5 Best Restaurants in Regensburg, Franconia and the German Danube

If there's one city food experience you shouldn't miss, it's the succulent, charcoal-grilled Regensburger sausages at this 500-year-old "sausage kitchen". The small, homemade pork-ham würstchen, available in portions of six, eight or 10, are served with the restaurant's own cellar-fermented sauerkraut and signature Wurstkuchl mustard. There are plenty of other options on the menu, too, but they hold less interest. Try to grab a seat at one of the wooden benches outside, where you can eat while looking upriver to the nearby Stone Bridge; otherwise, head inside the wood-paneled restaurant next door.

The city's finest fine-dining option sees Michelin-starred chef Maximilian Schmidt focus on a fusion of European (especially French, German, and Scandinavian) and Asian cuisines. Choose between a three-, five- and eight-course evening tasting menu featuring inventive, seasonal creations like pike perch with fermented paprika and chawanmushi (egg custard) with bacon, or come for a good-value (and considerably cheaper) three- or four-course lunch. Although set in an 800-year-old Altstadt building, the decor is chic modern minimalism; all hardwood floors, featureless walls, and dim lighting. There's a lovely boutique hotel here, just in case you don't want to move after dinner.

In a city famous for its cafés, Anna is a safe chain of high-quality bakeries in Regensburg and one of the best places for coffee and cake in the afternoon. Breakfast under the vaulted ceilings is pleasant, as are the sandwiches to go. The wonderful bread and pastries more than make up for the often-surly baristas.

A modern two-level café and bar, Felix offers everything from sandwiches to steaks, and buzzes with activity from breakfast until the early hours. Light from an artsy chandelier and torchlike fixtures bounces off the many large framed mirrors.

Expect high-quality Italian cuisine with the occasional Spanish influence at this historic restaurant: think beef cheeks in red wine sauce with fried pimentos, or black risotto with grilled garlic prawns and aioli. The charming interior is all rough wooden beams, pristine white tablecloths, and painting-covered walls, with evening meals often accompanied by live jazz. The name, rather unfortunately, means "Empty Sack."