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]
Monday, 30 September 2024
To find a place for an organic lunch, snack or a coffee break, both served and self-served, requires not more than keeping your eyes open. But the cultured evening out or a sumptuous weekend brunch can be a challenge if you don't know where to head for.
If you opt for 100 percent organic food and drinks, without compromises, within the city boundaries the TL;DR is: Visit La Trattoria or Das Maria.
French
Given the French love for quality food one would expect all self-respecting French restaurants to use organic ingredients to a certain extent, but to actually find those which do proves to be harder than expected. In Munich head for brasserie La Bouche in Schwabing, a tastefully decorated place a few steps away from Münchner Freiheit. They promise to use organic ingredients throughout the menu, with three quite excusable exceptions: snails, seafood and Marsala wine.
In fact the exception list varies depending on daily supplies – when I went there the lamb and the duck liver had been added – but since it is all transparent and clearly stated on the menu you can adapt you order accordingly. The food itself is hearty French countryside fare, apart from the risottos (together with the Italian coffee the international touch to the menu) most dishes focus on meat or seafood. Since the main courses are very generous compared to other French restaurants, come hungry or skip the starter. In the meat-based stews we had – coq au vin and an ox liver ragout – the flavours of the ingredients were perfectly amalgamated and harmonic. The entrecote marinated in a pesto of fresh herbs – although perfectly cooked rare – however, did not live up to expectations, too perfumed, too imbalanced (and way too big) for my taste. Although the side dishes – salads, stewed root vegetables, fried potatoes, and similar – clearly play a supporting role they were well done and tasty. And the baguette served together with the starters was clearly one of the best I ever had.
Sadly the wines aren't organic, the soft drinks however are, and the bar offers organic pastis, gin and vodka. Note that the place is closed on Sundays.
German/Bavarian
With its rustic and cosy flair and garden tables under horse chestnut trees during the warm season Zum Kloster in the heart of the former village of Haidhausen a short walk from Wiener Platz makes the perfect surrounding for a laid-back chat with friends. They serve a selection of organic non-alcoholic beverages and up to three dishes on their meat-centric hand-written menu are marked with a star as made with organic meat, eggs and flour, one of them being Spaghetti Bolognese. The dishes are simple, but perfectly eatable home-made fare. Only the salad should better not have been as soaked in rapeseed oil as it was.
For take away come with your own container to avoid extra waste. (The covid-19 delivery service was discontinued.)
If heading for the classical Bavarian Wirtshaus – rustic, but perhaps missing the air of the students' and artists' pub present in "Zum Kloster" – the Klinglwirt at the opposite end of Haidhausen near Rosenheimer Platz is the place to go. They serve organic meat from the nearby farm in Herrmannsdorf, organic cheese, bread, coffee, tea as well as Del Fiore ice-cream. Even the side-dishes – mainly potatoes, dumplings, sauerkraut, red cabbage and rustic salads – are now often organic, and vegetarian and vegan dishes have become a permanent part of the menu in their own right. The drinks menu offers at minimum one organic option for most beverages. Little guests are welcomed warmly, among others with a decent menu of their own (most kids will accept happily that the dishes listed there are almost free of greens). The restaurant is a member of Green Chefs, a network of eco conscious and socially responsible chefs.
While the Munich population has strong, yet mixed
feelings about the Oktoberfest, the strong beer festival during lent
is probably meeting much less negative sentiment among locals.
In fact, the political cabaret ("Derblecken") at the opening of the festival,
is a major event in local politics.
Although the host brewery, Paulaner, does not brew organic beer, the very
place of the festival, the
Nockherberg restaurant in the Au, offers parts
of its menu in organic quality: All organic items are marked green, or (as for the beverages) with the organic label.
They use organic flour and milk, the tofu is both, Bavarian and organic, and a selection of traditional meat dishes like the "Böfflamot" (the Munich version of
"boeuf a la mode") are made with organic meat.
Mind you that there is a decent selection of organic wines and non-alcoholic beverages, but no organic beer.
