We did a bit of research prior to our trip and discovered that most menus in Germany are marked up with allergens, however we did also read about people’s experiences of menu information being out of date so we would advise checking directly with staff before ordering just based on the menu information. We did come across a few items where we needed to question if gluten was in fact present (usually when something seems too good to be true, it is!). The German for gluten free is gluten-frei (the “frei” is pronounced like ‘fry”).
It does not seem to be standard practice for hosts or servers to ask if there are any allergies in the same way that they do in the U.K. so you do need to make them aware. We found most people to be understanding. Service is quite slow in Germany compared the the U.K. but we prefer this so it was no problem at all for us – usually just means we drink more! The only issue we had was that in a couple of places it was quite hard to catch someone’s attention when we wanted to pay, but other than that, most people were friendly and attentive.Some places here are doing their bit for the environment by not selling drinks in plastic bottles so if you get a water or other drink it may be in a paper cup (e.g. McDonalds) or a glass bottle. There is also a successful recycling scheme where users are paid for recycling their glass, metal and plastic drinking vessels by feeding them into recycling machines.
It’s really easy get around on the tram/S-bahn and all of the restaurants we visited were a short walk from a tram stop.
Here are all the places we ate during our seven day visit:
Reformhaus (various locations)
This is a chain of health food shops that can be found all over Germany – we made use of branches in Cologne, Bonn and Essen. They do a large range of Schar products and other similar brands so we were able to stock up on cakes and biscuits, cereal bars etc. There is also bread and pasta and other food items suitable for self catering if you have cooking facilities. Supermarkets, such as Aldi, Lidl, Rewe and Netto also have gluten free products available which are usually their own brands.
Frites Belgique, Heumarkt Area
This is a food stand on one of the busy shopping streets. Its is very small and easy to walk past if you aren’t paying attention. They only cook fries so there is no cross contamination risk in the fryers making them suitable for coeliacs. There is an allergen card available which tells you about the rest of the sides and sauces, just ask at the till and staff will show it to you. It is marked with vegan, dairy free and gluten free options. We opted for the meal deal of Bratwurst, frites and a drink – we also added garlic sauce for an extra charge. The fries were lovely and crisp and all cooked to order. There is no seating here so you will either need to walk and eat of find a bench. We walked down a nearby side road and sat on a decked area in the sunshine.
Mama Trattoria, Italian, Heumarkt/Neumarkt area
We looked at a few Italian restaurants and most do charge extra for gluten free pizza bases and pasta. This one was €2 extra for gluten free pasta or Zucchini Spaghetti. Nice clean restaurant and we were given a window seat which was great for people watching! We had the carbonara and the bolognese sauces with gluten free fusilli. Food was tasty and good value at less than £15 including the additional charge. Filled us up after a long first day which included travelling from the U.K. They also do a lovely Hugo Spritz.
Isabelle’s Gluten-Frei Patisserie, various locations
We visited the branch nearest to Rudolfsplatz tram stop and I have to say I was confused at first. I had understood this to be a fully gluten free bakery (the clue is in the name!) however when we looked at the cakes and breads available (which all looked amazing) some of them were marked as gluten free and some were not. We checked with a staff member who confirmed everything was safe. She said the other markings were for other allergens (dairy, nuts etc) but that everything was coeliac safe. I don’t really have a sweet tooth so I am probably not the best person to rate these types of place but I enjoyed my chocolate brownie style cake slice and my daughter said her chocolate lemon desert was beautiful. They also do a small selection of sandwiches and panini which looked amazing too. A little of the pricy side at £15 for 2 cakes but worth it for a treat.
