10 Best Restaurants in The Rhineland, Germany

On the top of the Rochusberg, and on the road to St. Roch Chapel, this unusual-looking building is home to an excellent little café-restaurant that serves the town's best-value lunch buffet. The salads, soups, main courses, and desserts are all tasty and wholesome, with many of the dishes based on Hildegard of Bingen's own theories of nutrition. The Sunday buffet is even more elaborate, though more expensive. If you're just looking for a drink or a snack, you can stop in any time for coffee and cake; there's a substantial selection of local beers and wines, too. Save time to explore the ever-changing exhibits on Hildegard and her teachings, and to take a stroll around the medicinal medieval herb garden. There are hotel rooms available if you want to stay a little longer.

Düsseldorf has one of the largest Japanese communities outside of mainland Japan, and Naniwa is a standout in the heart of the Japanese Quarter. Lines can stretch down the block, but service is quick and worth the wait for traditional soup and noodle dishes. 

This legendary brewery serves classic German comfort food along with its excellent namesake beers (both Altbier and Pils) in typically rustic dining rooms, as well as out in the spacious glassed-in winter garden.

Cologne's main pedestrian shopping street is practical but uninspiring—some even say ugly. This café is an airy, artsy oasis with outdoor terrace seating and a view of the 14th-century Antonite church. The food is international with an emphasis on the Mediterranean, and includes many organic, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. The selection of cakes is divinely German, and there's a jazz dinner every Saturday. Three enormous, delicate chandeliers, made entirely of plastic waste, provide lighting.

Gelato fans shouldn't miss a visit to this ice cream shop opposite the Liebfrauenkirche. Natural ingredients and inventive (and occasionally slightly baffling) flavors, from "cold eggnog" to "English soup," make this place hugely popular. Prepare to stand in a long line, though the service is generally quick and efficient.

For over 80 years, this rustic corner tavern, in the shadow of the lovely St. Gereon's church, has served solid German comfort food to a mostly local crowd. There’s fresh Kölsch on tap, and the service is remarkably friendly.

Just off the town's pretty Marktplatz (Market Square), this popular bar-restaurant serves classic German fare: think goulash soup, currywurst, and schnitzel. But the undoubted highlights (and best value options) are the flammkuchen—wood-fired, thinly rolled-out discs of dough covered in a variety of toppings (a little like a thinner, crispier pizza). The traditional version, topped with onions, bacon, and cheese, is superb, but there are also fish and vegetarian alternatives. Sit out on the spacious, sunny terrace to watch the world go by.

The Bastian family (also owners of the vineyard Insel Heyles'en Werth, on the river island just north of town) runs this cozy tavern in a half-timber house dating from 1421. The "wine carousel" is a great way to sample a full range of wine flavors and styles (11 wines) alongside light snacks that include delicious Wildsülze (game in aspic), with potato salad, sausages, and cheese.