Sunday, 10 November 2024
To find a self-respecting restaurant or supermarket snack bar not equipped with a restaurant-size Italian espresso machine can be difficult, and even the tiniest organic corner shop will try to offer you ubiquituous Italian-style coffee drinks. Likewise you can have organic tea bag teas and infusions of usually decent quality. But for the modern nomad on the job, the afternoon chat with friends or the traveller in search of a undisturbed place for a break or observations, the dedicated coffee or tea house is a far more appropriate place to spent hours.
Common for all the places listed here that they are closed in the evening – usually around 6pm, some keep open until 8pm. Note that weekend opening hours may be even more restricted.
Viennese-style coffee houses
The headline is misleading – even if an increasing number of cafes see themselves in the tradition of Viennese coffee houses when it comes to the stuccoed interior, the dark wooden furniture, a selection of daily newspapers as well as the menu, they will usually serve Italian-style coffee drinks. The perfect place for breakfast and a coffee break at any time of the day, you will also be served lunch and snacks throughout the day. Expect however to order more of the deliciously handcrafted cakes than you initially intended to.
To my knowledge the only one left by the end of 2020 and my absolute favourite is the newly restored Cafe Reichshof in Haidhausen, covered in detail in my ice-cream post.
Oriental-style coffee
Since Iunu stopped serving Turkish mocca the only place offering responsibly sourced oriental-style coffee in Haidhausen is Saladins Souk with its rather irrational opening hours. If it is closed you may move next door to Erbils vegan Turkish eatery.
In autumn 2021 I noticed to my delight that these aren't the only mocca places anymore: The Icedate ice-cream parlour in Maxvorstadt started serving organic coffee, although the price tag of 2.40 EUR the mocca is rather stiff.
Italian style bars
Pop in, have a coffee, a chat, a sweet, and pop out again – the Italian bar is the hotspot of a neighbourhood. To my deepest regret its Bavarian incarnation is no more (landlord cancelled contract with the coffee roastery), but
in the middle of humming Viktualienmarkt market North of the crossing Reichenbachstraße/Frauenstraße there's Kaffeerösterei Viktualienmarkt, a vibrant market booth with bar tables under a roof. So even if the weather is bad and you're outside there's no reason to give up plans for an Italian style coffee drink made with sustainably sourced (though not organically certified), locally roasted coffee. The milk is organic and comes from traditionally working mountain farms in the Berchtesgadener Land district, packaged by the co-operatively driven Berchtesgadener Land dairy which, in 2017, banned the use of glyphosate for all its farmers, not only the organic ones.
If you prefer your coffee with biodynamic (Demeter) milk head for the Sorry Johnny coffee bar in Haidhausen, conveniently located at the Wörthstraße tram stop. The place has quite unusual opening hours: closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and open during the early evening
on Fridays and Saturdays. The bar replaced a vegan clean-eating spot in autumn 2021 which, for a while, prepared my favourite oat-based latte – a coffee preparation that's still available here.
Without the heavy car traffic the area between Max-Weber-
and Wiener Platz could be a lovely urban hideaway, with singing tram tracks, an underground station (exhibiting Munich's first horse tram), pleasant shops, cafes and nearby parks. To escape from the agressive passive motorised mobility along Innere Wiener Straße jump into quiet Steinstraße and take a breath at the tiny
Coffee Box cafe. Although some of their coffee is roasted by
Merchant & Friends in Glonn, none of the
beans served here are organic. The milk, however, is organic, as is the ginger and pomegranate juices used in some drinks. For a refreshment in the summer heat have an
organic, vegan popsicle.
If you want to mingle with people from the neighbourhood in Haidhausen head for the Italian-style
Fortuna Cafébar for a snack or a short coffee break. The milk is organic (though not the oat drink), and if you are in the mood for a "würstel" snack, the Frankfurters are organic, too. More organic ingredients may be hidden in the Italian-style sandwiches. Since the crossroad got bicycle parking on all four corners it's also become a relaxed place to watch people.
Not certified organic, but responsibly sourced coffee beans grown with respect for nature by small scale farmers – the coffee roasted at
the Alrighty coffee bar in
the newly developed, trending Werksviertel will nevertheless give you the comforting feel of doing something right. To find the place leave Ostbahnhof station through the Friedensstaße exit to enjoy a speciality coffee preferably in the sun.
(Almost) fully organic
If all you want is a place where you do not have to fine-read the menu to pick out the organic items your options are limited to the afore mentioned Café Reichshof, near tram stop "Wörthstraße") – and to Café Josefina in the legendary neighbourhood of Schwabing with its bohemian past, a few steps from tube stop Josephsplatz.
A cosy day cafe serving Italian-style coffee drinks made with real milk or a number of plant-based alternatives it's not only worth a coffee but also a lunch break. Although nearly all ingredients are organic there are a few exceptions when it comes to the cold cuts used in Italian-style sandwiches. As early as half past seven the place starts serving both, vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore breakfast on weekdays, and since it is quite small it's advisable to reserve a table if you plan to step by on a weekend.
For a fully organic breakfast or coffee near Münchner Freiheit head for the small artisanal (and fully organic) Brotraum bakery happily catering for early birds. The breakfast menu is simple – but you can order additional items like eggs and cream cheese on top or ask for a freshly prepared sandwich or roll of your choice. Don't forget to bring your own bags and containers when you come here to buy bread, rolls or lunch items for take away – the owner is inclined to support your zero waste efforts.
