• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 2343 0

in an atmospheric town-hall basement restaurant (Ratskeller), although you might often find that your fellow diners aren’t locals, but other tourists looking for the same thing. It’s much better to ask your hotel for a recommendation. German-only menus (Speisekarte) displayed outside an establishment are a good sign; the waiter will almost invariably be able to translate for you.

Diners seeking somewhere less formal can opt for a Gaststätte, a relaxed and often more ‘local’ place to eat with a large menu, daily specials and a beer garden out the back. Equally inviting are small bistros calling themselves Weinkeller or Bierkeller (cellars serving wine or beer), which cook up light meals as well as serving glasses of wine or beer. Most cafes and bars serve coffee and light snacks as well as alcohol.

* * *

TOP FIVE GERMAN WINE PRODUCERS

‘Too many people still associate Germany with basic, sugary whites’, says Tim Atkin, wine correspondent for the UK’s Observer newspaper. He points out there’s much more to German wine, and suggests keeping a particular eye out for the following producers:

Dönnhoff ( 06755-263; www.doennhoff.com; Oberhausen, Nahe region)

Egon Müller Scharzhof (www.scharzhof.de; Saar region)

JJ Prüm (www.jjpruem.de; Bernkastel-Wehlen, Mosel region)

Weingut Meyer-Näkel ( 02643-1628; www.meyer-naekel.de; Dernau, Ahr region)

Wittmann ( 06244-905036; www.weingutwittman.com; Westhofen bei Worms, Rheinhessen region)

* * *

For information on the customary business hours kept by restaurants and other eateries, Click here and the Quick Reference guide on the inside front cover.

Return to beginning of chapter

Quick Eats

A Stehcafé is a stand-up cafe where sweet cravers can indulge in coffee and cakes at speed and on the cheap. Stand-up food stalls (Schnellimbiss or, simply, Imbiss) around town make handy speed-feed stops for savoury fodder. In Berlin and other cities, some stalls cook up quick Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern and Chinese bites.

Germany’s Turkish population invented the modern doner kebab (Dönerkebab), adding salad and sauces to slices of roasted beef, chicken or lamb sandwiched inside pitta bread. Most kebab joints also do vegie versions.

In the north, herring and other fish snacks abound. The Nordsee chain is found countrywide (as well as in Switzerland), while the similar – but slightly more upmarket – Gosch (see the boxed text, Click here) is more of a quintessential German experience.

Bavarian beer gardens typically serve light snacks such as fresh warm pretzels (Brez’n), Bavarian-style meatloaf (Leberkäs) and radishes (Radi) to their beer-swilling clientele.

* * *

It’s a fast-food nation – but the old yellow arches are clearly second tier. Germans eat between 250 and 350 tonnes of doner kebabs a day – double the amount sold by McDonald’s and Burger King put together.

* * *

Return to beginning of chapter

VEGETARIANS & VEGANS

While vegetarians will have few tummy grumbles in Berlin and other major cities, the pickings in provincial Germany might be slimmer. Vegetables cooked with meat are often considered meat-free, while many so-called vegetarian places serve fish or chicken.

But all is not lost in this carnivorous land. Most city-based Thai, Vietnamese and other Asian eateries cook up dishes suitable for vegetarians. A couple of regional dishes also do not – miraculously – contain meat, including Leipziger Allerlei, a vegetarian option in Saxony. Vegetarians in Frankfurt can feast on Grüne Sosse – a tasty green sauce eaten as a main dish on top of boiled potatoes or hard-boiled eggs. Fresh basil, chives, cress, dill, sorrel, parsley and tarragon are among the wealth of herbs to be found in this green, cream-based sauce – a seasonal dish available early spring to early autumn.

Vegetable- or cheese-stuffed strudel (Gemüsestrudel or Topfenstrudel), potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) and potato and semolina dumplings (Erdäpfelknödel) are more widespread veg-inspired offerings.

Vegans should plan on sticking to vegetarian Asian cuisine. Most German vegetarian