Dresden: Organic pubs and restaurants
Forget about sushi, pizza, pasta, burgers, curries and other globalized commonplaces – in Dresden it's much easier to find hearty home-cooked dishes made from locally sourced ingredients rooted in local and regional food traditions. This does not necessarily mean German – mind you that the borders with Czechia and Poland are close, so many menus reflect influences rather from Eastern than Western or Southern European cuisines. Many dishes include meat, yes, but all the places I am covering here have a decent selection of tasty vegetarian options readily available.
Old town
A few steps from the Altmarkt, just across Kreuzkirche you'll find Cafe Aha which is covered here. Longer west, facing the modern building of the University of Music in Schützengasse you may be surprised to find a small island of baroque buildings with a wild garden, housing the city's environmental centre, and a great disappointment: The cosy rustic wholefood restaurant on ground flour dubbed Brennnessel ("stinging nettle") once used organic ingredients and still can be found listed as an organic restaurant, but alas! – no more.
Neustadt
For rustic food and surroundings head for one of the oldest independent pubs in town, the Planwirtschaft ("planned economy") in the Neustadt neighbourhood, popular since its beginnings as an illegal pub in the late GDR. On mezzanine level they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as coffee and cake while the basement houses a pub which opens in the evening. When it comes to their supplies they focus on buying from local farms and enterprises as the (unfortunately not organic) independent butcher's directly across the street or a tea shop next door from which they also source the organic teas on offer. The goat cheese is always organic. They used to have an organic meat dish (which was marked as "bio" on the menu), but unfortunately no longer. My vegan dish of the day (celeriac in a hearty plum-fragranced sause with polenta and green salad) was absolutely tasteful. Have a tasty organic apple cider or beer, and ask about organic ingredients.
Young German kitchen is the promise of the Lila Soße ("purple sauce") gastro bar within the eccentric Kunsthofpassage with its small boutiques and lovely places. Apart from daily changing main courses (most of them meat or fish, and often with an Italian touch) you can order tasty German "tapas" to your liking – warm, cold and sweet – served in a glass as well as dips and bread. None of the courses are fully organic, but many ingredients are, and chances are high that you can combine cleverly if you ask. They offer organic softdrinks, but no organic alcoholic beverages.
In 2022 the Neustadt neigbourhood seems to be the vegan hotspot of the city: Many shops advertise vegan dishes, but most of them use cheap products from industrial agriculture and highly processed conventional food. A notable exception is the Wurzelküche ("root kitchen") using organic and regional produce as much as possible. Many greens come from communal allotments and urban agriculture projects in Dresden (e.g. at the Japanese Palace) which are not organically certified but work according to principles of sustainable, agro-chemistry-free farming. The place closes too early for dinner, but salads, bowls, wraps and potatoes with a vegan alternative to cottage-cheese in different varieties are lunch stuff anyway. Raw and baked cakes as well as ice-cream cater for the sweet tooth.
Out of town
If you take the urban train number 2 from the Neustadt train station, either on the way to the airport or to a stroll in the woods of Dresdner Heide, get off Bahnhof Klotzsche (one stop before the airport) and have breakfast, lunch, tea or a snack in its 110 years old railway station. Since the folks of Vorwerk Podemus took over and restored the historical building in 2015 it has been home to a bicycle shop, an artist's studio, an organic supermarket, and the now fully organic station restaurant dubbed Bio-Bahnhofswirtschaft with its pleasant beergarden. Travellers and ramblers may be glad to hear that they can fetch an organic breakfast or packed lunch on the go, though unfortunately not on Sundays as the restaurant is closed that day.
The vineyards on the slopes of the river Elbe around Dresden form Europe's smallest, most northern wine region, and fortunately the Saxon state winery of Hoflößnitz in Radebeul turned organic. The small town located west of Dresden on the northern shore of the river is famous for the writer of travel fiction, Karl May and its Museum of North American Indian Culture and can be reached easily, both by urban train, tram no. 4 and bicycle. Follow the Elberadweg cycle route on the southern shore, cross the bridge at Niederwartha and turn back east on the northern shore cycle route through Radebeul until you find signposts pointing to the vineyards on the hill.
The Hoflößnitz winery has a small self-service restaurant, the Hoflößnitzer Weinterasse, with an outdoor seating area shaded by horsechestnut trees from where you have a great view over the grapewines and the valley while tasting the local wines. All wines, but not all the food are organic: Your best choice is the "Winzerplatte" – home-made white bread with pickles, a little salad and a number of spreads of your choice of which the bread and the vegan spreads are organic. There's also a small museum with information on all Saxon wineries and a wine shop where you can buy their products, mainly white and sparkling wines. Stick to Hoflößnitz for organic ones.
No longer organic
In 2012, when the Mensa U-Boot ("submarine") on the campus of the Technical University on the campus of the Technical University was opened after major refurbishment work it was re-opened as a fully organic students' refectory offering one vegetarian and one omnivore meal at a very competitive price. All food and drinks at that time were certified organic. Unfortunately this is no longer the case in 2022: Given low frequent visits during the Corona pandemic the staff decided to not prolong their organic certification and turn to cheaper ingredients.
- Biomensa U-Boot, Potthoff building basement, Hettnerstr. 3
Closed
The following places ceased to exist, although you still may find references to them on the web:
- Lilisou, Louisenstr. 58 (vegetarian, burgers, soups, curries)
- Lingner, Lingnerpl. 1 (German, international)
- ElectricLotus, Louisenstr. 58 (vegetarian, ayurvedic, Indian)
- Abutheke, Alaunstr. 68a (Middle-Eastern)
- roots, Hauptstr. 35 (vegan fast food)
2022-07-04 16:00:00 [Dresden, Radebeul, Elbe_cycle_route, Elberadweg, Neustadt, vegan, organic, coffee, lunch, dinner, snacks, restaurant, pub, wine, beergarden] Link