In Neuhausen, about half a kilometre from Rotkreuzplatz a gorgeous health-food eatery cum cafe gROOSartig (a play on the word "gorgeous" and the name of the owner) opened in 2020, offering breakfast, lunch, and coffee breaks based on regional, usually organic, often fairly-traded ingredients. Although the menu is planned with a focus on healthy food the demand for sweets and cakes has resulted in an increasing range on cakes and tarts.
The place also has a small shop offering plastic-free artisanal household items.
Shabby chic and homely places
The Westend has lost a lot of organic or partially organic places after or during the covid 19 pandemic, so I am happy to see a location with a long history of being organic to be revived in this spirit: The new (in 2024) vegan cafe
Etisch
at Gollierplatz
opened in lieu of one of those friendly, crammed owner-run organic cornershops, Nico's.
Its chef (as of April 2024) was in the process of getting a organic certificate for his kitchen, and the owner, Aylin, was planning to obtain a certificate, too.
For the time being, many ingredients are already organic, but not all. The pear-chocolate cake I had was soft and far too fast eaten. In addition I had a very decent cappuccino with organic oat milk (the default however is a conventional brand with aggressive marketing). Had I been hungry I'd have given the Turkish-style börek a try. Etisch – the name is a pun of the German words for "ethical" and "table" ("Tisch") – also offers a tempting lunch menu.
In addition you can shop for body care, olive oil, the non-alcoholic gin substitute of the otherwise organic distillery "Duke" in Aschheim and other sustainable (though not necessarily organically certified) products.
The neighbourhood cafe
JoMa (short for "John and Mary") at Carl-Amery-Platz in the Au is one of the few places where you can get predominantly organic lunch, snacks and drinks at a price also affordable for smaller budgets once in a while. The place is run by a registered social association founded by the local Lutherian and Catholic parishes and receives grants from the city of Munich. You will meet both, payed employees and volunteers, including people with a handicap. Lunch is served as a daily changing buffet made from predominantly local and/or organic produce from 11 am to 3 pm. The cake is home-made, and the coffee made with a proper steam machine. Unfortunately the place is closed during the weekend.
On Tuesday evenings (when the cafe itself is closed), there are
Pilates classes
for which you have to
sign up in advance and bring your own mat. The place hosts other events with a social and/or spiritual focus, too.
A small cafe of old, run as a social enterprise just a five minutes walk away from Rosenheimer Platz, Cafe Plaisir moved to a bigger and lighter venue in 2018 – and stopped using organic ingredients for their home-made ice-cream, chocolates, cakes and cookies. Still, tea and coffee drinks and a few more items are marked on the menu with a little heart denoting organic, and eggs – where marked – come from organic farms raising both, the hens and their cockerel brothers. Be patient and kind if the serving personnel does not respond immediately – the shop is a social enterprise run by longterm-unemployed persons.
Not far from Ostbahnhof station Kosy*s cafe promises to be "your second living room". As long as you have some tolerance towards cake stands filled with kitschy sweets guaranteed free from natural colourings and a decidedly vintage feel you can have an organic tea or soft drink, a coffee drink made with organic milk, organic eggs and cereals for breakfast or a hearty lunch often entirely made from organic ingredients in a leisurely atmosphere. The good thing is that organic ingredients aren't shamefully hidden – when it's organic they'll make it transparent on the menu. The bad news: their homemade cakes unfortunately are not organic, not even the eggs.
A few steps away, directly located at Orleansplatz cafe Iunu is a perfect place to meet a friend for a chat or to have a recreational coffee break including a chat with the friendly owner. Some of the coffee, the milk, the tea and a few staples used in the daily changing vegetarian and ayurvedic-inspired lunch set menu like agave syrup, rice and vegetable yogurt alternatives are organic, but unfortunately usually not the veges. The place was my joker for the best Turkish mocca in town, but unfortunately it is no longer being served due to marginal demand. With a small but carefully chosen (though not necessarily organic) range of delicatessen Iunu will also save you when in need for an unplanned last minute gift. On Saturdays the cafe is often unexpectedly closed due to arrangements, so check in advance.
Another cosy living room dubbed Zimtzicke is tucked away in comparatively quiet Elsässer Straße, only a five minutes walk from Ostbahnhof. All their teas, coffees, the milk and eggs are organic. Their lunch dishes, although mainly not organic, are tasty. However, when I enquired about the ingredients of the individual dishes on the menu, the staff wasn't able to tell whether they contained organic ingredients. The tiny place smells lovely of home-make cakes, some of them vegan. A perfect location to warm up after a winter walk in the city, and a pleasant retreat to welcome spring or to enjoy a summer day in the city on a table in front of it.
Another option to mingle with natives is a homely shabby chic neighbourhood cafe cum gallery in the neighbourhood of Au, on the Eastern shore of river Isar near Deutsches Theater. The audience of Café Käthe is mixed, coffee, milk, tea, rolls and cakes as well as most of the softdrinks are organic. They don't serve hot food, but you can have breakfast, sandwiches, cereals, salads and - of course – cake all day. Many but not all ingredients are organic, so ask if you care but be prepared that the service personnel isn't prepared to answer on the spot.
A crowded neighbourhood coffee bar in Obergiesing, Shotgun Sister allows you to meet people from the former working class borough which has been popular among both, students and families alike. All food including the cakes are home-made, with organic fruit and veges, often from local biodynamic agriculture. The cakes are fully organic. If you cannot spot the place at once watch out for the branch of the organic Hofpfisterei bakery chain which is located next to it, a five minutes walk from Giesing station. If you like splash out a coffee on an unknown – as the sister participates in the Hey campaign for fellow citizens in need. Needless to say that vegan and gluten-free options are readily available.
