The Organic Traveller
Thursday, 04 November 2021

Nuremberg: Organic and partially organic restaurants and eateries

Each year Nuremberg plays host to what probably is the world's most important organic trade fair, Biofach, and the city has been wisely using the publicity that comes with the event. If you happen to be in Nuremberg around fair time you will see several communal events around organic food and agriculture. In 2016 the city organized an organic gourmet week during which participating restaurants and eateries offered fully organic gourmet meals at fixed prices even when they otherwise do so only partially. Visitors and citizens could download communally sponsored discount vouchers for these meals. Thanks to efforts like this Nuremberg has become a city where the extra effort to find organic lunch or dinner is comparatively small.

Engelhardts

Asian

Love Asian food? Although there's an abundance of Asian kitchens in Bavaria, it's hard to find the few that are using organic ingredients. So take your chance and dine at Engelhardts located in a beautiful lane of St. Sebald. The hotel restaurant of the family-run boutique Hotel Elch it serves 100 percent organic Thai and Laotic-style food, naturally also as a room service. Note that the place is closed on Sun- and holidays.

French

The first address in town is a cosy, almost 40 years old organic creperie, Ye'chet mad in the Südstadt neighbourhood. The audience is dominated by students, artists, theatre and cinema goers, professionals in art and culture and those interested in the resulting atmosphere. Many combine a visit with a movie in the adjacent arthouse cinema. You will be served a huge variety of fully organic whole-meal crepes, pleasantly thin, both sweet and savoury, as a main course and/or dessert. French salads, soups and appetizers round up the menu.

Franconian

A five minutes brisk walk from tube station Friedrich-Ebert-Platz you will find an organic pub of old, the Frankenstube. As you might expect they serve rustic local dishes, but there's a long list of vegan and vegetarian versions. Indeed, the vegan cabbage roll served with a hearty tomato sauce and pasta was very tasty, and not bland at all. All organic dishes are clearly marked as such on the menu but you should be aware (especially when it comes to meat dishes) that the ones without the bio keyword are conventional fare. The beer isn't organic (nor are the cakes), but the wine is. The place seems to be a favourite among locals, crowded even on a weekday evening.

Engelhardts 2.0

Ever wanted to try the Franconian speciality of Schäufele? When I discovered the newly established fully organic restaurant Engelhardts 2.0 at the Hauptmarkt the day after its opening I did not notice at first that they also offered this and other meat-based dishes. Italian-inspired vegetarian sandwiches and yummy vegan Austrian "Mehlspeisen" (sweet and filling flour-based desserts which also can be eaten as a course of its own) like the Kaiserschmarrn and the Dampfnudel yeast dumpling were visible and welcome after the guided walk around the monstrosities of the Nazi party rally grounds at that cold October afternoon in 2021.

The new sister of the Engelhardts hotel restaurant with its open kitchen and clean bistrot appearance (to know that this location had been a McDonald's before explains a lot of the interior design) felt very new that day, indeed: The service was friendly but still a little slow and unconfident, and we were forced to have our vegan latte in one-way paper cups as the glasses got broken in transport. Since the latte was made with oat drink without asking I got the impression of a vegan restaurant which the place is not. A closer look at the menu showed a happy mix of regional and international soulfood, preferably made with local ingredients, and I'll most certainly give it a second try during my next stay in the city.

Burgers

Shabby chic with cartoon and neon elements make the environment for Auguste (formerly "Klein-August") in Sankt Peter south of the railway tracks. Unusually for a burger grill it's not self-service but a family-friendly pub popular with women. The kitchen closes at 10 pm (on Sundays at 9 pm). Some beer and soft drinks are organic as are the burger buns which are made from spelt, the meat and the currywurst sausage. They have a good selection of vegan and vegetarian burgers, too. The name of the place changed from Klein-August to Auguste when the bigger Auguste restaurant in the Künstlerhaus K4 next to the main train station had to close due to ongoing reconstruction work.

