Multiethnic Dining in Frankfurt

Frankfurt is very international, so you can imagine the range of good restaurants. My first night there, I ate at a place carefully labeled, ‘Indian Restaurant Curry House – North and South Indian Food’. This restaurant does double-duty as a popular take-away, with a few tables inside with meals at reasonable prices. The city also has countless Thai and Chinese ‘imbiss’ (snack bars) all over the place. These are usually pretty good, but see my review of the Mr Lin Thai Imbiss in particular. The imbiss is quite popular, and across from that Thai restaurant is an entire street of imbiss offering all sorts of fare. Amongst the many, I selected A’Mir Sandwich, a wonderful and inexpensive Lebanese sandwich shop. On another occasion I found a large restaurant called Ginger Brasserie that offered an extensive menu of Asian food.

Of course this was all great, but the absolute best meal I had was at the Adolf Wagner, a sprawling local tavern that features Frankfurt’s specialties: Ebbelwoi (apple-wine), Handkäse mit Musik (cheese with music), and Frankfurter Grüne Sosse (green sauce).

Quick Tips:

If you could have only one meal in Frankfurt, you have to find one of the local Ebbelwoi taverns. See my free-form entry for general information about them.

Otherwise, it is a good city for experimentation in dining. The Römerberg area is a great place to stop for a coffee or a beer, as there are several cafes in and around the square, all offering outside seating if the weather permits. There are more cafes along Kaiserstrasse running away from the Hauptbahnhof, offering everything from ice cream cones to beer to Italian meals. Most of the eating establishments around the Hauptbahnhof are Asian, Middle Eastern or Italian. A notable area that I never made it to is Fressgasse (‘Munch Alley’), on Grosse Kalbachergasse and Grosse Bockenheimerstrasse, just southeast of the Alte Oper. It’s high on my list for when I next visit.

One thing I noticed while in Germany was that whenever I paid by credit card and added a tip, they were always charged separately to my card. Tip in cash or mention it to the server before they run your card through and print off the receipt (I’m not sure if this will help, but it’s worth trying).

Best Way To Get Around:

I had expected a city with so many skyscrapers to be a sprawling mess, but Frankfurt is surprisingly compact. I never took a tram within the city, although I was staying quite near the Hauptbahnhof (main station). Walking should be sufficient for most people, although the trams do offer a convenient way to save some walking. There is a tram stop (Schweizerplatz) very near the apple-wine taverns on Schweizer Strasse and another (Lokalbahnhof) not far from Grosse Rittergasse. All of the other restaurants I went to were in the general vicinity of the Hauptbahnhof, an area which is quite friendly to pedestrians. At pedestrian crossings, pedestrians really do have the right-of-way, as cars actually stop for you (!). Just watch out for bicyclists, and if you hear a bicycle bells, Get Out of The Way!

I found this place when I went wandering after dropping my stuff at the hostel. I was starving because it was after 8 and I’d been traveling all day. I had also read that this restaurant was highly recommended, but at first wondered if I had found the right one, because superficially it was not especially impressive. The sign was a bit over-explicit: ‘Indian Restaurant Curry House – North and South Indian Food’. Okay, okay, I get the point. When I first walked in, I could see the front takeaway counter, and some cheap-looking tables and chairs to the left. An Indian family was sitting at one, apparently enjoying their meal. There appeared to be further tables in the back, but I just sat down up front.

A man quickly brought me a menu. I ordered a diet coke, which cost 1.60 euro. This was brought to me right away. Then I ordered lentil soup (2.60 euro), as my starter. It was just an average size, but arrived quickly and was very tasty and warm. It was only mildly spicy, but I squeezed the lemon into it, which I loved (I got hooked on lime or lemon juice in soups when I was in Mexico).

For the main meal, I ordered a vegetarian thali plate (7.70 euro). It was brought to me not long after the server took away my just-empty soup bowl. It was served in a huge sectioned metal plate. In the center was a small lettuce and tomato salad with a creamy dressing, and in the outside sections were a yogurt sauce, colored basmati rice, and three vegetable curries (one spinach and tofu, another featuring potatoes and peas, and the last a runny lentil curry). A small dish of chapati also came with it. Each of the curries were excellent. I was very glad that I selected this dish, because I hate making food decisions and this is one way to avoid it—I got a little bit of ‘everything’!

The service was simple but satisfactory. My server wasn’t very chatty, but I’m sure he knew I couldn’t speak any German; at that point I had not yet even mastered the German phrases for identifying my lack of German ability. A couple other men associated with the restaurant were in and out of the front counter area, and one in particular seemed very friendly.

While I was there, I saw several people come in and order food from the takeaway counter. I am fairly certain that the food available for takeaway is cheaper than dining in, but I also already know it’s high-quality, so this might be a great place to grab a meal to take back to the hostel or hotel.

