The best crêpes in Berlin: PomPom’s

There is something charming about middle-aged japanese housewives finally realising their dreams.

Especially when the result is a happy stomach! If you ever find yourself in Berlin with a craving for crêpes you should head to PomPom’s, even if you’re at the other end of town. The owner, said japanese woman, and her daughter realised some time ago, that there was no place in Berlin where they could eat crêpes of the kind they loved back in Japan. So one day when she had the money and the renovation of the Alexanderplatz metro station made room for an affordable little stores, she decided to start her own Japanese crêpe shop!

Of course, you can have the usual German variety of toppings, like Nutella, cinnamon+sugar, powdered sugar and equally boring stuff but that’s just to please the crowd. You really come here for the fruits! There are about eight different crêpes, all filled with pieces of fruit, a matching sauce and whipped cream. Some are more plain, others quite daramatic e.g. the pear crêpe with Grand Marnier as “sauce”, the blueberry crêpe which replaces the whipped cream and sauce with a mixture of blueberry jam and cream cheese! The big star is the “Fruits Basket”, where all the fruits, sans whipped cream, come together.

This is not all however: When Pompom is bored at home, she just starts to experiment with different things. Results are, among others, a tomato-mozarella crêpe, a Hawaii crêpe (just like the pizza), an Apfelstrudel crêpe, a “Schwarzwälder Kirsch” crêpe and similarly silly things. As daring as they may sound they are pure joy, if you like the respective foods, Pompom just has excellent taste! Also, there is a points card, which allows you to have one free crêpe for every ten you pay. Unfortunately the freebie is limited to crêpes costing 2€ or less, but luckily this includes the very interesting Butter-Sugar-Lemon crêpe.

Prices are quite low: every boring German crêpe costs between 1,50€ and 2€, while nearly all of the dramatic ones cost between 2-3€ (70 cent more if you want ice in your crêpe). Hawaii is the big exception (3,80€) and we’re still trying to figure out, how she calculates the prices. It seems to be profitable however, as the shop has been open for more than half a year now and it doesn’t seem to be in danger.

This little gem of Japaneseness™ is situated in the (ridiculously vast and easy to lose yourself in) concourse of Alexanderplatz metro station, between the U2 und U8 platforms, directly above the U5, opposite Dunkin Donuts, neighbouring McDonald’s. It’s open from 13:00 to 22:00 on weekdays including Saturday and from 14:00 to 20:00 on Sundays. (I may have switched times, so just show up between 14:00 and 20:00 to be sure.)