For the 100% organic experience of Bavarian cuisine take the tram no. 25 from Rosenheimer Platz to its final destination in the suburb of Grünwald. A five-to-ten minutes walk from there you'll find the only organic hotel in reach, Alter Wirt, with its rustic, yet up-market restaurant. Children are welcome and often even allowed a visit to the kitchen, but the place is spacious enough that occasional little guests won't spoil your romantic candle-light dinner. There's a beergarden under horse chestnut trees, and the entire place is a real oasis in suburbia. The menu focuses on the meat- and fish-centric Bavarian Sunday kitchen completed with dishes of Italian origin. The food is extremely tasty, home-made, yet peppered with pleasant little twitches of ambitious chefs. Not the natural place for vegetarians, but if you happen to be the only vegetarian in a group of omnivores, there's a tasty meal for you as well. In addition they offer a range of assorted organic spirits.
Early risers may also step by for breakfast.
If you prefer a sandwich and coffee on the go turn to the co-located artisanal Brotzeit bakery.
Fancy a day out in the Bavarian countryside? So why not paying a visit to the Herrmannsdorfer farm about 30 kilometres from Munich? Their up-market 100 percent organic restaurant, the Wirtshaus zum Schweinsbräu, rewards with the finest of Bavarian food traditions.
At tube stop Poccistraße in Sendling, just across the street from the Vollcorner branch in Lindwurmstr. 80 the Goldmarie restaurant serves classical and modern versions of seasonal Bavarian, Austrian and North-Italian dishes – quite palatable, but also a little boring. It's very obvious that the quality of the ingredients makes the difference here rather than the skills or visions of a chef: Usually the meat is organic and – in this case – marked "bio" on the menu. The veges are often organic, too, though not marked. Not organically certified meat and greens come from small-scale conventional farms in the region. Unfortunately the drinks (except for the gin and the herb tonic water) aren't organic. The place itself is often quite crowded.
They advertised "Highclass organic food" in the 2015 print issue of Spy city guide, and you will find them listed as organic on the web, too, but when I rang them up a few years ago the staff ensured me repeatedly: No, we do not use organic ingredients. Since they themselves do not mention the word "bio" on their German website it's likely that lack of command of the English language lead to this misconception. But one must never say "no" – the menu as of April 2024 advertises organic bread (with vegan spread) by Munich's it-bakery Julius Brantner, and with Munich's gastronomy and club icon Sandra Foster of the Blitz restaurant behind it the Roecklplatz restaurant is definitely worth a visit: It is a socially responsible enterprise employing young apprentices in difficult life situations and/or without formal education which in itself deserves support.
International
Not a single word on their menu suggests that Miss Lilly's kitchen in Giesing prefers organic ingredients. But when tasting their huge and extremely yummy home-made burgers or Wiener Schnitzel it's perfectly reasonable that not only the meat (as confirmed by the staff) but also a good deal of the side-dishes are at least partially organic. Although vegetarians are catered for it's very obvious that Miss Lilly's chef prefers meat and does it perfectly. If you come with kids and ask for fries they will be served huge portions – so don't order too many.
The place near tube stop Kolumbusplatz serves breakfast until 5 pm and is famous for their home-made American cheesecake – I had the peanut butter variety which was very palatable, but to my taste not as exceptional as I had heard, together with a proper Italian-style coffee.
Tuesday to Saturday evening it turns into Moritz bar and restaurant, with a likewise tempting menu specializing in the South-German and alpine cuisines. If you are after an organic alcoholic drink you have to stick to The Duke gins – the wine and gin menu unfortunately does not leave you with much choice.
A wooden witch cottage, with several hideaways, balconies, verandahs to almost get lost in, indoors and outdoors, an open cultural stage, magical sourroundings (almost) under a train bridge – no, the appearances of the bar
Gans Woanders near Kolumbusplatz are deceptive: This is not an
ancient building, but a brand-new construction opened in 2020. Although the quantity of organic ingredients used in the menu dominated by pizza and cake does not entirely live up to the sustainability promise of the place, you'll find at least organic
coffee, tea and lemonades, and I was assured that the potatoes always were organic. Note that the place is self-services and accepts
cash only.
