8 hrs in Frankfurt am Main: What to eat and see

[foodie_mike]

Hello,

A client of mine, knowing my fondness for German travel, food, and drink has asked me what is a must see and eat during an 8 hour layover in Frankfurt am Main.

Outside of 1 hour I spent there on my way to Berlin, I don't have any current info. Does anyone out there have an opinion on what might be a must eat and see during the eight hours?

Thanks,

Mike

Edited October 15, 2007 by foodie_mike (log)

[nibor]

We had a horrible dinner at Osteria Enoteca last fall. Pretentiously plated and expensive. But the food ranged from tasteless to tasting like cat food.

[marlena spieler]

go to the kleinemarkethalle, which is a lovely little market, and look at the vegetables and goodies. eat a wurst (knobel is my preference) with sour rye bread slice and blob of delicious mustard.

go to konstablerwache market if he's going to be there on saturday, and i think either tuesday or wed. its a farmers market, a little family of a market as i was told, a great place to drink apfelwein at 10 am. by noon its really going, and you can eat waffles, piles of potatoes, potato pancakes, lovely little slices of blackbread topped with sausage, cheese, salad. stuff like that. its like living a bruegel painting.

there are two really traditional apple wine restos that i'm thinking about. the adolf wenger and the other one is, lets see, something like gemarkt haus....both right next to each other.

at the first i ate ribbchen, big smoked ribs roasted and so delicious lean, with sauerkraut and the most divine browned potatoes. they even gave me a doggy bag, and i met so many friendly people, it was like a sauerkraut fest, the evening was!

at the second, i ate: handkase mit musik, a sort of fresh cheese marinated in onions, delish. served with sour rye bread. i ate a wurst (ie frankfurter) with sauerkraut and my friend ate a boiled beef with gruen sosse, which is a real frankfurt thing: the most delicious party dip ever, green with whatever herbs are in season. in fact, i have a recipe in my new book Yummy potatoes, if its not too cheeky to plug it. i loved putting the green sauce into the mountain of mashed potatoes on my plate and sort of mushing it around.

drank apple wine both places, so refreshing and autumnal.

if you need a place to swim it all off, frankfurt has the best swimming pool ever! right at the end of the number 17 streetcar. an hour there makes it possible to eat all these hefty delicious things!

marlena

[Rehovot]

Casa Isoletta (Babenhäuser Landstrasse 1; 60599 Frankfurt) is excellent. The spaghetti with truffles and tagliatelle with wild boar ragu are worth the taxi ride across town.

[kpzachary]

http://www.restaurant-amador.de/#

Amador is a 2 *, progressive restaurant located about 20 km southeast of the Frankfurt airport. Well worth the trip. It is the best restaurant in the Frankfurt area.

[winemike]

Marlena,

the two places you're talking about are:

Adolf Wagner and Gemahltes Haus.

Both are on Schweizer Strasse and worth a visit indeed, if a tad touristy...

Cheers

- Mike

Edited October 23, 2007 by winemike (log)

[marlena spieler]

hiya mike,

we were warned that they were a bit touristy (ie that everyone would be taxi-ing from the messe after the day of bookfair just ready for the ribbchen and kartoffellen, etc. ) but also that we should go there anyhow. we actually went late--so that we could swim off the calories that were just waiting for use on schweizer strasse, and i think that arriving later, helped in the tourist and crowded aspect, cause neither seemed too terribly touristy, though adolph wagner was still quite crowded. we got a seat at a table with some very sociable people, so in the end it turned into a big hysterical sauerkraut party, i even took pictures of our table-mates putting the leftovers into the doggy bag, i don't know: it turned into a wonderful wacky meat and potatoes filled evening!

thought the gruen sosse at gemahlte haus was terrific (ate it over mashed potatoes, licking my chops at each creamy savoury bite), and also liked the handkase mit musik with sourdough rye bread.

at adolf wagner i thought my ribbchen and the browned potatoes were sublime (though was less pleased with my sauerkraut, it seemed a little sweet or perhaps fatty, and i'm such a purist with sauerkraut, i drive even the germans nuts with my passion for the stuff); i ended up eating all the potatoes and taking most of the ribbchin ( massive portion!) home in a doggy bag (yes, they provided!), and the next day brought my leftovers to meet up with greek friends at ANUGA, the fancy food show in cologne.

I thought about that meat longingly today as I swam my laps, wishing that I could go and eat it again tonight. but i can't, as am back home in hampshire.... (but i am simmering borsht to keep my eastern european spirits matching the autumnal-wintery weather).

thanks for the full names and addresses, mike!

marlena

Edited October 27, 2007 by marlena spieler (log)