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Joy S
Joy S
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Eating and Drinking in the City

  • August 28, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Joy S from Manchester, United Kingdom
Eating and Drinking in the City

Cologne is famous for its locally brewed beer - Kolsch. You can eat and drink really well in this city.

When you are in Cologne you are almost obligated to drink Kolsch. It can be fruity or spicy depending on the brewery. It is almost always served from the tap in small glasses of 0.2l so that it can be drunk while it is still cool. The glasses are called Stangen.

Waiters at the breweries will be quick to bring you a new beer when the old one is finished. Each beer is marked as a pencil line on your beermat. Cover your glass when you have had enough or they will keep bringing you more.

Kolsch means "of Cologne" and is only allowed to be brewed within the city. Kolsch is also the name of the local dialect. The common joke is Kolsch is the only language you can drink.

For traditional breweries head to the Altstadt around the Dom. The Fruh am Dom brewery is the most authentic place. It has beer halls decked out with long tables. It is right by the Cathedral and has been in business for over 100 years.

Fruh am Dom seats 600 people. We went there at 3pm on a Friday - it was full to the brim and we struggled to find somewhere to sit. Apparently it is like this almost all of the time. The atmosphere is good and waiters are dashing around everywhere carrying trays of beer. The waiters though are a bit surly and not overly friendly. We had one drink here but did not go back for food.

We ate one evening at Peters Brauhaus on Muhlengasse. This is yet another brewery which serves Kolsch. When we went it was absolutely packed, but we managed to find a table. This is a friendly establishment - the waiters, unlike those at Fruh am Dom, are not grumpy and we were really well looked after.

The staff were helpful, cheerful and worked extremely hard.

We had several beers and a delicious meal of pork shoulder in beer sauce with roasted potatoes. It came with a delicious side salad. The cost of this for 2 (our son shared some of mine as the portions are large, and they have no children's menu) was 50 euros. They do not accept credit cards - cash only.

From journal A Weekend in Cologne

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