In the South-Eastern part of Giesing, near congested Tegernseer Landstraße yet tucked away in a pleasant neighbourhood at Alpenplatz you will find another rustic place, Das Edelweiß. Since it started as an organic restaurant about six years ago you will still find business cards and references describing it as organic, and you can still order organic softdrinks. Unfortunately the concept did not work out, and the focus has shifted from organic towards supporting local and small-scale businesses. Some of the ingredients such as the milk of the Sternenfair brand are produced according to near-organic principles, the tasty artisanal bread may sometimes be made from organic flour, if you come for breakfast on weekends you can have organic chocolate spread, maple syrup and hot chocolate, but you should rather expect artisanal conventional food. When I questioned the owner about it she assured me that she's trying to find a new chef with love for local and seasonal high-quality food, and hopefully a renewed focus on organic principles will follow.
A dedicated family restaurant in the queer and hip neighbourhood of Glockenbachviertel dubbed Kaiser Otto is the place in Munich closest to the cafe latte moms cliche. You may step by for a coffee break during the day, or have breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner while your kids may disappear to a dedicated playground room next to the cafe. The latter is however closing at 7 pm. Weekend brunch with child care has been discontinued during covid-19. The food is not very elaborate, but often made from at least partially organic ingredients. Reliably organic items on the menu are coffee, eggs, bread, a selection of soft drinks as well as the meat served with one of the dishes to have for dinner. Greens, veges and pulses may or may not be organic, so you have to enquire, meat items served until 3 pm are definitely not.
The contrary of a family restaurant, i.e. a decent (American-style) bar cum burger restaurant is
The Potting Shed near Münchner Freiheit, a few steps from Brasserie La Bouce. Instead of french fries you're served yummy rosemary-flavoured potatoes, instead of prefab mayonnaise delicate home-made aioli, and the coleslaw was crisp, showing off the (organic) quality of the cabbage. The top of my burger bun was caramelised, adding an interesting twist to the taste, and the patty, announced as medium, still gorgeously pink. Unfortunately they do not do rare burgers which indicates that the meat is minced in advance. All meat products come from a organic-only local butchery, and the delicacy of the food indicates that most of the vegetarian ingredients are organic, too. For those not feeling like having a sumptuous high-calory burger plate (there's one veggie option) there was a tasty seasonal salad (with goat cheese) and a range of tapas, mezze and small starters, decidedly omnivore. Unfortunately the rich bar sports only a few organic drinks, namely an organic Cabernet Sauvignon, The Duke and Lyonel gins (the latter made a nicely balanced jasmin-tea flavoured gin and tonic) and fairly traded cachaça. Soft drinks including the tonic water however aren't organic at all. The bar itself values traditional bar etiquette: an observant yet not obstrusive waiter (who took care of our jackets when we came in), a skilful professional barman, pleasant background music at a volume allowing for effordless conversation (though I cannot say anything about the noise on a Friday or Saturday night), the walls adorned with interesting and tasteful art. Definitely recommended for a civilised evening out.
Restaurants in the parts of town highly frequented by tourists are usually optimising for high throughput which makes it challenging to find a place with decent quality food when in urgent need for calories. The
Bohne & Malz a few steps away from the Stachus has been making the honourable effort to combine both aspects for about a quarter of a century. As long as you don't shun large dining rooms and can tolerate that only a few ingredients are reliably organic, the place is an all-day resort offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee breaks and a bar with swift and professional service. Depending on when you come it may be more or less frequented. They serve organic quinoa, eggs, cream cheese and maple syrup, a decent assortment of organic teas, organic orange lemonade (aranciata) and The Duke gin. However, don't come too late on bad weather work days as the shop may close earlier when little frequented.
Italian
If you do not want to compromise at all when it comes to organic food and drinks find your way to Sendling: Former Bavarian-Italian restaurant "resihuber" went fully Italian and consequently changed its name to La Trattoria early in 2020. The place is run and backed by the founders of the local Vollcorner supermarket chain and can easily be reached by tube (stop Brudermühlstraße). Unfortunately they do no longer serve breakfast, instead you may order pizza home or (at a small discount) to take away.
The place is also a
convenient choice before or after a concert at (or other visit to) the Gasteig HP8 concert hall and cultural centre, with truly Italian food and predominantly regional ingredients catering for all: vegans, vegetarians and meat lovers. After a concert or stroll at the Isar shore you may also step by for a high quality, fully organic drink, both with or without alcohol.
The place survived the covid-19 pandemics as a pizzeria, and staff shortage in 2024 turned it into a half-serviced restaurant, a concept known from smaller cafes and eateries: Have a seat, memorise the number of your table and place your order at the bar. Food and drinks will be brought to your table.