Restaurant Feinkostladen Cafe Der Tiroler, Neumarkt
Käsespätzle is a traditional German comfort food made with egg noodle, cheese and caramelised onions. Gluten free versions are quite hard to find but we managed to track down this place from a couple of trip advisor reviews. It was around £15 each for the biggest serving I have ever seen. – this was our fault as we ordered one each rather than one to share – and we both got about half way through. The taste was amazing but very rich and quite salty which I think contributed to my struggle to get anywhere close to finishing. The lady running the cafe was lovely and helpful and she even put out leftovers in vacuum sealed trays for us to take back to our hotel which luckily had a fridge. If you don’t have anywhere to re-heat or store I would recommend getting one portion to share between 2 or even 3 people. Wine was available as well as a selection of soft drinks and smoothies. There was also a selection of goulash type meals available to take away and cook at home. We had a glass of wine each which as served in lovely little glass jugs. Lovely quirky style cafe.
Haxenhaus, Altstadt/Hohenzollern Bridge
We stumbled on this place by accident for food as we had initially just come for a drink as it was one of a row of several traditional Bauhaus style establishments along the Rhine by the Hohenzollern Bridge. All the establishments in this area have an abundance of outdoor seating, as well as the more traditional Bauhaus bench seating indoors. There was also a plentiful supply of blankets to deal with the unpredictable German weather – definitely four seasons in one day during our late April visit!
We hadn’t originally had this on our list but a quick look at the food menu showed us that quite a lot of it was gluten free. We had really wanted to try some traditional German dishes, so we decided to order the pork knuckle. It came with Sauerkraut and mashed potato, which was beautiful. The staff were really friendly and helpful, so much so that we made a couple more return visits. As well as the pork knuckle, we tried the metre long sausage to share, the meatloaf (which is what we would call gammon) and the half roast chicken. They were also happy to change the fried potatoes to mashed potatoes when we asked, too. The fried potatoes (Bratkartoffeln) are also a traditional German recipe made with onion and bacon bits. This reminded me of something my Dad you used to cook when I was younger – he sometimes added this type of mixture to an omelette which he called “Gaffa’s Omelette”. This now makes so much sense as he went to boarding school in Germany and learned to cook there!
Phantasialand, Brühl
As we all know, theme park food is notoriously low quality and overpriced and even more of a challenge if you have dietary restrictions. There was quite a lot of helpful allergen information online for each stand/area at Phantasialand. We ended up at a stand in an area of the park which had rides for smaller children, I believe it was just before Wuze Town which has Ninja’s Force & Fear inside. We ordered loaded fries with chicken kebab, yoghurt and salad and another portion with barbecue pulled pork, sour cream and chives and onions. Really tasty and generous portions that kept us going all day. We had also read from other reviews that the Africa area (where Black Mamba is located) offers Jambalaya that is gluten free but we didn’t visit so cant confirm if this is still the case. This would have been our next stop if we weren’t able to eat the chips. If you are looking to pay a bit more for a sit-down meal there are a few restaurants around, most notably Uhrwerk (near F.L.Y.) and Rutmor’s Tavern (near Taron) that have fully marked menus with GF options.
Moviepark, Bottrop
This was the one day where we survived on fries and mayo until we got back to Cologne, and I’m not convinced that there wasn’t cross contamination – I think if you are coeliac you may struggle here. I developed a couple of mouth ulcers/sore spots later in the day which is usually a sign I have been gluten. It didn’t help that a lot of the food places weren’t open due to it being an off peak day. There were jacket potatoes advertised at the mobile stands but it didn’t say where and we didn’t come across any as we walked around. If these are on offer I think they would be a better option that the fries. There was also a stall that sold spiral crisps that were marked as gluten free but again the stand was not open while we were were in that area. There is a great little ice cream shop at the T junction at the top of the first street where we got a plain ice cream with chocolate sauce for €3.75. If we re-visit we will definitely take our own food/snacks.