Big enough to almost guarantee a free seat for the visitor-by-chance is Cafe Katzentempel in the Maxvorstadt university quarter. You must however not suffer from a cat allergy as this rather special vegan place is inhabitated by six cats, and the once nice wallpaper on the wall with the scratch pole facing the entrance has already become rather shabby. Most of the softdrinks are organic as are all soy products and the cow milk (on request used for non-vegan coffee and tea-based drinks). The place offers an impressive range of organic nuts and grain milks to be ordered for your latte. The food and home-made cakes may include additional organic ingredients, although they aren't generally organic, just of local origin if possible. Students and apprentices are entitled special prices Tuesday through Friday, and free wifi is available. Depending on your table you may find the slightly aggressive sales presentation of the Katzentempel brand t-shirts disturbing – overall a place to either love or detest.
Further along Türkenstraße you'll find Mr. Ben – a small coffee cum snacks place offering (herbal) tea and soft drinks in organic quality. Unfortunately neither the coffee artisanally roasted in the neighbourhood of Giesing nor the milk and oat milk are organic.
There's a small selection of Italian-style piadina sandwiches and freshly home-made cake which occasionally may contain organic ingredients. The croissants used to come from an organic bakery a longer bicycle ride out of town but they were sold out (just like the veggie piadina) when I was there. Orders should be placed at the bar, but you will be served, and return to the bar for payment, preferably (and if the sum is smaller than ten euros only) in cash.
If you prefer strictly vegan places for a coffee break try Siggis which I reviewed here.
Self-service coffee house and deli bars
For the no-frills coffee with WLAN or on the go a number of nation-wide operating self-service coffee house chains serve Italian and American-style organic coffee often with organic milk and some more organic items like tea, soft drinks or fruit and nut bars. The market in Munich is quite volatile: The once dominating franchise San Francisco Coffee Company filed for bankruptcy during the covid-19 pandemics and does no longer have stores in Munich. Black Bean never expanded and survived, and Coffee Fellows is now ubiquitous, serving coffee at (among others) fuel and train stations.
My favourite in this category is a small organically certified Munich-based chain: Deli Star brings the spirit of New York-style deli and coffee bars to town, but with a strong focus on the environment: No plastics here, all take away stews and salads come in returnable glass jars, and the coffee on the go in a Recup deposit cup if you don't bring your own. Not every ingredient in their bagels, sandwiches, stews and salads is organic, but all regular organic items are clearly marked BIO on the menu: the cakes (though not the muffins and brownies), most meat products, yogurt, Lemonaid and Adelholzener fruit and soft drinks. Other ingredients like veges and cheese may or may not be organic. The coffee isn't organic, but the milk comes in huge reusable containers from a local organic farm. In general they use a lot of products grown and produced in the region and/or from small-scale manufacturers. Both branches are located in students' hotspots in Maxvorstadt: near the University and at the entrance to the Englischer Garten park.
Mingle with the working crowd
Campus canteens and coffee bars frequented by those working nearby are excellent places to get in contact with locals – with the disadvantage of opening hours following office hours.
On the eastern side of the railway tracks of Ostbahnhof train station, a few minutes north of the newly developed Werksviertel you'll find day cafe Louka, a friendly no-frills place mainly catering for the office workers and craftspersons working nearby. What you get here:
coffee, home-made cakes and sandwiches, a
daily changing soup and main course, often vegetarian.
If you want to taste simple German everyday standards like Kässpätzle and Schupfnudeln, or the Russischer Zupfkuchen ("Russian pluck cake") cheesecake, this is the place. Not everything is organic here, but both, the coffee, the milk and the plant-based drinks, the eggs, often the veges and the meat are.
Steinhausen is most certainly not a neighbourhood you will have on your travel agenda, but if you come to the Berg am Laim urban train, bus and tram stop the coffee bar on the ground floor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung publishing house is nearby and open to the public. It offers organic organic soft drinks and sweet pastries at very competitive prices. The rolls used for sandwiches are also organic, but the new (as of June 2024) caterer "Kochmanufaktur" stopped using organic milk for coffee drinks. At times the oat drink is organic, and you can usually spot the package or ask. Insist on having a recup returnable coffee mug if you want to take out the coffee.
To mingle with journalists, developers, printers and all those involved in the production of Germany’s most respected daily newspaper this is the place despite the surroundings.
If you happen to strand in the urban desert of office blocks between the tube stops of Karl-Preis-Platz and Sankt-Martin-Straße head for the Neue Balan campus, a former industrial area where in the past Siemens produced semiconductors. Quite centrally you'll find Balan Deli, a modern yet comfortably furnished day cafe run as a not-for-profit company providing fair employment for an inclusive team of people with and without handicaps. The cafe was founded by the nearby inclusive Montessori school and designed by a Hamburg based artist. You can have a healthy lunch, partially based on organic ingredients, or simply an organic coffee, tea, wine or soft drink, often sourced from local producers, in a pleasant environment. The bread for the sandwiches comes from a local organic bakery. Unfortunately the service staff is not very knowledgeable (yet) about organic and sustainably produced food (when I enquired about the milk they told me it was organic although they actually use the cheaper conventional product of the Berchtesgadener Land dairy which also offers an extended range of organic dairy products), but was happy to ask the kitchen staff about the origin of the chicken in the Thai curry (which was not organic).
