What to Eat in Bonn: Rhenish Dishes and Where to Find Them

The Bonn dishes that matter

Bonn sits on the Rhine, so the cooking around the former West German capital is Rhineland cooking rather than a separate Bonn cuisine. The region was long shaped by Catholic observance, and meat played a modest role on the everyday table, which is why so many of the signature plates are built on potatoes, rye bread, apples and dairy.

Hämche, a cured pork knuckle usually served with sauerkraut, is the plate to order when you have a bigger appetite. The local repertoire of Himmel un Ääd, Rheinischer Sauerbraten and Flönz is built as main courses rather than small plates, so plan on one plate each and add a starter only if you are hungry.

Menus in Bonn mix these with Kölsch-style pub food and international dishes, so check the German side of the card first; that is usually where the regional plates sit. If you want a wider spread of addresses, the best restaurants in Bonn list is the place to start planning the rest of the week.

Halve Hahn: a rye roll with Gouda, not chicken

The name looks like "half a rooster," but a Halve Hahn is a Röggelchen, a rye roll, split and filled with butter, a slab of medium-aged Gouda, onion rings and mustard. Nothing on it came from a bird, and the origin of the odd name is not settled.

Order it as a starter with a beer while you read the rest of the menu, not as your whole lunch unless you are after something light. The cheese is mild and firm rather than sharp, so the mustard and onion do most of the work.

A plain Röggelchen with cheese, ordered as Röggelche und Kies, is the simpler relative, and onion rings are a common addition to the Halve Hahn. Either makes a good beer snack if you want to try the local bread without committing to a full plate.

Himmel un Ääd: potato purée and apple, usually with Flönz

Himmel un Ääd translates as "heaven and earth": apple purée for the fruit on the trees and mashed potato for what grows underground. It arrives as a sweet-savory mound, often ringed with roasted onions and topped with slices of Flönz, a blood sausage that is fried until the slices crisp at the edges.

You will also see it with a mix of fried blood and liver sausage, which is the version to take if you want to compare the two. The dish is mild and slightly sweet, so a dry beer or a sharp mustard on the side keeps it from turning cloying.

Two potato sides that are not the same

Watch the spelling when a side dish is offered, because two Rhenish potato plates look alike on the card. Ääpelschloot is a Rhineland potato salad, often served with sausages as Wööschje met Ääpelschloot, while Ääpel met Schlaat is mashed potato mixed with endive salad and bacon.

If you want a cool, vinegar-forward side with your sausage, ask for Ääpelschloot; if you want something warm and bitter-edged, the endive version is the better match for a pork dish. Getting this right is the difference between a sharp counterpoint and a second plate of mash.

Rheinischer Sauerbraten: the sweet-sour braise

Sauerbraten is braised beef, and the Rhenish sauce is usually built on raisins and a sweetener such as apple kraut, sugar-beet syrup or gingerbread to give it a sweet-sour balance. The classic sides are potato dumplings, red cabbage and apple purée, and the plate is usually the richest thing on the menu.

Bonn cooks also hold that the meat should come from horse, though beef is the common version today; if the distinction matters to you, read the menu line carefully before ordering. Order it once, at lunch if you want the rest of the day, and split a dessert rather than adding a starter.

Rievkooche: the Rhineland's potato pancakes

Rievkooche are potato pancakes, grated potato and onion formed into rounds the size of a beer coaster and fried in fat until crisp, traditionally served with apple purée or with smoked salmon and herb quark. They are the Rhenish answer to a snack plate and turn up as a starter, a side or a full order depending on the kitchen.

Rievkooche come with apple purée, or with smoked salmon and herb quark, and they sit comfortably on a pub menu next to the Sauerbraten and the Flönz plates. It is comfort food rather than fine dining, and a single order makes a generous shared starter.

Both plates suit a simple beer and a plain room, and that is where the German restaurants in Bonn shortlist earns its keep, since the regional classics appear on the traditional menus rather than the modern ones.

