Nürnberg Restaurants

Just outside the Altstadt, down by the theater and a part of the Transport Museum is a nice little Vietnamese restaurant . The food is great, and the service is friendly. I really enjoyed a Red Tofu Curry - it's a great stop for vegetarians. They do a wide range of Vietnamese dishes, and any genuine dish that isn't listed they promise to cook up for you. In addition they also specialise in Sushi. I stopped here because of the smell, and was very glad I did.

You shouldn't miss Zeit & Raum, a cosy cafe near the river, on Sunday mornings. From 10 am to 3.30pm you get the nicest breakfast buffet you can imagine here. Eat as much as like of all the sweet and savoury, warm and cold treats for only EUR 7,80. The choice is endless: Different meat and fish, Asian finger food, Weißwürste, cake, pasties, jams, cornflakes, bread, puddings, fruit etc etc etc.

Favorite Dish: Definitely some Weißwürste with sweet mustard and the vanilla pudding with fruit :)

This restaurant is fairly unknown, as it is located outside the city center. This doesn't mean any negative, maybe exactly the opposite:
Meals are quite big, usually you can take away the part of the pizza that's too much. The ambience is very familiar: Gianni and Giuseppe, who own the restaurant are brothers. They are a real quite tip!

Favorite Dish: My favorite dish there is ... surprise surprise ... pizza! Unbeatable is pizza with rucola, grilled chinese mushrooms and fresh parmesan.
For desert you should ask for the unique Tiramisu.

This will be about two places...Barfüsser, "barefeet" pun, is sold as a Hausbräuerei everywhere you look for info, but we were rather disappointed. Whist the beer (a wheat and a dark and light one) is brewed in the copper vats before your eyes, that is just about it as far as hearty German goes. Sure, the food is good, but the beer, although tasty, is nothing special compared to other Bavarian. The place at least when we were there also had a bit of a stressed atmosphere (amongst the staff, not because it was full) and moreover, we never understood why a German brewery would have English pub signs all over the ceiling, and pictures of Italian film stars on the walls. It was as they had difficulties chosing just one theme and sticking to that. But, it was a nice enough place, and at least we got to see the famous old Renaissance former granary and customs house, the Mauthalle, since the bar is in its cellars.

Almost across the street is the Deutschen Kaiser hotel and here you find a branch of the Andechser restaurants (others in for instance Munich and Goslar). Here in Nürnberg, it seemed to be owned by the Barfüsser people, but what a difference. Although a bit smoky, children were welcomed and they even had the humour of putting an extra plate for kids on their menu for 0 Euro. Service was friendly and the food and beer excellent :) A typical wooden interior German place just as you want it to be.

Favorite Dish: Cheese spätzle

What fascinated us about the Market in Nürnberg was that it was open just as long as the shops and supermarkets in the city. We are used to markets closing some time in the afternoon in Sweden. The market has lots of fruit, pickled vegetables, cheese and other things you might want for a budget picnic at the castle, along the river or somewhere else in the city.

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A pretzel is a baked snack that is ordinarily twisted into a unique knot-like shape. The pretzel is usually made from wheat flour with yeast; the dough is briefly dipped in lye water before baking, and usually (though not always) salted.

Sources differ as to the time and place of the pretzel's origin. Many sources say it originated in southern Germany (where it remains very popular and is known as Bretzel); others say it comes from the French region of Alsace on the border between France and Germany. Some say it originated in Medieval times, others that it dates back to Ancient Rome or even Celtic times.

There are also several stories about the origin of the pretzel shape. One legend holds that a baker accused of larceny was offered the opportunity to cancel his sentence if he could make a bread through which the sun could be seen thrice; the ingenious baker twisted his dough into a pretzel before baking. Another common story says that the shape represents the position of arms of a monk in prayer. Another story says that the three holes represent the Christian Holy Trinity. A sign with three rings was an old symbol to mark a bakery in Germany, but sources differ as to if the signs were made to imitate the pretzel or the pretzel was made to imitate the signs. However, stories told of the pretzel are likely apochryphal, and the actual origin of the pretzel seems to be a mystery.

Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies similar to gingerbread, which were probably invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nuremberg, but today, the most famous Lebkuchen come from Nuremberg, from where they are exported all over the world.

Sometimes Lebkuchen are packaged in richly decorated nostalgic tins and boxes which have become collectors' items. Lebkuchen range in taste from spicy to sweet and come in a variety of shapes with round being the most common. The ingredients usually include honey, spices and nuts, almonds or candied fruit. Salt of Hartshorn and Potash are often used for raising the dough. The Lebkuchen dough is often placed on a thin wafer base called Oblate. This was an idea of the monks who used communion wafers to prevent the dough from sticking.

The forerunner of today's Lebkuchen was called 'honey cake' and its history can be traced back to the Egyptians, the Greek and the Romans. They believed honey, the only widely available very sweet food, was a gift of the gods and had magical and healing powers. Honey cakes were also worn as a talisman in battle or as protection against evil spirits. Teutonic peoples used honey cakes for the same purpose especially around the winter solstice, which might be the reason Lebkuchen became associated with Christmas.

Favorite Dish: Since 1808, Nuremberg gingerbread of the best quality is called Elisenlebkuchen. It is uncertain whether the name Elise refers to the daughter of a gingerbread baker or the wife of a margrave. Since 1996, Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a Protected Designation of Origin.

Lebkuchen are usually soft, but a very hard and generally inedible type of Lebkuchen is used to produce Lebkuchen hearts, usually inscribed with icing, which are available at many German fairs and the witch houses made popular by Hansel and Gretel. The closest German equivalent of the gingerbread man is the Honigkuchenpferd (honey cake horse).

A bratwurst is a fried sausage. Usually eaten with mustard and bread, it is a popular snack in in the city which is sold at various fast food outlets and is often consumed while standing.

It is also part of a traditional dish served at restaurants. It includes fried sausages - "Drei auf Kraut", Sauerkraut, and potatoes.

The original, small Bratwurst was invented in Nuremberg.