Dinner Recommendations in Vienna and Cologne

Vienna has about 4000 places for eating and drinking.

https://www.falter.at/lokalfuehrer?r=Wien

This is Vienna's most comprehensive restaurant guide. Although in German it is easily understandable. You can select features like "Empfohlen" (recommended) then you get only the better places, or "Bezirk" (city borough), or type of cuisine.

For Vienna, my tried and true restaurants where I often take visitors:

1. Amerlingbeisl
2. Glacis Beisl
3. Puerstner
4. Palmenhaus
5. Motto am Fluss
6. Lugeck
7. Plachutta
8. Figlmuller
9. Schuebel-Auer
10. Buxbaum

My wife and I (based on Emily's recommendation in an earlier post) dined at Puerstner in Vienna in April (her #3 in this post) and we also recommend it. It's been a while since I visited Cologne (Koln) so I don't have a specific recommendation, but there are a number of beer halls featuring the city's particular style of beer, called Kolsch and served in small glasses, and also serving food. That's what I would do there.

I had one fine dining dinner in Cologne years ago, but I can't vouch for the place now. Instead I'll mention that I had really nice regional food at two Brewing-Company "named" brau-pubs. The first is well-touristed, but I found the big dining room attractive and the food offerings very nice: Brauhaus FRÜH am Dom, Am Hof 12-18, 50667 Köln, Germany. The latter is close by, but on a hidden street and smaller: Peters Brauhaus, Mühlengasse 1, 50667 Köln. What I remember is that they only served Potato Pancakes on Thursday, so I went back on the right day to get them. Doing this research, I also found Brauhaus Sion, but don't remember if I was there.

You MUST see and taste Kolsch beer, served from chilled wooden kegs by gravity only, into 0.2 liter (tiny) glasses. Honestly, it's a little blonde and watery, but must be brewed within X miles of the center of Cologne.

Note that when I had Pork Knuckle in Dusseldorf, I could not penetrate the top with my steak knife. I had to turn it over and attack from below! I did NOT eat near the river in Cologne, but the Altstadt in Cologne is a manufactured shadow of a real Altstadt. I wouldn't bother with it. Some people say the Altstadt is not safe late at night, but both of the places I have named have considerable Domplatz foot traffic.

Thanks everyone, good suggestions.

Bob

Bob, I was in Cologne last year and one of the best meals I had in Germany came from there - maiBeck FÜR DICH. It was wonderful (and I consider myself a foodie). The other good meal I had there was at Brauhaus früh am Dom, which serves authentic German food. I opted for beer and sauerbraten and it was very tasty. Both restaurants were in walking distance of the Dom.