If you haven’t caught on yet, “Freitag” means German in Friday, so we fit right in on a recent trip to Germany.
Tips: gluten free is “gluten frei”. We used this restaurant card in German.
We stayed mostly in Nuremberg (Nürnberg), which when we left for our trip, was a blank spot on Find Me Gluten Free. We were a bit worried! However, it went surprisingly smooth! I’ve outlined our favorite spots and recommendations below, and you can also find a map here.
Restaurants:
- Soulfood Low Carberia: a dedicated gluten free spot!! We kept coming back again and again because we didn’t have to worry. They have breads, kuchen, gelato, waffles, burgers, fajitas, gnocchi, delicious drinks, etc. You just can’t go wrong here! It’s also just an easy 45 minute walk from city center (or quick taxi ride)
- Bratwurst Röslein was a recommendation of Celiac Wanderlust and introduced us to the allergy binders. When we showed our restaurant card in German, the waitress nodded and literally brought us two, one hundred plus page, hand-written binders in German. Thank you? For 30 minutes we typed furiously in the Google Translate app to eventually determine that all sausages were GF, as well as the hot potato salad and sauerkraut. It’s right in city center and we went a couple times since it was convenient and tasty!
- Heilig-Geist-Spital: our favorite Nürnberger sausages (but really they were good everywhere). They have gluten free binders (plural, people – these are intense) and the sausages, potato salad, and sauerkraut are GF here too. But not the mustard (pictured below) – it has barley in it, so beware! It’s also in a beautiful historic building with history back to the 1300s.
- Delphi: this is a beautiful space (very date night feeling) in the basement of a building close to city center. We ordered the lamb shank and were not disappointed – perhaps some of the best meat I’ve ever had. Your meal comes with Ouzo shots – whew!
- O.sha: delicious Thai food where the binders made yet another appearance. We waited SOOOOOOOOO long for service, food, etc. though, that I can’t really recommend unless you are trying to learn patience.
- Mischbar – recommended by a friend with a celiac daughter – we did not personally eat here.
- Beware the gelato everywhere! The mounds of gelato everywhere in city center are tempting. We read allergy information at one and felt pretty good since it looked like a fresh bucket, but then evil Oreo crumbs were found mid-bite in the pistacio. Nooooooo!
Groceries:
We found it really important to plan groceries, since so many places (included our beloved Soulfood) are closed on Sunday. Options at regular grocery stores are limited (Edeka, REWE). You’ll find some gf bread and maybe a couple other things (although we did find the elusive peanut butter at Edeka!). The REWE on our map is the one that we found the most at! I used Gourmari’s guide heavily to help me navigate as well.
We had our best luck at the health food stores:
- Vitalia – the one in city center was really well stocked! So much Schär plus local brands as well.
- Any other Reformhaus (some Vitalia are also Reformhaus?)
- Ebl-Naturkost
Overall, very easy access to gfree food! Note that Wasa make another appearance (we first found these in Norway!)
Hotel:
We stayed at the NH Collection close to the city center. We were pleasantly surprised by the gluten free breakfast options! Every morning there was muesli, rice cakes, and muffins in their own section. If we asked, they would bring out warm gf bread. If you want bacon, DON’T grab it from the tray out in the open (it’s sitting on a bed of bread – noooooo). You can ask for them to get you fresh bacon in the back and also make an omelet. Side note: the tea selection is also unreal for a hotel.
Just for fun:
- Hiking! One of my favorite things we did was go on the Fünf-Seidla-Steig hike in Franconian Switzerland (30-40 minutes from Nuremburg by train. It’s 10 km one way, but an easy walk through beautiful countryside. The ironic part? It’s a brewery hike – five breweries. Guess who can’t drink beer? Us! Did we care? Okay we were a little sad about the beer. But it was still fun!
- Rockcut Cellar Tour: this was amazing. There are layers of legit underground tunnels in Nuremberg and you can see them! You learn about beer and whiskey creation and storage from the 13th century until today. This also made us a bit sad about not being able to have beer, but it was still amazing. English tours are every Sat/Sun at 11:15 am.
Other Resources:
- GF Germany (didn’t find this beauty until after our trip – they list their calls with owners about safety levels, etc. So good!)
- Gourmari food shopping guidance
- Celiac Wanderlust recommendations
- The Happy Celiac recommendations
Gluten Free Freitag 