Antica Pizzeria Nennillo, Severinskirche
This place was rammed when we arrived at around 7pm and we ended up sitting at bar style seating which was fine for us, we were just happy to get a table as we were starving after a day at Phantasialand! Would recommend to book if you want standard seating. Loads of choice of pizza and the majority could be made gluten free. The dough is made in-house and gluten free bases are €4.50 extra. They are cooked in a separate oven which you could see as the kitchen was pretty open. The menu offers a mixture of white and tomato bases. We had the Diavola and the Rot & Böse both of which were spicy. Lovely fluffy bases, really hard to tell that it was gluten free. I took 2 slices back and ate them cold for breakfast the next morning! There was also gluten free peroni and a gluten free IPA as well as a good selection of cocktails. Fresh ingredients and everything made to order.
Royal India Bonn (& Cologne)
Great food and service in here. The server came to see us at the door as we were hovering outside unsure if the restaurant was actually open. Not very busy at all when we went in but we were on their doorstep at 12 noon as we were starving after a couple of hours in the Beethoven Museum! The menu is fully marked up with what we could have with huge selection curries and starters. Rice was included in the price. We had poppadoms and dips to start (very tasty – with cumin seeds). We were also offered a more spicy green coloured dip which was freshly made. We had the Chicken Kadhai and Chicken Methi. We were given the option of mild, medium or hot – we both opted for medium but would say they were definitely on the mild side for us. We stirred some of the spicy dip into the sauces and problem solved! We had Mango Lassi for dessert which was lovely and creamy. Staff were really friendly and interested in where we had travelled from and the reason for our visit.
Based on this experience, we were excited to learn that there was also a branch of Royal India in Cologne so we decided to give that one a try later in the week. Unfortunately that branch was almost the opposite experience. When we walked in we weren’t greeted at the door, we had to walk up to the counter and ask to be seated. The waiter seemed quite miserable and like were inconveniencing him. Once we were seated the waiter returned and told us that they weren’t serving alcohol (despite handing us a menu with alcoholic options) and that the food was all buffet style. There was quite a language barrier and we weren’t confident that we would be safe to eat there so we decided to leave and head to Kamasutra which was a three minute walk away. I think we had maybe misunderstood something and just happened to have gone there on the buffet night but when we checked back on their website it said a la carte should also be available so not really sure what was going on there. Possibly just an off day as other reviews rate the food highly.
Kamasutra – Rudolfplatz/Friesenplatz
Lovely welcoming service here. The waiter was fully clued up about food intolerance and coeliac disease which was very reassuring. I would say the curries here were a little salty for my liking but very tasty. We had the Murgh Ki and Murgh Lababdar curries, both with chicken and basmati rice. We both opted for medium and would say the heat was about what we would expect. Two mains with rice, two cocktails and a large bottle of still water came to around £65. Service excellent.
The Namos Restaurant, Friesenplatz
Modern style Mediterranean restaurant with comfortable seating and attractive decor. We had the lamb chops and the salmon and vegetables with side dishes of mashed potatoes and rosemary potatoes to share. Generous portions of meat and fish and really tasty. There was a cheesecake on the menu that according to their allergen lettering system did not contain gluten. We were dubious about this and were right to be cautious as upon checking the staff confirmed that the dish did indeed contain gluten. This caused me to worry that the sauce that came with the salmon was not gluten free but I was assured that it was. The staff did not seem overly bothered that their menu contained this error which was disappointing. I had the same issue in Manchester recently with some cookie dough that was marked as GF and turned out not to be. This issue needs to be taken much more seriously.
Frittenwerk, various locations
This is another loaded fries place – they are definitely leaning more towards what we in the U.K. would call chips though as they are too chunky to be fries. Much more choice than Frites Belgique and visitors can choose to eat in or takeaway. There was plenty of seating available, including outside seating at the Freisenplatz branch. We visited the one near Friesenplatz and another in Cologne Hauptbahnhof. Lots of options of toppings and very generous portions. We tried the plain fries with mayo and the fries loaded with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. They also offer jacket potatoes with a similar range of toppings. I had a spicy chicken shawarma with salad and sauces – this was a welcome change after the amount of fries I had eaten during the week! Everything made fresh to order. Allergen info was available on a QR code at the station branch and at the Friesenplatz branch we were given the information on a card to review before placing our order.
compass and coaster 