A hidden gem in very upmarket locations, quietly located in a backyard of Maximilianstraße next to the Kammerspiele theater
is Max Trenta, a small Italian restaurant with an open kitchen where organic ingredients, often from small-scale farms, are frequently used, though neither promised nor advertised on the menu. Some of the courses are Italian dishes well-known outside Italy but since the friendly owner values the kitchen of his childhood his guests are so fortunate to taste Sardinian specialities like the fregula pasta type and the typical pane guttiau crisp bread which is served as an appetizer. Unfortunately these crackers tasted very bland, not comparable with the organic ones readily available in Munich's organic groceries. The extremely tasty and characterful natural open wines come from a Sardinian winery co-driven by one of the owner's relatives but aren't organically certified. In the summer you can sit outside where there's a little space for kids. Note that the kitchen closes already at 9pm.
Mediterranean/Oriental
No bosses and driven by consensus: Its unusual organization qualifies the Neuhausen based restaurant cooperative Ruffini for a recommendation on its own. Their Italian and Mediterranean food looks and tastes like mother's – it is prepared with love though without the ambitions of a trained restaurant chef. Although they cater for vegetarians and omnivores alike only meat and eggs are organic. Which is sad – the Imam Bayildi I had tasted bland as the eggplants did not have the concentrated flavour of organic ones. On the contrary their home-made croissants – organic or not – are without doubt worth a sin: You'll have to travel far to find equally full-flavoured ones, so take away (or come to shop at their bakery a few meters away). Have an organic ice-cream for dessert – during the warm season it's also offered to take away.
If you love the cooking books by Sam&Sam Clark of the London-based restaurant Moro (which I unfortunately have not had the opportunity to visit) or simply are in the mood for refined yet down-to-earth oriental mediterranean food head for The Spice Bazaar tucked away in a big void between the ticket office of the Bayrische Staatsoper opera house, the Spanish Instituto Cervantes and the Hofgarten garden. In the evening you often won't find a soul on the place before the restaurant, but when you enter a breathtakingly decorated space prided with gold and ornaments is welcoming you – not the bling-bling of an oriental bazaar, but its Bauhaus-inspired interpretation on two floors, the upper one an almost intimate but open gallery. All the meat is certified organic, and you can pick organic wines and soft drinks on the menu, but although many other ingredients most certainly are organic there's no promise to it. The menu and the staff encourage you to share your food with those you came along – in this case all dishes will be placed in the middle of the table and an empty plate will be put in front of each of you. Be warned: the servings here are generous and deliciously spiced so that it's easy to eat far too much. A main course – meat, seafood or vegetarian – with a side dish will satisfy a hungry eater, so rather order less and share, especially if you also opt for one of the tempting first courses. At my first visit we made the mistake of ordering too much (delicately spiced caramellised nuts and bread with gorgeous olive oil as starters for our hungry crowd) so that I cannot say anything about the desserts yet. Prices are upmarket, but if you take into consideration the quality and the quantity they are more than fair.
In the Glockenbachviertel
Das Maria has been a popular foodie place for years. In fact the restaurant should be called "Maryam" as it specialises in mezze and food (and coffee) from the Maghrib and the Levante. Moreover it has been a famed breakfast spot for many years, serving oriental and orientally inspired occidental breakfast varieties throughout the day, on oriental dishes. The majority of ingredients, staples and drinks are organic and marked as such on the menu, either with an asterisk or with the "bio" keyword.
The place is quite small, so despite its very reliable opening hours and especially during the cold season when outdoor seating isn't an option pre-booking is advisable. Families with babies and toddlers should find a different spot for a family meal as there are no changing facilities, and both, changing and prams are not welcome inside the restaurant.
Japanese/Sushi
With the explosion of sushi take-aways you may have to kiss many frogs on the quest for sushi worth its name. Arguably one of the best sushi restaurants in Munich is the Sushiya Sansaro in the Amalienpassage backyard passage in Maxvorstadt, a three minutes walk from the Northern exit of the Universität tube stop. As you might expect from a restaurant with love for – in this case – Japanese – food they use some organic ingredients (eggs, spinach and pork for example), the soy sauce is organic and you can order organic beer, juice and some wine with your meal. The menu does not stop with sushi, instead you can get a good impression of the Japanese kitchen, both in its vegetarian and its meat-based variety. The place itself is pleasant but often crowded. If you cannot get a reservation do not dispair: You can also order by phone or online and step by to take away, or even better: Bring your own (bento) box, and wait while your sushi is being prepared.