Mussels in the months with an R

When the months have an R in them, from September through April, mussels appear on Rhenish menus, steamed in a wine broth and served in the shell with dark bread and butter. The habit reflects the old trade links down the Rhine to the Netherlands, and it is the one seasonal plate worth planning a trip around.

Order a single pot to share with bread rather than adding a main course, and keep the rest of the meal light. Outside those months, look for the same wine-broth treatment applied to other fish and shellfish on Rhenish cards instead.

Where to order the classics in Bonn

Brauhaus Bönnsch is the obvious single stop: it brews its own beer and its menu runs the regional repertoire from Halve Hahn and Flönz Carpaccio through Himmel un Ääd and Reibekuchen with salmon to Rheinischer Sauerbraten. The house also serves an oven-warm sourdough loaf with Griebenschmalz, a rendered pork fat spread, and a local Flammkuchen topped with blood sausage and sauerkraut.

Gasthaus im Stiefel, described as a traditional restaurant in the center near the Beethoven-Haus, is another address for Rhenish cooking. Pick one house for the Sauerbraten and another for a lighter plate, since the menus overlap heavily.

The pleasure of this food is in the plain rooms, the rye bread and the beer, not in fine dining. If you want a wider choice of addresses and price levels, use the best restaurants in Bonn guide to match a room to your budget.

Bönnsch beer and the brewpub plate

Bönnsch is the beer brewed in Bonn itself, served at the Brauhaus in tall glasses with finger holds that look like oversized Kölsch glasses. The house pours a yeasty-cloudy version and a naturally cloudy one, and guided tours of the brewhouse explain how both are made.

To a newcomer the flavor sits close to Kölsch, light and drinkable rather than hoppy, which makes it a sensible partner for the fried and braised plates. Order a small glass at a time so it stays cold, and stop when the food is done rather than working through the menu of beers.

Other local names on Bonn taps include Ennert-Bräu and Pöppsch, a beer from the Gesindehaus in Poppelsdorf, alongside Rheinbacher and Siegburger brews from nearby towns. If you want to compare more than one, the Bonn brewery guide covers the addresses in more detail.

Sweets: Haribo, Eierlikör and the Bonn praline

Haribo began in 1920 in the Bonn district of Kessenich, when Hans Riegel set up with a sack of sugar, a copper kettle, a marble slab and a roller, and the company name folds his name into the city's. The Goldbears followed two years later under the name Tanzbären, dancing bears.

Verpoorten Eierlikör, a thick egg liqueur, has been made in Bonn since 1876 and is the other sweet local habit; a small glass after a Sauerbraten is the usual way to try it. For something to carry home, the praline maker Aimée Eisele sells a chocolate with Beethoven's portrait and a Bonn take on the Mozartkugel, including through the Beethoven-Haus.

If you prefer an afternoon cake to a box of sweets, the cafes in Bonn are where the apple cake and plum cake of the region, Appeltaat and Prummetaat, turn up with coffee.

How to order and what to expect

Most of these plates are main courses, so order one each and add a Halve Hahn or a bowl of Rievkooche to share at the table. The German menu will carry the regional dishes under headings such as Rheinische Spezialitäten.

Lunch is the cheaper and calmer sitting for Sauerbraten or a plate of Rievkooche, while the brewpubs fill up in the evening. If anyone in your group eats no meat, the potato and apple side of the menu still works, and the vegan Bonn guide covers where to build a full meal instead.

For a slow morning before a day of eating, the breakfast in Bonn guide covers the early options, and the German restaurants in Bonn shortlist helps you place the pub classics on a map.

Which Bonn dish should you order first?

Order the Halve Hahn and a Bönnsch to start, then choose between Himmel un Ääd with Flönz and a Rheinischer Sauerbraten for the main plate. Between two people, that covers the essentials of Bonn cooking in one sitting without over-ordering.

If you have a second meal, take the Rievkooche at lunch and finish with Eierlikör or a piece of apple cake. In the colder months, trade the potato plate for a pot of mussels.