I spent around 5 weeks living in Frankfurt, Germany this summer whilst completing a legal summer school with a bunch a people from all around the world. During these 5 weeks we had no access to a kitchen or even a microwave and so finding something to eat everyday was at first a task and later what I looked forward to the most.
As time went on and I got researching, it turned out that Frankfurt had a lot of great food on offer. So every evening after university became an adventure for us to try a new restaurant from a different corner of the world.
Here's my list of 10 restaurants I would go again in a heart beat.
Aroydee (http://www.aroydee.de/Frankfurt)
Incredible authentic thai food. I’ve had thai food in every country i’ve visited including Thailand. I love cooking Thai food myself and grew up adoring Tom Yum Gong soup. I have to say this place had one of the best Tom Yum Gong soups I have ever had. They have all the normal curries and also the less common ones like Bai Capao which was also ace too!
African Queen (http://african-queen-restaurant.de/)
This place serves Eritrean food like you’ve never had it before. The food is served on a large platter with Injir (the flat bread) at the bottom and it is decorated with a plethora of curries: vegetarian and meat. The food is bursting with flavour and the service is incredible. I loved the chilli sauce so much, I asked our waitress to give it to me in a bottle to take home and believe me I’ve used it for everything, from marinating chicken to using as a dip.
Selera Restaurant (http://www.seleramalaysianrestaurant.de/)
Worth a visit if your near the main station area. Which in itself is a very vibrant place lets just say. This place had some of the best Nasi Goreng I have ever had and the steamed prawn dumplings were incredible too. The Sichuan chicken was surprisingly very spicy aswell. It was very reasonably priced too.
Góc Phó (http://gocpho.de/)
A very good Vietnamese Pho place. I asked for my Pho to be extra spicy and it delivered. We also had fresh spring rolls which had already been devoured before I took the picture. The restaurant is tucked away in a side street in the city centre and so its nice to come to if your in the area and don’t want to go to a chain restaurant.
Apfelwein Wagner (http://www.apfelwein-wagner.com/)
This place was an authentic German restaurant and the day we visited was Friday, which was luckily Fish day! This fish was actually pretty incredible and the portion size massive, so definitely worth going to. The potatoes served on the side were in a sour cream and herb sauce, and the sauce on the side was similar to a tartare sauce. There are lots of these kind of restaurants in the Sachsenhausen area, so others could be better, but the service here was entertaining as the waiters all had a vibrant personality to them.
Bayram Kebab House (http://www.bayram-kebap-haus.de/en/)
I had doner from this place twice. Berlin for me undoubtedly has the best doner but this place was pretty great too. This area is full of Turkish done restaurants but I quite liked this one. The Ayran (Yogurt drink) is also freshly made here and is great to have with the doner as it helps to cool down all the strong flavours of the lamb.
Falafel 1818 (https://www.falafel1818-frankfurt.com/)
This was one of the first places I ate at in Frankfurt. The falafel was honestly amazing. I kept on asking for extra salad, extra pickle , extra sauce and not once was I said no to. Unfortunately I only had the chance to go to this place once, if I could I would go again without hesitation.
Eat Doori (https://eatdoori.com/)
This was one of the last places we went to. Its your typical Indian street food places that are propping up all over the UK, something like Dishoom in London. I got a thali and the food didn’t disappoint. The daal and rajma was good, the vegetable sabzi maybe a bit too sweet for my liking but overall a great Indian option in Frankfurt, of which there are not many.
Liebieghaus Cafe (http://www.liebieghaus.de/de/cafe-im-liebieghaus)
This cafe is linked with the sculpture museum. Its set up outside the museum and is a beautiful place for brunch. They don’t have that much variety on offer but the coffee and pastries were good enough for me to want to come back to this place.
Ma Pasta
This was just a pasta place we stumbled upon while on our way to Turkish Coffee. Take it as a more economical version of Vapiano with better tasting pasta. My pasta was served with a generous amount of great tasting pesto and it was nice place to sit outside on a nice sunny evening.
I ate at other places too but these were the ones that I enjoyed the most. I said this to someone I met there: Frankfurt wasn’t a city you’d go visit as a tourist but more so a city you would live in. The food reciprocates that, you have to go look for places to eat and when you find them, they deliver.
It may be known around the world for its financial hub and the shinning buildings but beneath all of that there is a great mix of cultures going on. I did not expect to see this diversity of food, but I left inspired and really proud that I was in city where slowly but steadily food was helping people of all backgrounds intermingle.
The strongest friendships I formed there began on the basis of our common love of food. Every new plate of food brought with it an opportunity to learn about each other in a way otherwise not possible.
-Shanzé-