Mexican
The latest enterprise of prominent Munich publican, club manager and cooking book author Sandra Forster, herself a vegan, is the Blitz ("lightning") club located within the entrance building to the Museumsinsel island housing Deutsches Museum, the congress hall finished in 1935, formerly used as a cinema. Attached to the club is a Mexican-vegetarian restaurant, with dancing skeletons in colourful costumes adorning the walls. During the warm season enjoy a sugar cane cocktail and yummy fajitas or quesadillas, on a peaceful terrace outside facing the river Isar. About 80 percent of all ingredients used in the kitchen are organic and – if possible – sourced from farms in the greater Munich area. Exotic ingredients difficult to find in organic quality usually make an exception. If you want to avoid eggs and dairy products (which come from animal-friendly farms) do not hesitate to request a vegan meal.
Vegan/Vegetarian
My favourite vegan place, the Gratitude in the humming University quarter of Maxvorstadt, once was fully organic except for alcoholic beverages. While in the beginning the food was simple – raw or inspired by ayurveda – and sometimes a little bland, the kitchen improved vastly over time, reaching the level of Munich's legendary first (though no longer existing) vegan restaurant Zerwirk. Around 2020 the place got into financial troubles, closed for refurbishment, and covid-19 did its job. Now it's back again, as The Gratitude Eatery, with international vegetable dishes, from Nigiri and Tempura to risotto and curries, using sometimes less, sometimes more organic ingredients. You can have organic beer, and there's also an organic white wine on the menu, but I love the place for its fairly priced and not too sweet cocktails (which unfortunately aren't organic).
Between Viktualienmarkt and Gärtnerplatz (i.e. no longer next to Isartor) you'll find
Siggis vegan and fresh food, a 100% vegan place that from the outside looks like a coffee bar. In fact you can step by for a (cup) cake, vegan latte, organic coffee (in a recup.com retour cup if you're in a hurry) or partially organic sandwich but you may also stay and have lunch or dinner served. The kitchen uses a good deal organic ingredients for the quite casual menu offering pasta, sandwiches, bowls, and a few international main dishes. Most drinks are organic, though if you have a latte and specify your favourite vegan milk alternative be aware that the lupin milk isn't. Ask if unsure whether any of the ingredients are organic – the stuff is helpful and willing to enquire in the kitchen if they don't know.
Note that the place is closed on Mondays.
An older vegan restaurant is the Max Pett near Sendlinger Tor, run by a former Zerwirk chef. Unfortunately it's only partially organic, which is probably why the kitchen does not live up to expectations. The place is 100 percent non-alcoholic.
My favourite vegetarian, vegan-friendly restaurant is the Blitz described above.
Vietnamese/Asian Fusion
Crisp and delicately spiced instead of greasy and cooked to death, this is how the Fei Scho eatery serves Vietnamese food with a Bavarian touch ("Fei scho" is a Bavarian dialect phrase indicating that the counterpart in a conversation should have known/done/recognised something already). The menu of the small place in the Glockenbach neighbourhood consists of a handful of rice and noodle dishes, as well as Vietnamese veg parcels. A few ingredients (namely eggs, chickpeas, and, during the summer, carrots, red cabbage, coriander as well as celery) are organic (unfortunately neither the meat nor the tofu), along with all the wines, the iced tea, the apple juice and the gin and tonic. For a while there was a second restaurant in Haidhausen with slow and forgetful service, but that's past.
More to try
Of the following places I found testimonies and other evidence for use of organic ingredients, but I have not been able to verify them by a personal visit. If you get there let me know whether they should be listed here, and I'll do my best to eat there, too.
Greenwashed
An increasing number of Munich street festivals demands an organic certification of their food stalls: The Tollwood festival has been serving organic food only for many years while stalls at funfairs like the Oktoberfest and or the Auer Dult are required to offer at minimum one certified organic serving. Unfortunately some of the contractors comply only as long as they are forced to and do not even use a minimum selection of organic ingredients in their restaurants – a behaviour that potential guests of the following places should be aware of.