Vegan

If you prefer pizza or a totally vegan place (also serving burgers) head for the Veganel pizzeria and eatery in the Gostenhof neighbourhood. Aside the pizze (with plant-based cheese substitute) and burgers you can also have stews, pasta, bowls, cake and more in pleasant no-frills surroundings. The ingredients are all organic and to a great extend grown in the greater region and seasonal. There'a also choice of wheat and soy-free dishes. Unlike other eateries this one is open for dinner.

Ceased to exist

The following places shut down and where replaced by other, not organic ones. So don't be confused when you find references to them on the web:

2021-11-04 19:00:00 [Nuremberg, organic, vegan, vegetarian, lunch, dinner, French, Franconian, German, fastfood, burgers, pizza, restaurant, trainstation, hotel, accommodation, covid, corona] Link

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Monday, 30 August 2021

Out of Munich: Organic Glonn

For an organic day out into the countryside around Munich you might as well choose a destination with plenty options for organic food and even an overnight stay with organic breakfast at the destination: The Panoramaweg Isar-Inn bicycle route starting at Marienplatz allows you to reach such an area by bike in only 30-40 kilometers. Simply follow this route to Moosach and from there to the organic hamlet of Herrmannsdorf as part of the municipality of Glonn. Don't expect a bicycle highway -- the parts of the route shared with cars have a tarmac underground, but the rest are sufficiently wide gravel pathes with occasional pitholes. Nevertheless it is much more pleasurable to go here and marvel at the moraine landscape instead of using the main roads where you may be scared for your life as cars will frequently overtake you too fast and often with too little margin. It's also advisable to have a navigation app or map with you as the signage especially within build-up areas is sometimes insufficient.

Public transport isn't much faster -- an up to 1.5 hours affair (one-way) by public transport from Ostbahnhof station. Take a regional (faster) or urban train (S4) to Grafing Bahnhof, and continue with bus no. 440 to Westerndorf stop. You may take your bike on the train when buying a separate MVV-Fahrrad-Tageskarte bicycle day ticket, but not on the bus.

The Herrmannsdorf organic farm

Merchant and Friends

From Westerndorf its only an about ten to 15 minutes walk (or a few minutes on bike) over the fields to the Herrmannsdorf farm, founded by meat-industrialist-turned-organic-farmer Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth and now run by his family. In addition to the organic farm with pigs and chicken roaming before the eyes of the visitors the hamlet houses an artisanal bakery, brewery and butchery, a coffee roaster's shop cum cafe dubbed Merchant & Friends, a kindergarden for the employees and a cooking and practise school offering day courses for visitors who want to learn the basics of the trades practised here at the farm. There's also an organic farm market, the Herrmannsdorfer Hofmarkt with an outdoor garden café open when the weather is nice.

In the entrance area to this beautiful delicatessen store cum upmarket supermarket you'll find the market booth of nearby organic market gardener Gärtnerei Schmid. Depending on the season you may walk over to pick organically grown flowers from their fields and pay into the provided cash box.

Schweinsbraeu

The farm also has its own upmarket 100% organic restaurant, the Wirtshaus zum Herrmannsdorfer Schweinsbräu, for meat lovers definitely worth the troubles of getting here. The rustic and newly refurbished restaurant offers high-standard traditional Bavarian and Austrian cuisine based on the freshest ingredients including the farm's famous own beer and assorted spirits. The elaborately hand-written menu may be difficult to decipher, and even if you can read it you may have difficulties to understand what you read as it is deliberately flavoured with Austrian food terms. So better ask if you don't feel adventurous. It is also advised to book your table for the restaurant (ring in on your way here if you forgot to do so a few days in advance), and mandatory if you plan to come on weekends or on public holidays. The restaurant which also has an outdoor sitting area is closed 30th December through 14th January, 2020.

If you are wondering what you are going to eat stroll through the farm and greet the pigs and piglets. During the warm season you can also sit outside under horse chestnut trees: There are food stalls, but as the Bavarian tradition of beer gardens goes you may also bring your own food (not the drinks though!). For the home-made ice-cream in a cone (only available in the warm season) walk upstairs to the restaurant. A single serving comes at 1.80 EUR.

