of a peculiar aftertaste but comes closer to the real thing than any vegan “cheese” we have had so far. The pizza itself is slightly above average. The crust could be a bit crisper in places, but the overall texture is fine, the ingredients are fresh and it is well-seasoned.
In sum, the Sfizy Veg can’t compete with a high-end non-vegan pizzeria, but it does beat most average pizza joints, and for its all-vegan menu it is highly recommendable. Prices are fair too.
All about Sfizy Veg in Berlin
Sfizy Veg: Treptowerstraße 95, 12059 Berlin http://sfizyveg.de. 17-23 h, Sunday from 15 h, Tuesdays closed. Reservation recommended.
Self-service, pizza around 7–9 €, large portions. The restaurant is not far off Sonnenallee (bus stop: Hertzbergplatz)
*** Sfizy Veg has closed in 2019 ***
