I don't usually ask questions about restaurants, but here goes. My husband and I, along with my brother, will be heading to Germany in April. Our first base in Cochem, and I am hoping to find a great place for dinner on our first night. Nothing pretentious; just something casual where we can get good food and beer. My brother is 23 and, like most 23 year olds, appreciates a good beer. This will be my brother's first trip to Germany. DH and I were in southern Germany a few years ago and visited several beer halls. Do they have anything like that in Cochem? I know that we are in wine country, and I love a good reisling, but my brother is definitely not a wine drinker and I want to him to have a great first impression of German cuisine.

Thanks!
Tracy

Sorry that I cannot help you on restaurants in Cochem in particular. We were there a few years ago and had a great meal but I cannot recall the name of the place! I'll do some digging and if I find it I will post it.

I just loved Cochem. We had a spectacular view of the castle from the window of our B&B. I will never forget it!

We ate here and sat on the balcony overlooking the Mosel. I highly recommend it. The Chanterelle Cream Soup is to die for. Dinner for two with wine was around $80 in 2006.

http://www.burghotel-cochem-mosel.de...estaurant.html

You can read our trip report here:

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1259

Yes they do have a beer hall or two along with more casual places to eat. We didn't try any of them, thus the recommendation in the previous post.

Thank you all for your comments! I'm so excited to finally get this region of Germany, as it's been high on my "must visit" list for several years.

dgassa, the menu looks wonderful! We'll definitely keep it in mind, as we will be in Cochem for three nights.

Keep the suggestions coming!
Tracy

Checking my notes from two fairly recent trips to the Mosel.

Gaststätte Noss at Mosel Promenade 4 - Good food - good service - reasonable prices - upstairs/downstairs/outside - outside good people watching tables - upstairs good view of Mosel from window seats. Menu from the Noss - http://www.noss-cochem.de/Speisenkarte.htm

The Alt-Cochem Speisegaststätte is located in the Altstadt just across from the T.I. office at Bernstranße 31. Had a great Cordon Bleu with a süße Spätlese for 11 Euro. Warm and comfortable restaurant - friendly wait staff...

There are several nice pubs in Cochem and they are not hard to find. Just walk along some of the main shopping streets and you will hear the music and crowds when someone opens a door.

Hello,
I only spent one day in Cochem (wish it had been more), so I have only a limited sample of restaurants/pubs. One thing I noticed was that most places served Bitburger, which was not our favorite beer. I was not able to find the kind of full-bodied Bavarian beers we just loved in southern Germany. Go figure--few Bavarian beers outside of Bavaria!

We too ate at Gaststätte Noss one day and enjoyed our meal.

Our favorite restaurant in Cochem however was Zom Stuffje. I think the address is Oberbachstrasse 14. I can't read my own writing in my travel journal. No website. It's an old timbered restaurant. No one spoke English and the menu was only in German also. The food was fantastic and well worth it if you don't mind practicing your German skills.

Tracy:

The restaurants along the Mosel Promenade are all very nice, and have great views. For a good german meal with beer, however, try the Ratskeller, which is right on the main square. It is a really striking space - no views, of course since it's in the basement of the town hall, but it has a beautiful vaulted stone ceiling with a cozy beer hall feel. Their sauerbraten was excellent, and they had several beers, which can be a little hard to come by in Cochem, which is really oriented toward wine drinking. My wife had a pork schnitzel as I recall, which she also really liked. I remember that they served Koestritzer, which is an excellent dark beer, as well as several others. Based on your description of what you are looking for that night, this may be your place.

If your son is interested in finding a place where he can enjoy a pretty decent beer selection (for this area, anyway), leaving the Ratskeller turn left and go to the bottom of the square. Then turn left on Bernstrasse, and go about a block to a block and a half. There is a bar on the left side, I don't remember the name, but they served a good number of beers there "fom fass" (on tap), including Spaten Octoberfest. Spaten, as you probably know, is Bavarian. Bitburger is probably the most common beer you'll find in Cochem, which is kind of a disappointment, since Bitburger is sort of like the German Bud. Beer is more of an afterthought in the Rhine and Mosel valleys.

But - one thing you can get many places is Koelsch - which is a dry pilsner brewed in Cologne, and is really good.

bookmarking

I can't thank you all enough. We love Bavarian beers, but I'm glad I posted this so we woudln't be dissapointed when we couldn't find many restaurants with great beers in Cochem. And the second half of our trip will take place in the Berchtesgaden region, so we will be able to have great Bavarian beer later on in our trip.

Smetz, thank you for the rec! That sounds like exactly what we are looking for. I'm going to print this off and bring it with me. I greatly appreciate the recommendation!

Thank you,
Tracy