About ten years ago this blog featured the Ratskeller townhall restaurant at
Marienplatz which back then had a separate organic menu. The only sad reminiscence of this past are a handful organic beverages: beer, juices and softdrinks. If you happen to choose this place for its gorgeous location inside the townhall ask the waiter: If you are lucky some organic ingredients will be deeply hidden in the menu of the day.
Ceased to exist
The following places shut down or were replaced by restaurants not using organic ingredients. So don't be confused when you find references to them on the web:
- Arepas, Müllerstr. 44 (Venezuelan)
- Bapas, Leopoldstr. 56a (Bavarian tapas bar)
- Cafe King, Müllerstr. 3 (vegan)
- Daylesford Organic, Ledererstr. 3 (international)
- Das Kranz, Hans-Sachs-Str.12 (gourmet)
- Deli Dosa, Barer Str. 48
- Emiko w/in Hotel Louis, Viktualienmarkt 6 (Japanese)
- Fei Scho Haidhausen, Pariser Str. 17
- Josef, Klenzestr. 99 (Italian, sister restaurant of La Trattoria)
- Kaede, Sommerstr. 41 (Japanese)
- L'Amar, Pestalozzistr. 28 (Italian)
- Moritz, Oefelestr. 12 (co-located restaurant Miss Lilly's is open during the day)
- Picnic, Barer Str. 48 (Indian)
- Refettorio, Marstallplatz 3 (Italian) – replaced by The Spice Bazaar
- Hostaria Rò e Buni, Kaiserstr. 55 (Italian)
- Salon Rouge by Tohru, Speicherstr. 20, Werk 12, 4th floor (fine dining)
- Schneeweinchen & Rosenbrot, Breisacher Str. 23 (partially organic gastro bar)
- Shibuya Fried Chicken, Hohenzollernstr. 5 (Tohru Nakamura's covid-19 take away)
- Tian, Frauenstr. 4
- Vinipuri 2.0,
Fritz-Endres-Str. 4 (wine and fine dining)
- Werneckhof, Werneckstr. 11 (gourmet restaurant)
- Wood, Occamstr. 6 (clean eating)
- Zerwirk, Ledererstr. 3 (vegan, gourmet)
- 1912 Restaurant & Bar,
Schwanthalerstr. 36 (partially organic hotel restaurant)
2024-09-30 10:00:00
[Munich, Haidhausen, Maxvorstadt, Sendling, Schwabing, Werksviertel, organic, lunch, dinner, market, deli, coffee, hotel, accommodation, restaurant, Asian, Bavarian, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mediterranean, Mexican, Oriental, Sardinian, Vietnamese, vegan, vegetarian]
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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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Thursday, 22 August 2024
Forget about sushi, pizza, pasta, burgers, curries and other globalized commonplaces – in Dresden it's much easier to find hearty home-cooked dishes made from locally sourced ingredients rooted in local and regional food traditions. This does not necessarily mean German – mind you that the borders with Czechia and Poland are close, so many menus reflect influences rather from Eastern than Western or Southern European cuisines.
Many dishes include meat, yes, but all the places I am covering here have a decent selection of tasty vegetarian options readily available.
Old town
A few steps from the Altmarkt, just across Kreuzkirche you'll find Cafe Aha which is covered here. Longer west, facing the modern building of the University of Music in Schützengasse you may be surprised to find a small island of baroque buildings with a wild garden, housing the city's environmental centre, and a great disappointment: The cosy rustic wholefood restaurant on ground flour dubbed Brennnessel ("stinging nettle") once used organic ingredients and still can be found listed as an organic restaurant, but alas! – no more.
For a filling ayurvedic lunch or snack a few steps from the tram hub Pirnaischer Platz pay a visit to the
Qio bistro, in the vicinity of Cafe Aha. The place is a add-on to a small organic snack bakery – needless to say that you can buy their vegan sweet and savoury crackers made from legumes instead of wheat here alongside with a range of teas and other organic food items. On prior notice they also serve ayurvedic breakfast. So far I haven't had the opportunity to eat (or have a coffee) here, so let me know what you think.