This is one of the many take-away shops along Paradiesgasse, or what I termed ‘Imbiss Row’ because the entire short street is one after the other along the covered sidewalk, offering foods of all nationalities. Most of the restaurants along here have a window facing the street where you place your order, and tall tables to stand at while you quickly eat your food. Some even have tables and chairs inside.

One of the reasons I selected this restaurant was simply because there appeared to be a free table. The other reasons were because the prices seemed reasonable and the menu had a fair amount of English translations on it, so I could be sure of what I was getting.

I read through the menu and decided on the Arayis, which was described as a lammtarter gegrillt – grilled lamb tarter. Most of the sandwiches were in the range of 4 euro, and mine was 4.40 euro. Sodas were 1.30 euro. There was only one guy standing in the window, over a small grill, and I gave my order to him.

I watched him make the sandwich. First he thinly spread the lamb tarter on a large flat, tortilla-sized bread. Then he sprinkled some spices, including oregano, salt and cilantro over the meat, and placed the entire thing in a grill rather like a waffle-iron. The sandwich cooked in the grill for a few moments, and in the meantime the original cook disappeared and another man came up to work the grills and window. When the sandwich was done, he pulled it out and asked if I wanted any of the garlic sauce, chili sauce, cilantro, green peppers and tomatoes. I had him put everything on it, and he then rolled it a couple times and wrapped it tightly in paper for easy handling.

The sandwich was wonderful. It was almost too hot to hold at first, but this meant only that it stayed warm while I ate it, as the top, exposed part would cool enough before I would take a bite. The meat was juicy, but not so much that it was running down my fingers (something you appreciate when there’s no bathroom available!). The cilantro flavor was nice, and the chili and garlic sauces added a bit of a kick while the tomatoes softened the blow. In short, I loved it.

To top off the fact that the sandwich was really nice, so were both of the staff I dealt with. They were both very friendly and spoke basic but decent English, in addition to German. The first guy chatted with me in English while he was making my sandwich. And the second guy, after I told him I didn’t speak German, asked me if I spoke Arabic (in English). I said not really, that I only knew ‘salem alaikum’, which made him laugh.

They are open daily from noon to 2am.

My last day in Frankfurt was a crappy rainy day. I spent the entire morning and early afternoon hiding in the hostel (the free internet was a small motivator), before finally venturing out, starving. The rain had let up enough that I didn’t get drenched on the way to this restaurant, but it surely didn’t provide a nice view from inside. Given the weather, it is not surprising that I was the only customer there at 1:15.

This restaurant focuses on Asian food in the most general sense. The menu was several (large) pages long, offering everything from Indian to Thai to Chinese to Japanese. Happily, everything was translated into (sometimes amusing but still useful) English. I was apparently in a Thai frame of mind, and ordered a mix of appetizers for my meal. Most main courses were in the range of 10+ euro, and appetizers around 3-5.50 euro.

I started with a clear soup with meatballs, glassnoodles, spinach and spring onions (it was described as such on the menu) for 3.80 euro. When I first tasted it, it seemed a little bland, so I put some chili sauce into the soup to give it some kick. Then it was great, and I was able to cut the meatballs up without launching clear soup all over the table (in other words, they were soft).

The next items were Thai Spring Rolls (3.50 euro), which I always love, and deep fried cheese balls (about 3 euro), which are apparently a ‘Thai specialty’. These were served at the same time, with the same sweet red sauce. There were five cheese balls, each just over an inch in diameter, and they were as described: deep fried balls of cheese. I wasn’t too impressed with them, because I guess I was expecting something more interesting. I did think they might have been better with a different sauce. The spring rolls, on the other hand, were very good. There were four of them, nice and crispy with fresh vegetables, and a garnish of thinly sliced carrots I packed into the rolls. And the sauce of course went perfectly with them.

I ordered a Darjeeling tea (1.50 euro) to go with my meal, and a coffee (1.80 euro) afterwards. They also serve beer and liquor.

The service here was pretty quick, but I’m not sure what that really says, given that there was a staff to customer ratio of at least 2:1. Regardless, my server paid attention. I was seated almost as soon as I came through the front door, and he gave me just the right amount of time to inspect the menu. The soup arrived in less than a minute, and the cheese balls and spring rolls came right as I was finishing it. And then he offered coffee just as I was finishing those.

This is one of Frankfurt’s many Ebbelwoi taverns. I wrote a short special entry on these taverns if you want general information on them.

When we first walked in, we passed some older men holding their beverages in the entryway. The place was jam-packed. The small bar was to our immediate left, and elsewhere were tightly-packed benches overflowing with happy people. I didn’t see any place to sit, and had no idea what we were supposed to do next. Suddenly a man motioned at me with the universal sign for ‘Get the $!*& out of the way!’, which prompted me to try asking the other guy behind the bar for a bit of help. This resulted in a noise that could only be interpreted as a loud bark, but seemed to work as then he pointed to a woman who led us to a couple of empty spots on one of the benches.

