If you’ve ever sought out spicy food in Berlin, chances are you’ve had to ask: is it German hot, or hot hot? Not so at Neukölln newcomer Humble Pie, which serves delectable fried chicken catering to all spice preferences. Spice snobs beware: chef-owner Chris Haskins isn’t messing around.
“It’s a challenge for some people, to see if they can handle the heat,” he says. “We get a lot of guys that come in, saying, ‘Oh, let’s get the hottest, I can handle it’, like [it’s] a competition. And that’s what we enjoy: when we see their face like, ‘Man, that was hot. I think maybe next time I should go one notch less spicy’.”
While the location is new, the brand isn’t. Tennessee-born chef Sarah Durante founded the chicken joint as a food truck in 2015. Deciding to move on from the project in 2021, she anointed Haskins as her successor. After taking the truck on the road around Germany, Denmark and beyond, he realised he had a hot commodity on his hands and upsized to a brick-and-mortar restaurant – although the truck still makes pop-up appearances. (Haskins also launched Humble Coffee in Gräfekiez, testing out his culinary chops on American-style sandwiches and sweets.)
We want to give people that experience like being in an East Nashville dive bar.
Haskins’ food journey began young, helping his mom run a farmers’ market in Washington D.C. and later taking on catering gigs alongside his sociology degree, following a short stint in culinary school in Baltimore. A move to Berlin for a taste of European life led him to work under Michelin-starred chef Andreas Tuffentsammer at Beets & Roots, before the chance to take over Humble Pie arose.
Growing up in the fried chicken zones of Atlanta, Louisiana, and North Carolina, Haskins developed a passion for the typical American comfort food. “I just had this love for this style of Southern cooking, comfort food that makes people feel good,” says Haskins. But then again not too comfortable as Haskins eye-wateringly hot brand of chicken attests. At Humble Pie, customers are served Nashville hot chicken, a style of fried chicken with a spicy legend rooted in the famed Nashville restaurant Prince’s Hot Chicken.
“The restaurant founder [to-be] was cheating on his wife. He would come home at night and say ‘I want fried chicken.’ So to punish him, she would make it as spicy as possible. And then he’s like, ‘I love it,’ and he’s showing his friends, who love it too,” Haskins says of the origins of Nashville hot chicken, which has since become its own distinct style of fried chicken. “It’s such a cool story. As a Black American, I like to be able to culturally relate to it, seeing how this Black family was able to take this recipe and make it a worldwide thing.”
At Humble Pie – like at Prince’s – you can choose your heat level, from ‘Southern’, with just a tiny kick, up to seriously hot (and with plenty of afterburn) ‘Nashville’. To add nuance, Haskins uses various chillies: habanero, scotch bonnet, ghost pepper and Carolina Reaper. And, as with any Nashville hot chicken, there’s plenty of other seasonings layered in, like garlic and a touch of sugar, adding an extra dimension.
You can choose between having your chicken as a sandwich (in a bun or on a fluffy buttermilk biscuit – the American ‘biscuit’, which vaguely resembles a British scone); or on a waffle. “If you aren’t sure, then just go with a lower heat level so you at least enjoy it,” advises Haskins. For those with zero heat tolerance, there’s also the intriguingly sweet-savoury honey-butter option with no chilli.
Humble Pie isn’t just about fried chicken. The menu features barbeque-inspired sides like oozy mac and cheese or buttery cornbread and a wedge salad topped with bacon from The Sausage Man Never Sleeps and a roquefort dressing. True to its name, you’ll find pies here, too, like the magnificently tangy-yet-creamy key lime pie. The 20-ish seat restaurant has a full bar to make a night of it too, with beer, margaritas and more.
It’s not just the food that makes Humble Pie stand out on Berlin’s restaurant scene: in a city where service ranges from mediocre to downright hostile, Humble Pie prides itself on its Southern hospitality. “We want to give people that experience like being in an East Nashville dive bar, you know? A good time, good eats, good music, and everybody’s friendly.”
So even if you leave in a little pain from overestimating your heat tolerance or discovering a “pickleback” – a very American combination of a shot with a pickle brine chaser – chances are you’ll still walk out the door feeling good, if also a little humbled.
- Humble Pie, Reuterstr. 57, Neukölln. Follow them on Instagram for menu updates and food truck locations.