Tea houses
For those seriously into tea the ultimate target in town is Tushita Teehaus in the Glockenbach neighbourhood, near the Western exit of tube station Fraunhofer Straße (and a five minutes walk South of Gärtnerplatz). To taste their around 150 organic and often fairly traded tea and tisane varieties (which aren't exhaustively listed on the menu) can take some time, but you can buy them to take with you. With every order the staff will hold a microscopic tea ceremony for you, and hot water for a second extraction is served in a small thermos aside. In the past they often used too hot water for some of their delicate green teas resulting in a bitter beverage, but this fortunately had changed to the better at my last visit. In addition they serve small vegan dishes as well as yummy home-made cakes, all organic, and there's a Japanese touch to both, the decoration, the food and the subtle focus on Japanese tea and matcha. Consequently the place is frequented by visitors of Japanese origin as well as the occasional Indian gentleman or the German hippie or university professor reading their daily. Given how frequented the place often is there's a quiet, pleasantly concentrated atmosphere to it.
More to try
In the Westend, a few steps from Theresienwiese
Café Gollier is a pleasant neighbourhood day cafe, popular for breakfast and hearty lunch. They promise to use regional, preferably organic products according to availability, but so far I have not had the chance to eat here.
Closed
The following places ceased to exist, although you still may find references to them on the web:
- Contains Coffee, Celibidacheforum
- Echt jetzt, Barer Str. 48 (web shop remaining)
- Emilo im Glockenbach, Buttermelcherstr. 5
- Emilo Westend, Gollierstr. 14
- Emilo am Odeonsplatz, Odeonspl. 14
- Emmi's Kitchen, Rosenheimer Str. 67 (vegetarian cafe cum eatery)
- Epique Raw, Max-Weber-Pl. 11 (vegan patisserie shop-in-shop)
-
Fritz Brotbar, Nymphenburger Str. 154 (bakery cum cafe)
-
Fritz Mühlenbäckerei, Müllerstr. 46 (cafe cum eatery, re-opened in 2020 as bread bar w/ show bakery)
- Himmelherrgott, Waldfriedhofstr. 105 (cafe)
- Die Kaffee-Küche, Weißenburger Str. 6 (cafe)
- Kafehaus Karameel, Nymphenburger Str. 191 (Viennese-style coffee house)
- Kuko, Westendstr. 87 (unknown whether the successor, Fika, is organic)
- Lolas Eckcafé, Metzstr. 37
- Kaffee Sonnenschein, Gietlstr. 17
- MyMuesli München, Viktualienmarkt 7 (cereals shop cum cafe)
- MyMuesli München-Pasing w/in Pasing Arcaden, Josef-Felder-Str. 53 (muesli shop)
- MyMuesli München OEZ w/in Olympia-Einkaufszenrum, Hanauer Str. 68 (muesli shop)
-
San Francisco Coffee Company, Nymphenburger Str. 151 (cafe)
- San Francisco Coffee Company, Innere Wiener Str. 57
- San Francisco Coffee Company Ostbahnhof, Orleanspl. 5a
- San Francisco Coffee Company Riem-Arcaden, Willy-Brandt-Pl. (cafe)
- San Francisco Coffee Company Maxvorstadt, Türkenstr. 47 (cafe)
- San Francisco Coffee Company Odeonsplatz, Theatinerstr. 23 (cafe)
- Black Bean, Amalienstr. 44 (cafe)
2024-11-10 21:00:00
[Munich, Au, Haidhausen, Maxvorstadt, Schwabing, Westend, Englischer_Garten, organic, coffee, tea, breakfast, lunch, snacks, fair, vegan, gluten_free, cafe, ice-cream, restaurant, American, Italian, Japanese]
[direct link · table of contents]
Saturday, 19 October 2024
Milan isn't the birth place of Italian pizza, but an easy place to find the world's arguably most sought-after fast food the way it should be: with long leavening of the dough, made with organic ingredients. Pizza is not only served by dedicated no-frills pizza restaurants – it is also an ubiquitous item on the menu of organic restaurants serving the classical sequence of Italian food, with starters, first and second courses.
At all places reviewed here the service staff is approaching international guests in English, and the younger the waiters the less patient they seem when approached in broken Italian.
The best food we had in Milano was served at Bioesseri restaurant in Brera which seems to get most of its ingredients and wines from Sicily. Not only the food was delicious, also the casual ambiente – the restaurant is more or less a wide slope from one side of the building to the other, with serveral zones, all decorated differently but consistent as a whole. This place was also the only one with trained, professional service, but there's of course a price tag to it. As in any better restaurant, the menu is restricted to four/five items per course, both vegetarian, fish and meat. In addition there's a slightly longer pizza menu. The pizza oven is visible from the guest room in the back, the pizza itself was of the softer, less crisp type, with carefully selected toppings making it to more than just a filling meal. If you want to try the Milan signature dish, risotto Milanese with Ossobucco, I'd fullheartedly recommend this place. The pasta we had was nicely amalgamated, and the antipasti of very different styles, but all nicely done. Starters and first course were sufficiently filling, so we left out the second course and enjoyed all desserts – sufficiently refined for a casual restaurant, except for the (very palatable) tiramisu all came with a little surprising note on top.
This place is also a nice option for an aperitivo, cocktail in the evening or simply a very good wine, with more quiet outdoor tables at the Via Fiori Oscusi. There's a second restaurant in Palermo.
Bioesseri isn't the only fully organic restaurant in town: At the hotel restaurant Bio Riso in Affori you have another chance to try risotto milanese – even without meat. The place in the basement of Eco Hotel Milano is located a short walk from the M3 metro station Affori Centro, but that's off any of the usual tourist tracks. So better call to book a table in advance. The place also offers gluten-free dinner, as the name suggests they consider rice a key ingredient.
If you are more into beer, and less into food, Organic may be a place of your fancy.
