wilkes@gatech.UUCP (C.T. "Tom" Wilkes) (06/04/84)
Does anyone have recommendations for good restaurants, Lokale,
Weinstuben, and the like in Koeln (Cologne)? Thanks in advance,
-- TW
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Tom Wilkes
UUCP : ...!{allegra, sb1, ut-ngp, akgua}!gatech!wilkes
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ARPA : wilkes.gatech@CSNet-Relay CSNET : wilkes@gatechrrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (06/06/84)
There's a terrific Czechoslovak place, the Praguer Restaurant: it's small but very good: they have Budvar beer in goblets, a potent after-dinner drink called mironkovitz (spelling's wrong), very rich but curious desserts, and great dumplings that accompany entrees. Try the (I think) veal in fruit sauce with dumplings made from breakfast rolls. The restaurant is near a streetcar line along one of the "spoke" roads that cross the "ring" roads near the city center. The rule is stay away from German restaurants: Cologne is a big industrial city like Pittsburgh, PA (the factories form a ring on the outskirts), & the locals don't require exciting food. There are numerous Czechoslovak, Yugoslavian (the Adriatic is good, moderately-priced: try the cevapcici), Turkish, & Italian eateries (ask where the ethnic districts are). Dusseldorf (30 miles, 1/2 hour by train or streetcar north) has one of the best Japanese restaurants outside Tokyo: well worth the trip. It's in the city center (I forget the name). Every German city seems to have an "Altstadt" which is really a humoungous shopper's district with "late" night cafes, foreign restaurants (beware: many are tourist traps; also, EVERY place promptly closes at 11 pm; on weekends, the Altstadt is thronged with crowds): I ate at a Thai place in Cologne's Altstadt (next to Der Dom, the giant cathedral): it was so-so, mildly spiced, not very authentic. Dusseldorf's Altstadt is also lively on a weekend evening. Whatever you eat, DRINK! The beer is incredibly good. Every large city and region produces its own KIND of brew. In Koeln it's Kolsch; in Duessel- dorf, Alte, drunk in tumblers. There's also Weizenbier from Berlin quaffed in tall thin glasses. If you have a tyrannical sweet tooth & don't mind sitting amongst well-pre- served blue-haired matrons, go promptly at 4 pm each day to a Konditerei, an institution as German as tea & crumpets are British: there you leisurely dine on Kafe und Kuechen, good coffee and incredible gateau: ridiculously elaborate & tasty pastries cut in heavy slabs like cheesecake from 20-lb. cakes. The Professor of Beer is a student pub in a little cafe district not far from the University: if the Professor does not have in his ample cellar the arcane brand you request, you drink for free. There are few supermarkets: to shop, you make the rounds of the butcher, the bakery for bread, the pastry shop, the green grocer, and the ungreen (?) grocer. The cheeses, cold cuts, breads, rolls, & other breakfast foods are very good with many varieties: you can put together a really fine picnic lunch and eat in eg., the Beethoven Park, one of many green belts in the city. Remember that German tastes are bland: even the foreign restaurants germanize their offerings to an extent that would be considered scanda- lous in this country. Gutes Essen! Ron Rizzo