Neustadt
For rustic food and surroundings head for one of the oldest independent pubs in town, the Planwirtschaft ("planned economy") in the Neustadt neighbourhood, popular since its beginnings as an illegal pub in the late GDR. On mezzanine level they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as coffee and cake while the basement houses a pub which opens in the evening. When it comes to their supplies they focus on buying from local farms and enterprises as the (unfortunately not organic) independent butcher's directly across the street or a tea shop next door from which they also source the organic teas on offer. The goat cheese is always organic. They used to have an organic meat dish (which was marked as "bio" on the menu), but unfortunately no longer. My vegan dish of the day (celeriac in a hearty plum-fragranced sause with polenta and green salad) was absolutely tasteful. Have a tasty organic apple cider or beer, and ask about organic ingredients.
Young German kitchen is the promise of the Lila Soße ("purple sauce") gastro bar within the eccentric
Kunsthofpassage with its small boutiques and lovely places. Apart from daily changing main courses (most of them meat or fish, and often with an Italian touch) you can order tasty German "tapas" to your liking – warm, cold and sweet – served in a glass as well as dips and bread. None of the courses are fully organic, but many ingredients are, and chances are high that you can combine cleverly if you ask. They offer organic softdrinks, but no organic alcoholic beverages.
Out of town
If you take the urban train number 2 from the Neustadt train station, either on the way to the airport or to a stroll in the woods of Dresdner Heide, get off Bahnhof Klotzsche (one stop before the airport) and have breakfast, lunch, tea or a snack in its 110 years old railway station. Since the folks of Vorwerk Podemus took over and restored the historical building in 2015 it has been home to a bicycle shop, an artist's studio, an organic supermarket, and the now fully organic station restaurant dubbed Bio-Bahnhofswirtschaft with its pleasant beergarden.
Travellers and ramblers may be glad to hear that they can fetch an organic breakfast or packed lunch on the go, though
unfortunately not on Sundays as the restaurant is closed that day.
The vineyards on the slopes of the river Elbe around Dresden form Europe's smallest, most northern wine region, and fortunately the Saxon state winery of Hoflößnitz in Radebeul turned organic. The small town located west of Dresden on the northern shore of the river is famous for the writer of travel fiction, Karl May and its Museum of North American Indian Culture and can be reached easily, both by urban train, tram no. 4 and bicycle. Follow the Elberadweg cycle route on the southern shore, cross the bridge at Niederwartha and turn back east on the northern shore cycle route through Radebeul until you find signposts pointing to the vineyards on the hill.
The Hoflößnitz winery has a small self-service restaurant, the Hoflößnitzer Weinterasse, with an outdoor seating area shaded by horsechestnut trees from where you have a great view over the grapewines and the valley while tasting the local wines. All wines, but not all the food are organic: Your best choice is the "Winzerplatte" – home-made white bread with pickles, a little salad and a number of spreads of your choice of which the bread and the vegan spreads are organic.
There's also a small museum with information on all Saxon wineries and a wine shop where you can buy their products, mainly white and sparkling wines. Stick to Hoflößnitz for organic ones.
No longer organic
In 2012, when the
Mensa U-Boot ("submarine") on the campus of the Technical University on the campus of the Technical University was opened after major refurbishment work
it was re-opened as a fully organic students' refectory offering
one vegetarian and one omnivore meal at a very competitive price. All food and drinks at that time were certified organic. Unfortunately this is no longer the case in 2022: Given low frequent visits during the Corona pandemic the staff decided to not prolong their organic certification and turn to cheaper ingredients.
Closed
The following places ceased to exist, although you still may find references to them on the web:
-
Lilisou, Louisenstr. 58 (vegetarian, burgers, soups, curries)
- Lingner, Lingnerpl. 1 (German, international)
-
ElectricLotus, Louisenstr. 58 (vegetarian, ayurvedic, Indian)
- Abutheke, Alaunstr. 68a (Middle-Eastern)
- roots, Hauptstr. 35 (vegan fast food)
- Wurzelküche, Alaunstr. 11 (vegan)
2024-08-22 17:00:00
[Dresden, Radebeul, Elbe_cycle_route, Elberadweg, Neustadt, vegan, organic, coffee, lunch, dinner, snacks, restaurant, pub, wine, beergarden]
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