This is a stylish pub without trained staff, all the food – pizza, fries (with different cores, not only potatoes), pasta, avocado toast and bowls – goes perfectly with beer. The kitchen uses a selection of organic ingredients but is careless towards the taste. There's no printed menu, but unlike the menu cum ordering app suggests you may order from the waiter and pay in person.
Given the fact that their former website on organicpizzaandfood.com was defaced I'd strongly advise to do so.
The marketing on the paper table clothes suggests that the place belongs together with the pizzeria Pizzeria naturale near Porta Garibaldi, but since I did not come here I cannot say to which extend they use organic ingredients. If you don't want to find out yourself (I'm appreciating first-hand accounts), here are two other organic pizza restaurants:
The multinationality of the service staff at Pizza Bio near the Duomo reminds of the fact that pizza may have its origin in Italy but truly is a world heritage: When you book a table or order your food here, don't try to use your handful of Italian vocabulary: Most of the service staff barely speaks Italian themselves, so you may switch to English at once.
There's a huge assortment of pizze – alongside classic ones you'll find those celebrating special Italian ingredients like the burata or the provola cheeses, and there are interesting modernised combinations, but everything with the Italian heritage in mind. Unfortunately there's only one red wine by the glass (a montepulciano) and it remains unclear whether the wines are organic as are most of the pizza ingredients.
If you want to book a table, call in. The place is much bigger than you may think as there is a second guest room in the basement. Despite this size and although the place tries to put eco-friendly measures into action they do not have a printed (or handwritten on a chalk board) menu. Instead you must access the menu on on-line – which given the sheer number of guests is likely to produce more climate emissions than a re-usable rarely changing printed menu.
The pizze were palatable, especially as this was the first restaurant after arrival from abroad. While we were eating a bunch of local policemen on duty stepped by to order food which I'd take for a sign of quality. However, the pizzaiolo killed the sophisticated taste of his high quality ingredients by drowning everything in oil.
Most confusingly there is another pizzeria dubbed
Bio Pizza not too far away, on Corso Italia.
All places mentioned above offer vegan options, but if you are looking for a dedicated vegan organic restaurant, try Radice Tonda in the beautiful Jugend neighbourhood around Porta Venezia which has been here for more than 12 years. There is a second restaurant of the same name near Porta Romana which wasn't open for dinner most of the week when I was there. However, as the restaurant owners warn about regular changes of opening hours it may be advisable to call in in advance.
More to try
I found the following places in the course of my research upfront. But since I haven't come nearby I can neither confirm their existance nor how committed they actually are to organic ingredients.
Closed
2024-10-19 22:45:00
[Milan, Milano, Mailand, Palermo, biologico, organic, vegetarian, vegan, eatery, restaurant, breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee, pizza, Italian]
[direct link · table of contents]
Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Cities with major universities have had organic shops long before the arrival of the big organic supermarkets, and Göttingen doesn't make an exception:
Probably the eldest still existing organic cafe in town is
Café Inti,
serving soups, salads and bowls. Needless to say that they offer Italian-style fairly traded coffee drinks (with organic milk from a local farm if you like) and yummy cakes, and what's even better: They serve breakfast until 2pm, and the waitress proudly ensured me that everything was organic. A welcoming place all day around if you like places with a liberal collegiate atmosphere whereof there are quite a number in the city.
At the market place Am Wochenmarkt climb the stairs up to lokal neun, a dinner restaurant using preferably organic ingredients from the region.
It serves organic burgers and steaks, but also vegan dishes. A pleasant place to enjoy a summer evening on the roof terrace, but unfortunately the cocktails aren't organic. Note that the kitchen already closes at 9pm.
Theatre, comedy, concerts – the
Apex near Deutsches Theater stages an interesting blend of cultural entertainment, predominantly in German. From the street the place run by a non-profit association is barely visible if you aren't aware of the address, and I was surprised to find such a spacious rustic restaurant (instead of the small theatre bar I had imagined) after passing the hallway.
The place is neither fully organic nor certified, but many ingredients come from organic farms and producers in the region. Where else would you expect to find a comforting home-made chicken soup (made from organic chicken)? On the menu of the week I was there, I also found wild boar or the yummy shashuka with organic eggs and tomatoes (which I had). In addition to the weekly changing seasonal menu there's a bunch of rustic German or Mediterranean starters and main dishes served regularly, some of them suitable for vegans. The tasty home-made white bread made from organic wheat tasted home-made rather than made by a professional artisanal baker. There's a selection of organic drinks, unfortunately none of the wines. The service (many of them seemed like students) was swift and attentive, and the guests mainly local, of a broad range of ages, my guess would be between 30 and 70.
Film enthusiasts will love the Méliès arthouse cinema inside a former Baptist church on Bürgerstraße. But whether you want to have a snack prior to the film or a simple mediterranean dinner the
Bistro Cichon im Méliès is the perfect place if you like cafe bars decorated by film lovers. During the warm season you can sit in the beautiful garden – when it's raining there's also a small greenhouse to keep you dry, You will be served but you better place your order inside. There are two entraces to the bistro: one through the cinema from Bürgerstraße or a flight of stairs at the rear of the house when you come from Gartenstraße via a parking lot. The stairs at the rear facing the garden lead to the kitchen.
While the (vegetarian) food, sweets and non-alcoholic beverages are predominantly organic the selection of organic wines is surprisingly small. The focus is on snacks from the Mediterranean, tasty but not necessarily authentically spiced. If you go for the soup of the day you will be served a filling and comforting serving at a more than fair price. Unfortunately the place – just as the "lokal neun" – does neither serve food nor coffee on Sundays and Mondays. However, also on these two days in keeps open to sell prepackaged organic sweet and savoury snacks and cold drinks before the film screenings.
