What to Eat in Augsburg: Swabian-Bavarian Dishes to Order

What Augsburg food is: Swabian cooking with a Bavarian and Italian streak

The region around Augsburg has long been a meeting point: a bit of Swabia, a bit of old Bavaria and, as the city's own tourism office puts it, a slice of Italy. That combination shows up directly on the plate, where Swabian, Bavarian and Italian cooking sit side by side, from smart dining rooms down to country beer gardens.

For a visitor, that means you should not expect a single regional cuisine with fixed rules. A lunchtime plate of Spätzle, an evening Schnitzel and a plate of pasta can all be the local choice depending on where you sit. Read the menu for the Swabian and Bavarian dishes first, because those are the ones you cannot easily get at home.

Käsespätzle: the cheesy egg noodles to order first

Käsespätzle are small egg noodles layered with melted cheese and usually topped with crisp fried onions; Spätzle on their own are the plain noodles that turn up as a side dish across Swabian cooking. Order the cheesy version as a main course, not a side, because it arrives as a full plate and is rich enough that you will not want much after it.

Treat it as your first proper meal in the city. In a traditional restaurant the portion is generous, so if you are eating with someone else, one Käsespätzle plus one meat dish makes a sensible split.

The historic cellar restaurant under the town hall is the obvious place to start if you want a single sit-down meal that covers the classics, and it is covered in more detail in our guide to the best restaurants in Augsburg.

Leberkäse: warm meatloaf sliced thick, on a roll or with an egg

Leberkäse is a warm, finely ground meatloaf, sliced thick and served either in a crusty roll as a snack or on a plate with fried egg and potatoes. Despite the name, it does not taste of liver; think of it as a dense, savory sausage meat baked in a loaf and cut while hot.

Order it for lunch rather than dinner. A roll with a slice of Leberkäse is the practical choice when you are moving around the old town, while the plated version is a proper knife-and-fork meal.

Traditional brewery restaurants and old-town dining rooms serve these Bavarian and Swabian plates as a matter of course, so a Leberkäse at lunch is easy to find wherever the local crowd eats.

Schnitzel and pork dishes in the old town

Schnitzel and pork dishes are the backbone of the sit-down menu in Augsburg's center. You will see breaded cutlets, roasted pork and dumplings on the same page, so decide by appetite: a Schnitzel is the lighter, quicker option, while a roast pork with dumplings is the long, slow lunch.

The old town around Rathausplatz and Maximilianstraße concentrates most of the traditional dining rooms, so you can compare menus on foot without crossing the city. Pick by the room as much as the food: a vaulted cellar and a modern dining room give you very different evenings for the same dish.

For a wider shortlist of individual venues, from historic cellars to modern kitchens, our list of the best restaurants in Augsburg covers where each one fits.

Swabian and Bavarian menus side by side at a historic brewery restaurant

The brewery-restaurant format is the most efficient way to eat and drink locally in one stop. These are full restaurants attached to a brewery, so you get Swabian and Bavarian cooking with the house beer poured at the same table rather than having to move on afterward.

Look for the ones that brew on site: a brewery restaurant that serves regional Bavarian cooking and pours its own beer at the table is exactly the combination to look for if you only have one dinner in town.

If beer is the main interest rather than the accompaniment, our guide to Augsburg breweries goes through the brewing side in more detail.

A beer-garden stop in the country around Augsburg

Beer gardens are not only a city-center affair here. The region's food and drink listings set out beer gardens in the countryside as a category of their own alongside restaurants, which tells you that a beer-garden afternoon is a short trip out rather than a walk from the cathedral.

Plan a beer garden as its own decision, separate from lunch or dinner. Go in the afternoon, order a cold beer and a simple plate, and keep the evening free for a proper restaurant meal. If you would rather stay in town, our guide to Augsburg beer gardens covers the options closer in.

A cultural venue in the city also runs a popular beer garden, which is a useful reminder that in Augsburg the beer garden is often attached to something else worth visiting.

Breakfast and brunch: what makes an Augsburg morning

Breakfast in Augsburg is a real meal, not just a coffee and a roll. The city has a spread of cafés that serve proper breakfast plates and weekend brunch, from traditional spreads with eggs to vegan bowls and pancakes, and some serve breakfast well into the afternoon.

One long-running café on Maximilianstraße serves breakfast in an urban, international style, with healthy ingredients and creative bowls on the menu. A café set in the St. Anna complex offers a quieter, traffic-free courtyard setting and serves breakfast until early afternoon, with a buffet on some Sundays.

In the Bismarckviertel, a neighborhood café serves a broad breakfast range from English to Bavarian, with fresh eggs, and keeps serving through the late morning.

If breakfast is a priority for your trip, our guide to breakfast and brunch in Augsburg maps out the neighborhoods and the styles of place.

Where the fine-dining end of the spectrum lands

At the top end, Augsburg's serious cooking is modern and creative rather than heavy regional fare. The Michelin Guide's Augsburg listings group the city's notable restaurants into categories such as creative and modern cuisine, which is the clearest signal of where the ambitious kitchens sit.

Book these as a deliberate evening rather than a casual stop, and expect a shorter, more considered menu than the traditional dining rooms in the old town. For the full picture of the city's higher-end tables, see our fine dining Augsburg guide.

What to drink with any of it

Beer is the default drink with all of the above, and Augsburg has its own brewing tradition to go with the food. Order the local beer with the Käsespätzle or the Leberkäse rather than a generic international brand, and you get the pairing the region actually drinks.

A brewery restaurant in the center is the easiest place to try house-brewed beer with a regional plate in one sitting.

If you want the brewing side on its own, from the larger producers to smaller operations, start with our Augsburg brewery guide and plan a stop around a meal.

Which Augsburg meal should you book first?

Book one sit-down meal in a traditional dining room for Käsespätzle or a roast, and keep a Leberkäse roll for a moving lunch. Add a beer-garden afternoon if the weather is on your side, and a breakfast café if you like a slow start.

If you only have one evening, choose the historic brewery restaurant near the center: it gives you the Swabian and Bavarian dishes, the house beer and the old-town setting in a single stop.