We both ordered a glass of Ebbelwoi (1.50 euro). I quite liked the Ebbelwoi, but did not notice anything spectacular about it — it pretty much tasted like cider (but I suppose what do you expect from a person who actually likes Diet Coke?). Something I found funny: on the menu it was listed as Apfelwein, so that was what I said. The waitress repeated ‘Apfelwein’, but when she brought it out, she clearly said, ‘Ebbelwoi’. I really thought I had a chance at picking up German after that! (I have since been corrected, und Ich spreche kein Deutsch. Instead the lesson should have been in just how distinct the Hesse dialect is…)

We also split a plate of the Handkäse mit Musik (2.50 euro). It was served with several small pieces of bread, on which we spread butter and then covered it with pieces of the cheese and onions. It was excellent. You might be interested, I never had to face the music, maybe because we split the one serving. For the main course, we both had Sauerkrautrösti mit Grüner Sosse und Salatgarnitur (7 euro). I had no idea what to expect, but it was quite nice. It was a potato patty topped with sauerkraut and small side salad. The sauce was to be poured over the potato and sauerkraut. Besides the items I chose, there were quite a few other selections. Most were less than 10 euro, as this is not meant to be a pricey restaurant.

I really enjoyed the meal, and we also ended up chatting with the couple next to us, who seemed to approve of our dinner choices. I think it’s hard to ignore your dining neighbors when you’re sharing a bench with them. Getting the bill and paying was a bit of a chore, but we did manage it. I almost missed coming here. If I hadn’t managed to convince a guy I met in the hostel, I never would have had the guts to go in alone. Lesson learned: always make travel buddies when you’re alone!

I found this place after wandering around the area by the youth hostel, looking for the spitting Frau (see the picture below). It is across the street from another restaurant I quite enjoyed, A’Mir Sandwich.

When I first sat down, a woman approached me right away with a menu. I began looking through it, and noticed they had several lunch specials for about 5 euro. Many of these included the soup of the day, but I didn’t see anywhere what that day’s was, so I tried to ask the woman when she returned. She spoke a little English, but could not understand my question, though she certainly tried. She finally ended up shouting across the restaurant to call a younger man over, and he spoke really good English. This was quite embarrassing, but did get the job done. The soup turned out to be Peking soup.

I decided to get the special, which included the soup, fish with ‘special curry sauce’ and a soda or tea. I selected a diet coke instead of tea, since it was a hot day. Peking soup is not usually my favorite, but it was good enough. It was a fairly small serving, but sufficient for a lunch. The fish with curry sauce was very good. It included a fairly large scoop of rice next to a fried and battered fish patty covered with a very generous portion of green beans, mushrooms, green and yellow peppers, in a thin, brown sauce. The sauce was medium-spicy and very flavorful.

I was actually unable to finish everything (which is unusual for me!), but I did end up ordering a glass of mango juice (my favorite), which was very good. It cost 1.60 euro, and they had several other juice options.

The service was very efficient, if not the friendliest. The servers were constantly moving around so it was not too difficult to get their attention. My soup arrived less than two minutes after I ordered, and the main meal two minutes after I finished the soup. Later, the mango juice came right after I asked for it, and the check also arrived immediately after my asking.

The restaurant is open from around noon to at least 9:00pm.

Frankfurt is known for its special alcoholic apple cider concoction, called ‘Ebbelwoi’ in the local dialect, or ‘Apfelwein’ in "proper German". ‘Handkäse mit Musik’, literally ‘cheese with music’, is an interesting mix: a small round white cheese, marinated in oil and vinegar, doused in onions, and served with bread and butter. The, eh, ‘music’, comes later. A third specialty, ‘Frankfurter Grüne Sosse’, is a green sauce made from several green ingredients (chives, parsley, dill, and more) with a yogurt, mayonnaise or sour cream base. It is served on a variety of foods, from potatoes to meats.

These can all be found in the Ebbelwoi taverns that are in various places in the city, but most highly concentrated south of the river. There are some on Schweizerstrasse, separated only by one door, at 67 and 71. When I visited Frankfurt, Zum Gemalten Haus (67) was closed for renovations for a month or so, but may already be open again. Fortunately, the close-by Adolf Wagner (71), was open, and this is where I sampled the local fare. There is another Ebbelwoi taverns immediately behind the main youth hostel, on Grosse Rittergasse. I walked past this one on the way to see the strange water-spitting statue, Frau Rauscher Brunnen. There are of course many other taverns, including one nearby on Wallstrasse.

The taverns are not very expensive, and they are evening venues: most do not open until around 4 or 5, but stay open fairly late, continually serving Ebbelwoi to boisterous and thirsty patrons.