Another vegetarian, vegan-friendly place is the P-Café in the backyard of St. Nikolai church. Here they are highly
attentive to allergies, lactose intolerance and gluten-free diets, and wheelchair users are kindly asked to ring the bell at the main entrance facing the narrow lane part of the Nikolaikirchhof. And the best of all: it's 100 percent organic – warm and cold drinks as well as the cakes, breakfast items, salads, soups, sandwiches and wraps. The pleasantly decorated place hosts game nights (Göttingen has quite a tradition for playing board and card games in good old analogue fashion) as well as small concerts and musical sessions, readings and other cultural events. During the warm season you can sit outside, enjoying the church yard. And the best: The place keeps open on Sundays.
Coffee places
If all you want is a coffee shot head for the city's only organic coffee roasters',
Contigo. This fair-trade shop not only sells colourful gifts, fashion items, jewelry, organic coffee and chocolates, but sports a beautiful cafe corner serving organic coffee drinks and refreshments. If you choose a capuccino, flat white, latte or espresso macchiato with cow or oat milk, the milk comes in returnable cans from the Naturmilchhof dairy farm about half an hour by bike away.
The farm also supplies milk to the Christian charity cafe
Hope or Cafe Hoffnung next to St. Mary's church (Sankt Marien). You can also have organic fruit and soft drinks, but the cakes do not contain organic ingredients. Be aware of that there's an evangelical denomination behind this place.
Personally I prefer the
Weltladencafé fair-trade shop cum café near St. Nikolai church: a little shabby and focused on being a social meeting place it doesn't offer as
much handicraft as other fair-trade shops. Even without an own roastery it's more café than shop, a homely-bohemian living room with outdoor seating on the footpath when the weather is nice. The place is run by a collective of volunteers, so be nice even when the service isn't swift: They aren't paid to serve you.
Come by for a recreational coffee break with coffee from a steam-driven espresso machine. You may choose between milk, soy or oat drink, all organic. Occasionally home-made vegan cakes are being served: Since they are home-made by volunteers I wouldn't expect that they are always made from predominanly organic ingredients. Unfortunately they don't serve savoury snacks, but you may of course buy some fairly traded nuts or chips and consume them at the café.
Missing a traditional Italian coffee? At the
Preferita ice-cream parlour the coffee tastes authentic, even though the place isn't run by Italians. Ordering a caffè affogato (espresso with cream ice-cream) doesn't require an explanation. The owners plan to extend the place to a pizzeria, but were still looking for a pizzaiolo in September, 2024.
Tourists do not necessarily frequent the Südstadt of Göttingen, but if your bus stops at Lotzestraße you may decide to leave it for a coffee at the
Cichon Wein & Delikatessen delicatessen and wineshop. Not everything here is organic, but the owners take pride in carefully selecting artisanal wines, cured meat, cheese, oil, vinegar, preserves and more. You may also by buy organic sweets and chocolates. It's the same people who run the Bistro at the Mèliès cinema.
At the main train stations of bigger German cities
you will usually find a franchise serving coffee drinks made with organic milk, either a "Coffee Fellows" shop or, as in Göttingen, a branch of the organic porridge brand
"Haferkater". If you have sufficient time insist on having your coffee in an earthenware cup on the spot; returnable cups for a coffee on the go unfortunately require registration with an app. The shop's comparably liberal opening hours make it a good last resort for a healthy sandwich on Sundays, early mornings or weekdays after 6pm. However, if you have sufficient time on a weekday, you may rather opt for a without doubt 100 percent organic sandwich from either, the Bioladen in der Burgstraße or Alnatura.
Closed
2024-09-24 12:00:00
[Goettingen, organic, fair, coffee, tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner, cafe, restaurant, gifts, cinema]
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Wednesday, 18 September 2024
If you are on the outlook for a cafe serving at least a limited selection of organic drinks and have no idea where to go, modern and art museums usually are a good bet. This algorithm also works in Kassel: The cafe cum restaurant of the Grimmwelt, a museum dedicated to the lifes, works and influence of the Brothers Grimm, dubbed
Falada (like the horse in the fairytaleThe Goose Girl) serves coffee drinks with
organic milk, organic burger from the local Biometzgerei Armbröster, and organic eggs. Their
home-made cakes are also made with organic eggs and milk. You can have
an organic white or red wine, tea, organic gin (by The Duke) and fruit juices with sparkling water ("Schorle"). The place is
organically certified;
breakfast is being served until noon.
Come hungry if you want to have a burger as a big helping of fries is included. The fries actually are chips (half-slices of potatoes) and very nice. The chicken burger was made with organic chicken, but unfortunately the juicy meat had a dry and hard (instead of light and crispy) cornflakes coating.
During the warm season and when the weather is nice the museum sports a beautiful beergarden,
Grimms Garten, run by the same caterer. Unfortunately the 2024 season is already over.
If you want to eat outdoors on nice weather days in autumn, the fully organic pizzeria
Solo has garden tables on the footpath in front of it. Traditional Italian pizze or carefully selected modern topping combinations like salmon, zucchini and pine nuts on extremely nice (that is: both, soft and crispy) pizza bases make up for about half of the menu, and the pizza arrive in minutes after I placed my order. The other half of the menu consists of Italian
starters (soups, salads or antipasti) and pasta. The menu also offers one traditional Italian second course, served in the German tradition with fixed add-ons.
Even if you aren't hungry simply step by for a relaxed coffee or aperitivo.
