Thursday, 17 June 2010

Weinhaus Brungs, Cologne

A place I really like to go to in Cologne is the "Weinhaus Brungs".
In a city that prides itself on its beer and where, accordingly, there's no shortage of brewery pubs, finding a place that offers good wine is worthwhile to a wine-drinker like myself. It's also bung in the middle of the old city centre. Plus, the food there is really good, too.

When I went there last winter, I had some very nice liver pâté with berries, which I didn't find on the menu when I went there again last week. However, last week I had a fairly good Flammkuchen (flame cake - a sort of pizza, an Alsatian traditional that goes very well with white wine) with some exotic toppings (olive and sheep cheese), and my partner had an excellent beef in aspic, which we followed with a shared dessert of cinnamon ice cream with grappa plums.
And, meeting up with some friends by the river the other day, we ended up there again, and as we had had dinner before, shared a cheese dish of Tête de Moine among us:

Tête de Moine, for under 7 Euros, a nice accompaniment for a glass of wine (on average 4 Euros per 200ml glass).
The wine selection by the glass is more than sufficient, and you can get even greater choice by the bottle. German wines are predominant, which is exactly how I like it.

The waiters are friendly and informal in a good way.

You can get full meals as well as just a drink or a drink and a snack, and they are happy to let you share dishes.

Apart from wine, you can get any other drink, too, and they have some nice sparkleys and a wide range of spirits.

The building itself incorporates the remains of a medieval city gate. In summer, you can sit outside, the main guest room isn't too big, but very pretty, involving lots of old architecture, and there's a cellar of ancient vaults to host larger group bookings. Last time I was in the cellar, though, it had smoking allowed there. Not sure if that's still the case - the unfortunate failure of Germany to provide non-smoking laws for pubs and restaurants leaves you always unsure of whether you'll be pestered with smoke or not anywhere. Their website, otherwise very informative, doesn't provide any information on this.


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