In May, before Easter and Christmas the farm gives host to its traditional arts and crafts markets. Especially the advent market is a pleasant alternative to commercial Christmas markets in town. On these days a free bus transfer is provided from and to Grafing Bahnhof, and you may book a tour through the farm or one of the workshops. There are also special tours for kids. All tours and workshops (also outside the festivals) can be booked in advance at the website.

Sonnenhausen manor

Sonnenhausen

If you feel that a day tour isn't sufficient turn to the right instead of to the left at the bus stop Westerndorf, and follow the way to Gut Sonnenhausen, an organic and sustainably driven Bio-Hotel located in a carefully and tastefully restored manor. Although conferences, weddings and other celebrations are their main business bed and breakfast guests are welcome, too.

More to try: Westerndorf, Piusheim, Oberpframmmern, Glonn and Grafing

If you’re looking for a cheaper place to stay the Schmiedhof organic farm in Westerndorf has a guesthouse where you can enjoy eggs and cheese (and most certainly also milk) from the farm for breakfast. Simply let the farmers know in advance that you wish to have breakfast.

Glonnthaler Backkultur Piusheim

For something different take a bicycle ride to Piusheim: On Thursdays, Fridays, weekends and public holidays the Glonntaler Backkultur organic cafe cum restaurant keeps open and serves 100 percent organic lunch, dinner and snacks using the gorgeous products of their artisanal bakery as well as other locally produced delicacies like the cheeses of the local organic dairy Hofkäserei Stroblberg. Each Friday it's pizza evening starting at 5 o'clock, and if you're lucky you may step by while one or another cultural arrangement is taking place. During the warm season there's also a spacious beer garden. The bakery shop is located in the entrance area at the opposite site of the house, and on weekday mornings you may head for the bakehouse in Mühlenweg ("mill lane").

Glonnthaler Backkultur Markt Glonn

Glonntaler Backkultur also runs two Sunday-open bakery shops in Glonn and Grafing which are closed on public holidays that are Monday through Saturday. Both have in- and outdoor seating for a snack or coffee break. Next to the shop in Glonn there’s a small fair-trade gift shop dubbed Handfairlesenes. On occasions you may find it open outside the quite restricted official opening hours, so step by for handicraft and other fairly traded products.

Coming from (or heading to) Zorneding or Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn there's a good chance that you will pass the village of Oberpframmern on your bicycle route. Stop by the Maierei organic farm ("Dein Bauernhof" -- "your farm") with its 24x7 self-service shop. More products from the farm -- veges, eggs from hens of a dual purpose breed, home-made preserves, Christmas trees in December and more are available on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings when the shop is serviced.

2021-08-30 18:00:00 [Munich, Glonn, Grafing, Herrmannsdorf, Oberpframmern, Piusheim, Westerndorf, organic, fair, lunch, dinner, market, bakeries, deli, coffee, hotel, accommodation, cafe, restaurant, pizza, ice-cream, Bavarian, German, cycling, farms] Link

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Monday, 17 June 2019

Venice: Organic pizza restaurants and sandwich bars

The city being more or less a lively and living outdoor museum has one major disadvantage compared with other Italian cities: When it comes to eating out it is difficult to follow the rule: "Follow the natives". Arguably it might be the only place in Italy where spotting tasty, or even reasonable food is a real challenge -- especially when your tastebuds are used to organic food. But things have improved vastly since I first visited Venice.

Oke

For a decent lunch or dinner with a romantic view of the Giudecca island try Pizzeria Oke on Fondamento delle Zattere between waterbus stops Zattere and S. Basilio. The place looks quite touristy, with US-nostalgic interior, but in fact it is not just a decent pizzeria using organic kamut flour for the dough and organic veges, but a full-blown restaurant. They serve tasty, local-style food prepared with high quality ingredients. If you like give their seafood dishes a try. Wine lovers should try "Calaone'", the product of a pleasant organic vineyard in the nearby Euganean hills, and there are more organic wines on the menu.

There's a second branch, the name spelled the Italian way Ae Oche, near Santa Lucia train station in Dorsoduro -- the perfect place to order a pizza to take away on the train.