On the other side of the street you'll find the city's organic butcher
Armbröster. I haven't been there during the shop's opening hours, but I suspect that you can get a sandwich or even lunch there: Most artisanal butchers server sausages or grilled meat with bread or potato salads. Whether you'll find something suitable for vegetarians or vegans, I however don't know.
Most organic supermarkets of the
Denns Biomarkt chain offer freshly made sandwiches and coffee drinks from their bakery tills in the entrance area. But the Biomarkt at Königsplatz is something special: The supermarket is located on the premises of the former Kaskade-Filmpalast cinema, a protected historial monument from the 1950ies, famous for its illuminated fountains in front of the screen. The cinema was revived for a short time during the documenta (13) contemporary art exhibition in 2021. Now you can have a view at both, the cinema's gallery, and the fountain pipes protected by a glass floor, in the rear of the supermarket. You may also take your coffee, sandwich and (in the summer) pre-packaged Cortina ice-cream upstairs to a cafe area with a view at the cinema's chairs and ceiling. The stairs are located opposite the bakery till, to the right from the entrance.
Travellers arriving at or leaving from the long-distance train station Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe will find a small farmshop cum delicatessen only a few steps from the station: The
Urgeschmack-Hofladen Jausenstation
offers organic cheeses and other dairy products, but first of all cured meat and sausages from a farm run according to the principles of organic agriculture but not certified organic. Unfortunately the shop was closed when I found it, but it seems to provide you with picnic food and travel provisions as long as you are an omnivore.
More to try
When I tried to get myself a coffee from the Danish cafe
Frokost hos Line (Norwegian/Danish for "breakfast at Line's") I found the place busy but closed for the general public. So I cannot say how much organic ingredients they use in their Danish sandwiches ("smørrebrød") and cakes. They used to have organic coffee and milk, and I hope that Line is going to continue with a strong organic focus after re-opening.
In the course of my upfront research I found the following place
which I did not had time to visit. Let me know if you can confirm or deny its existance.
2024-09-18 16:30:00
[Kassel, organic, coffee, tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner, cafe, restaurant, pizza, butcher, eatery]
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Wednesday, 21 August 2024
If you are familiar with Johann Sebastian Bach's Coffee Cantata from around 1735 you've heard about the Saxonian citoyens' love for coffee and a good piece of cake (if heading for a local speciality, try the Eierschecke cheese-cake). With a pinch of irony people will talk about the famous Saxonian "Bliemschenkaffee" ("(little) flower coffee") referring to the thin coffee or caffeine-free coffee substitute during World War II or in the households of the poor. The term refers to the fact that you could see the flowery ornaments on the ground of the (well, not in all cases) Dresden china coffee cup.
The Saxonian's love for coffee hasn't faded since, they still proudly refer to themselves as "Kaffeesachsen" (coffee Saxonians), and most organic supermarkets will serve you a latte or Italian style coffee, both to have on the spot, and to go (in this case don't forget your refillable cup).
There are however more pleasant places for a chat with friends, some reading or working time with a delicious cup of coffee.
Neustadt
My favourite day cafe for about seven years, with friendly service and a huge display of gorgeous cakes and pastries, Die Kuchenglocke in Wilheminian Neustadt unfortunately closed in summer 2022. Run by the son of
Dresden's first (and to my knowledge only) organic bakers and one of the first organic ice-cream makers in Germany it revived the
tradition of Viennese style coffeehouses in the city. In 2022 he took over the
Heller bakery, and the cafe had to close. In March, 2023 it re-opened as Café Glocke, and apart from the interior decoration, not much has changed: You can still/again have (and buy to take out) cakes and coffee, and have gorgeous fully organic breakfast(all day long) and lunch. When the weather is nice take the chance to sit outside at the beautiful, comparatively quiet square around Martin Luther church.
The price for a (vegetarian) breakfast, sweet with pancakes or a croissant, savoury e.g. with hummus, roasted veges, bulgur and other spreads, is around 20 EUR but since the servings (especially of the savoury types) are quite generous, you may decide to share as long as you're not on your own.
On weekends it is advisable to order a table in advance as the place usually is quite crowded at that time.
The bad news: Effective February 2024 the place stopped accepting cash. Since the Oswaldz cafes have never been accepting payments without data tracking, the number of non-discriminatory organic breakfast and lunch places with a sense for data privacy are alarmingly diminishing in town.
Not far away, on Bautzner Straße, you will find Phoenix Kaffeerösterei, a small-scale coffee roaster cum coffee bar furnished in coffee-coloured wood – ideal for the recreational sip of Italian style coffee. Their coffee is fairly traded, yet not organically certified, although they had organic coffee when they started up in 2006. The milk for a latte or New Zealand style Flat White however is organic. Mind you that their opening hours are quite restricted, usually to Fridays and Saturdays, but they often keep closed on Saturdays, too.
A ten minutes walk west, just before you reach Albert-Platz you can taste the Phoenix coffee all week long at the Oswaldz, a crowded coffee house cum gallery run by an ambitious young team. Before you sit down fetch a service number and put your order at the bar where you can choose from an impressive list of coffee drinks, among others a galao (coffee and milk frozzed together) or a gibraltar (double espresso macchiato). The milk they use is locally sourced and organic. You can also have a sandwich or cake partially made from organic ingredients – eggs and cottage cheese are organic, flour and fruit are not, and since the friendly staff happily answered my questions I'm sure they will equally friendly answer yours. During the warm season they open a pleasant backyard for their guests.
In 2023 Oswaldz rented a second shop next door and turned it into
serviced Oswaldz Breakfast Place.
