TRAVEL GUIDE: It’s Time to Explore Germany’s Culinary Regions

It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the Michelin Guide, Gault Millau or other gastronomy guides – a good quarter of all top German restaurants are always located in SouthWest Germany. Baden-Württemberg, the land of gastronomic stars, currently has 85 altogether! The reputation of Baden-Württemberg as a connoisseur state is based not only on top gastronomy but above all on a broad, unique base of high-quality, home-style restaurants in the best sense of the word, for which quality and regionality are both an obligation and an incentive. The best proof of this: an overwhelming proportion of the restaurants that were awarded the Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide – for “carefully prepared, inexpensive meals” – are based in Baden-Württemberg. In SouthWest Germany, enjoyment always means beer, Schnapps and wine. A young, ambitious generation of winegrowers has caused a “quiet revolution” across the entire South in recent years. There hasn’t been a renowned wine prize for a long time in which winegrowers from Baden or Württemberg don’t appear in the top spots.

At Lake Constance, you can indulge in the local wines, including the famous Müller-Thurgau and Blauburgunder (Pinot noir) which are produced from grapes that grow on the shores of Lake Constance. You can visit the vineyards, too, including the Olgaberg, Germany’s highest vineyard at the Hohentwiel mountain. Guided wine tours, wine tastings and the unusual experience of sleeping in a wine barrel are just a few more highlights which you can experience all around the Lake. Not to be outdone, the breweries around Lake Constance produce delicious European pale ales and wheat beers. Tettnang is renowned for its hops and Constance locals love their local brewery, Ruppaner. Visitors are welcome to join fishermen as they cast their nets for perch and pike. At Reichenau, the UNESCO monastery island, they grow cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces in the monastic garden on this beautiful little island. And, it is a perfect place to enjoy a summer salad. The island is easily reached by traveling over the raised dam by bike, on foot or by bus. Visitors might otherwise enjoy traveling to the island by boat, and there are many ferries that criss-cross Lake Constance from various points around the lake.

Breuninger Show Kitchens Above the Roofs of Stuttgart Confiserie – Sweet Elegance

Since 1951, Breuninger Confiserie has been offering excellent pastry art in a symbiosis of tradition and innovation. For a uniquely pleasurable experience, the sweet delicacies are made fresh every day in the store’s in-house manufactory. In addition to a lot of creativity for the compositions, the confectionery relies on excellent craftsmanship and conjures up highlights for all the senses. The (karls)kitchen is Breuninger’s restaurant above the roofs of Stuttgart. The way in leads through the heart of (karls)kitchen: two large show kitchens that are all about freshness. The menu offers beloved regional classics as well as seasonal dishes from all over the world. An atmosphere that would certainly have appealed to King Karl, the lifestyle restaurant’s namesake. It’s in the mix – gastronomy meets lifestyle in Eduard’s Bar. The combination of creative drinks, cocktail classics and snacks with an exclusive modern ambiance invites you to linger and feel good – whether with a café during the day or with signature drinks in the evening. Eduard’s Bar is an unmistakable combination of enjoyment and the highest quality – in the spirit of its namesake, Eduard Breuninger.

Baiersbronn, Germany’s Culinary Star, in the Black Forest National Park Region

Amidst a beautiful national park deep in the Black Forest, the tiny town of Baiersbronn with 15,000 people and the Black Forest National Park Region is home to 11 Michelin stars. According to this year’s Michelin Guide awards, the restaurants in the Black Forest National Park Region are once again among the best in Germany, continuing a long-standing tradition. Six star restaurants with a total of 11 Michelin stars are located in the Baiersbronn and the surrounding Black Forest National Park Region. The restaurants are: The Schwarzwaldstube in the Hotel Traube Tonbach (3 Michelin stars), the Restaurant Bareiss in the Hotel Bareiss (3 Michelin stars), Traube Tonbach’s new one Michelin star”1789″ (former Köhlerstube), the gourmet restaurant Schlossberg in the Hotel Sackmann (1 Michelin star), “Le Pavillon” in the Hotel Dollenberg in Bad Peterstal-Griesbach (2 Michelin stars) and Werner’s Restaurant in the Hotel Schloss Eberstein in Gernsbach (1 Michelin star). It is an extraordinary concentration of gourmet prowess.

In addition to the gourmet stars, the Black Forest National Park Region is also home to 11 of Germany’s 297 Bib Gourmand restaurants which are smaller charming places that offer excellent local fare. The Bib Gourmands include the “Dorfstuben“ in Hotel Bareiss and the others in the Black Forest National Park Region are: Chez Georges, Achern; Kamin- und Bauernstube, Bad Peterstal-Griesbach; Klösterle Hof, Bad Rippoldsau; [maki:’dan] im Ritter, Durbach; Warteck, Freudenstadt; Zum Rebstock, Kappelrodeck; Rebstock, Bühlertal; Bergfriedel, Bühlertal; Sonne, Lautenbach; Der Engel, Sasbachwalden.

You also can visit many of the local producers which supply the gourmet and Bib Gourmand restaurants. More than 130 producers and farmers in the region produce fresh products ranging from smoked wild salami to apple juice from local orchards, and seasonal vegetables to regional goat cheese. You can enjoy the natural beauty of the park during the day and the delicious food in the evening.

Food and Wine Tours Throughout SouthWest Germany

SouthWest Germany makes some of the world’s finest beers, wines and fruit brandies. And its asparagus is an annual highlight. Enjoy them all on active holidays. Learn about centuries of tradition; talk to brewers and winemakers about their crafts. In the vineyards, pedal the Baden Wine Cycle Path or the Württemberg Wine Cycle Trail. Try free samples from bottles of locally-distilled fruit brandies cooling in “schnapps fountains” on the Schnapps Distillery Trails in Sasbachwalden.

In Ehingen, taste award-winning beers at five breweries on the Beer Hiking Trail. In early summer, on the Baden Asparagus Trail, cycle through asparagus fields; order fresh asparagus at taverns. One of the most authentic Württemberg experiences is stopping for a drink and a meal at Besenwirtschaften, or “pop-up pubs”. Long before the modern idea of “pop-ups” became trendy, these informal – and temporary – taverns were a fixture of the wine-producing scene. Open for only a few weeks in spring and autumn, they must be operated by the winegrowers themselves. Many are in rustic barns, cellars or even garages. How to find them? Just look for a witch-like broom (a Besen in German) on a house or beside the road.

SouthWest Germany: Small is Superlative – the Original Farm to Table

Baden-Württemberg has always been a region where the quality and variety of local products are highly valued, and the small-scale agricultural structure, which was not very suitable for mass production, played an important role. The variety of its landscape corresponds to an impressive variety of high-quality products typical of the region: from the Swabian-Hall country pig, the Bœuf de Hohenlohe or the rediscovered green Spelt in the north to the Black Forest pasture cattle, the Alb lamb or the Lake Constance whitefish in the south. There are many regional initiatives emerging that promotes regional products, bringing them onto the tables of top restaurants. In Hohenlohe just south of Heidelberg, for example, tourism organizations, producer associations, innkeepers and hoteliers have joined forces to form the “Hohenlohe Gourmet Region;” in the Black Forest, the nature park hosts and producer organizations such as “Echt Schwarzwald” ensure that the beef no longer comes from Argentina, but from the local mountain meadows; and in Upper Swabia numerous Südland innkeepers serve their culinary declaration of love for the regional cuisine, with the best ingredients from the region.