Bella&ampBrava

For the informal pizza snack head for Bella&Brava, a 100 percent organic fast food pizzeria. Although you may sit down on a bar stool to have a crispy, tasty pizza and an organic softdrink, beer or filtered tap water they do not own any real dishes, not even a single glass for water. Whether you eat on the spot or order to take away -- your pizza is always served in stylefully designed alveolar cardboard boxes, producing a lot of waste. Although comparatively small the pizza itself is surprisingly filling since the dough is made from aromatic wholemeal. Apart from the seafood pizza "Venexiana" all pizze are vegetarian, and four of the six varieties are vegan. Loves for taste and first class ingredients, the organic soap in the bathroom as well as for the tasteful and clean interior but thumbs down for the throw-away mindset.

More to try

Closed

2019-06-17 08:00:00 [Venice, Venezia, biologico, organic, pizza, dinner, lunch, Italian, restaurant, eatery, takeaway] Link

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Sunday, 03 June 2018

Padua: Organic supermarkets and groceries

NaturaSi St. Lucia

Centrally located, a few steps from Piazza Garibaldi you can do all your shopping in a well-assorted branch of the NaturaSi organic supermarket chain. They even stock a decent selection of natural perfums and eau de colognes, and if you are hungry you may buy pizza and focaccia to take away. Unlike most other shops this one keeps open during the entire day. The other two other NaturaSi branches in town, one in San Giuseppe, and one in San Carlo, are both closed on weekdays between 1pm and 3:30 pm.

On weekday mornings you may also go and find the mobile market stall of the El Tamiso organic farmer's co-operative at Piazza delle Erbe.

A little South-West of the city centre there's a smaller organic grocery dubbed Bielo, specializing in local cured meat and cheeses like buffalo mozzarella and scamorza.

On the way to Selvazzano Dentro or Abano Terme you may check on another small-scale organic grocery specializing in local produce, Corti e Buoni. Let me know what you can report on it.

2018-06-03 17:30:00 [Padua, Padova, biologico, organic, supermarkets, grocery, bodycare, pizza] Link

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Friday, 01 June 2018

Organic Rovigo

Half an hour by local train from Abano Terme or about 40 minutes South of Padua the City of Rovigo (first mentioned about 800 ad) invites for a self-guided stroll or at least a visit to its main sight, the octagonal Church of the Rotonda. City life starts at 15:30 pm, and this is exactly the time when the church opens its door to visitors.

Ice-cream parlours

Fantasy Accademia

If you arrive earlier Gelateria Fantasy Accademia comes to the rescue, a 100 percent organic ice-cream parlour. A serving of ice-cream consists of two flavours, beautifully shaped into a heart, and comes at 2.50 EUR, but you can also have a single flavour on demand at 1.80 EUR. You can also mix a scoop of traditional ice-cream with a scoop of ice-cream mousse (the ricotta mousse -- contrary to the tiramisu one -- is a mouth-watering delight). Another original twist are the vegan ice-cream flavours made with olive oil. The gelateria also sells home-made iced lollies (ghiaccioli), brioches and crepes filled with ice-cream, granite (slushes), and, of course ice-cream cakes.

Fantasy Accademia in fact is the second branch of Fantasy Bio which opened in lieu of a gelateria with a longer history in town but currently is closed due to refurbishment.

Daily necessities

For food, fresh and dried, and other daily necessities head for the local branch of the fully organic NaturaSi supermarket chain.

For more organic body care, cosmetics, detergents and other bathroom items there's a small and well-assorted specialist shop in town, EcoSmile on the way from the train station to the city centre.

Eating out

I could not find any organic bar or eatery open during the day, but in the evening you may try Pizzeria Mucho Gusto. They use organic flour for the pizza dough, and you can choose between four types: wheat, kamut, spelt and multi-grain. They also sell dry organic pasta for your home cooking. Instead of eating out you may phone in for pizza delivery, either here or at their second branch a little out of town which is delivery and take away only.

2018-06-01 05:30:04 [Rovigo, biologico, organic, vegan, ice-cream, supermarkets, grocery, bodycare, household, pizza] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.