All food for both, the cafe and the breakfast restaurant are prepared in its open kitchen while the coffee drinks are made by the baristas at the cafe. The menu is the same for both places as is the privacy-unfriendly decision to refuse payments in cash.
During the warm season there's a third Oswaldz place, the
Os2 – Café am Fluss.
Unfortunately there's no organic coffee place inside the Bahnhof Neustadt railway station, but if you have sufficient time you may leave the station building at the rear (Northern) entrance and head for the friendly self-service cafe cum bistro of the VG supermarket Friedensstraße for both, breakfast, lunch (try the hearty Soljanka soup if available), a snack, coffee or travel provisions.
Old town
Facing Kreuzkirche on Altmarkt with its white-washed interior one of the few places where the wounds of the Anglo-American bombing by the end of World War II still are visible you will find one of Dresden's first organically certified eating places, cafe cum restaurant Aha. Some years ago they quite controversely decided not to prolong their certification in support of uncertified local farmers following organic or near-organic principles. More than 75 percent of the ingredients they use are still organically certified but they stopped (probably enforced by law) to make this transparent, so you have to enquire on specific ingredients if you care.
The cafe itself is equally popular among students, families and NGO groups. Its walls frequently serve as a gallery for local artists, and the daily menu often reflects and extends the exhibitions. The list of coffee drinks is long, ranging from oriental and Indian inspired spiced coffee to the ubiquitous espresso.
The cakes are delivered by the Heller family, but you can also enjoy hearty home-made meals throughout the day (til late), or simply help yourself at the salad bar located under the stairs. Breakfast is being served from 9 am. In the basement there's a well assorted
fair-trade shop
which cannot follow the restaurant's liberal opening hours and is closed in the evenings and on Sundays.
In the maze of tourist restaurants around the Neumarkt place with iconic Frauenkirche you'll find
Amate Coffee Farm, an inviting coffee place with pleasant outdoor seating serving organic coffee drinks made from directly and fairly traded Mexican coffee. The menu also offers organic softdrinks, but as my time here was very brief I couldn't ask the staff whether the cake was organic, too.
If you have to spent time in the vicinity of Dresden's central train station, Hauptbahnhof, pay a visit to another fair-trade shop, the Contigo at the Southern end of Prager Straße. Inside the shop there's an organic coffee bar, perfectly suited for the quick espresso in between, or while you're shopping for gifts, fairly traded artisanal work like bags and jewellery, tea, chocolates or coffee. They do not serve food, so you shouldn't come hungry. If you prefer an unconventional coffee drink opt a coffee based lemonade dubbed "Selosoda".
When the Contigo store is closed ignore the Starbucks branch at Wiener Platz and turn
instead to the
Haferkater porridge cafe facing it. The Berlin-based franchise concept can be found in several German main train stations by now, and the one in Dresden is open on weekends and generally until 8pm. While all prepackaged Haferkater products are organic no promise is made when it comes to the fresh food and drinks, so you'd better ask. Also, ask for returnable cups and bowls if you don't bring your own.
Dresden-Mitte
Not far from Bahnhof Mitte train station and the College of Music the organic co-operative VG runs a self-service Bistro & Backladen – the bistro to the left, the cafe to the right of the entrance. While the lunch is prepared in the open kitchen of the bistro right at the spot, the bakery shop simply sells the cakes (and bread) from local organic bakeries both, to take away and to eat right here in the pleasantly decorated shop room prided with pictures of local artists. Unfortunately the coffee comes from a smale-scale automatic machine – no real enjoyment, but drinkable due to the good ingredients.
While the bistro closes at 7pm on weekdays the cafe operates until 8 pm, but choice will be limited the later you'll come.
Near the Blaues Wunder bridge
A visit to the finest bridge in town, the Blaues Wunder ("blue wonder") steel construction can easily be combined with a visit to the arguably finest Viennese-style coffee house in town, the Café Toscana. Observing the bridge and the river you can sit in the winter garden having an organic coffee drink or tea. Your organic latte will be poured together at your table. While a selection of soft drinks and wines, the milk and breakfast eggs are all organic none of the gorgeously looking cakes and confectionery to be ordered from the sales desk are, at least not fully (enquire about what's tempting you). The history of the coffee house named after a Saxon princess customer dates back to the end of the 19th century. Since its re-privatisation after Germany's re-unification it has been run by the Eisold family, a local baker's family now in its third generation.
Crossing the blue wonder bridge you'll reach Körnerplatz, and if you fancy a stroll along the river shore, turn left into historical Körnerweg which leads you towards the city centre along the embankment. A 15 minutes walk on the way you'll find Os2 – Café am Fluss, a summer cafe run by the Oswaldz owners serving coffee drinks with organic milk, organic soft drinks and cakes to passers-by on weekends during the nice season. Most seats are located outside providing a beautiful view over the river and the city's silhouette. As at Oswaldz order at the bar inside, find yourself a seat, wait to be served and pay before you leave. The bar room also serves as an art gallery.
Leubnitz
If you ever happen to strand somewhere between the tower blocks of Prohlis and the Technical University, take the time to visit the city's only organic bakery and confectionery, the Bio-Bäckerei und -Konditorei Heller mentioned afore – if only to have a wonderful ice-cream on the go. When the weather is nice they also have a small outdoor terrace for you to have a coffee and cake or snack.
Although the bakery is open on Sunday mornings it's closed on public holidays.
Closed or no longer offering organic options
The following places ceased to exist, although you still may find references to them on the web:
2024-08-21 20:00:00
[Dresden, Neustadt, organic, coffee, breakfast, lunch, snacks, fair, cafe, ice-cream, restaurant, confectioners]
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