Brunch at Lokalbahnhof

I was complaining for ages that I’d not been to this popular brunch spot and then I went twice in two weeks! I’d heard amazing things about Lokalbahnhof’s brunch – I’d been there in the evening and though the music is a tad too loud, it’s a really quirky, slightly hipstery place (and you know those are my favourite kinds of places).

I can’t remember how much the brunch actually was and it doesn’t list it on the website but I think it was something like 12 euros, no drinks included. There were breads and cold meats and some sausages and eggs. There was enough for vegetarian people to eat, and kinda enough for wheat free people like myself to eat (though I did take a croissant…) There was also a fresh waffle maker (above).

They even had Frankfurt “favourites” like handkäse for you to try!

I think this brunch was ok. I honestly don’t think it deserves all the raving people do about it – Merianbad Cafe is just as nice food-wise and has a lot more selection and order-your-own eggs. For Lokalbahnhof you NEED to book – especially if your group is bigger than 2 people. The boyfriend and I managed to get seated without one on Easter Sunday but normally I think it’s pretty much impossible. When I went with a group of friends, we had a table booked for 10 people but they don’t put a table aside for you, just estimate when people are going to be done around that time. So in the end we waited for a while and then were given a table that only 8 people could fit at – luckily 2 people didn’t show up.

If you want brunch near to old Sachsenhausen then this is a good place to check out. If you are able to get into town, there are much better options. But if you really do want to try it here, you can find Lokalbahnhof at Darmstädter Landstr. 14, 60594 Frankfurt am Main.

Ladurée Paris

So when I was in Paris I was invited to brunch at Ladurée, which is a very famous tea shop in Paris. They’re famous for their macaroons and are apparently listed in every Japanese guidebook because in the 10 minutes I spent waiting for my brunch buddy, I watched a constant stream of Japanese people taking photos outside the shop (but only a few going in to buy something).

Brunch was around 30 euros, and included breads, pastries, macaroons, sandwiches and eggs. I had scrambled eggs, which were nice but a little bland. I loved everything else in the meal, though. The breads were really great and the pastries were sugar-coated-nom-ness. I especially enjoyed watching the Japanese father at the next table take a bite out of the stick of butter, thinking it was some kind of sweet.

The tea was awesome, too. I had the Marie Antoinette tea, which I loved. I may even buy a tub of it some time so I can enjoy it whenever.

It’s a little on the pricey side, and apparently not everyone got the same nice experience I did there, so I guess it’s not for everyone, but I’d go back there for sure. It’s right up my street with the quaint low ceiling, the antique furniture and the tiny tables full of yummy food to eat.

There are various locations for Ladurée, and even some that are not in France! Check their website to find the one closest to you!

Brunch – Urban Kitchen

Last week I returned to the brunch group after a few weeks’ break. I do love Urban Kitchen’s brunch and I’ve never blogged about it before so I had all the reasons in the world to get out of bed and be sociable.

 

The awesome thing about Urban brunch is that it has a nice range of breads and cold meats and stuff, but you can also order hot things from the menu. Green curry, German food, soups etc.

 

We had some really nice tomato soup. I do love some good soup. The boys had some pasta as well, which also looked pretty good.

 

And the selection of cold food is also pretty good. It was very wheat heavy so it wasn’t ideal for me, really. But for my vegetarian friend it was pretty good. He seemed happy.

 

It even had some questionable spelling on the menu! I think they meant “gyoza”.. hehe

 

At the same time, there was one of the Frankfurt marathons going on. There are SO many marathons in this city. People were playing music along the course for the runners. But I think it should be illegal to have organised running on a Sunday.

Find Urban Kitchen at börsenstraße 14 6o313 Frankfurt, but there are 2 other Urbans in Frankfurt. On Saturday you pay a cheaper brunch rate of 10 euros on a Saturday, but you’re not able to pick hot food from the menu. On Sundays it’s 15 euros for brunch with hot food included.

Brunch – Cafe Karin

 

Last weekend we decided to try out Cafe Karin for our brunching times. I discovered this place online when trying to find a nice cafe to go to with my flatmate, in the Willy Brant Platz area.

After the success I had with muesli at the previous brunch, I went for their home made stuff at Cafe Karin, too. It wasn’t as impressive… and not as yummy by far. Their homemade banana quark was to die for, though – highly recommended!

The other brunch sets were all named after different areas of Frankfurt. Ostend, Nordend, Bornhiem…  there was no Gallus though, which made my friends sad.

The boys liked it there and said it was better value than Maingold Cafe, but I felt the opposite – it was slightly more expensive and the portions were smaller. My meal wasn’t very satisfying and I still felt pretty hungry afterwards (I ended up being really bad and snacked on the communal bread…) But everyone else liked it. The staff were pretty friendly, and the drinks were very nice.

You can find Cafe Karin at Grosser Hirschgraben 28 60311 Frankfurt/Main, it’s halfway between Willy Brant and Dom Romer – go from Willy because it’s easier to walk from that direction. Brunch is very popular and you should definitely book.

 

 

Sunday Brunch – Cafe Maingold

 

Our group has recently decided to stop limiting ourselves to buffet-only brunch places and branch out a litte. The first non-buffet brunch we had was at Maingold Cafe, near to Konstablewache.

 

I had the muesli which I LOVED. I can’t talk about my love for this enough. It was only 5 euros, it has a small layer of muesli at the bottom then LOADS of fruit and nuts on top. It was SO good.

Other people had to order the more expensive, massive sets in order to get the range they enjoy from a buffet brunch. This lot shown above was about 23 euros. Overall, the meals were reasonably priced for the sizes, I think.

 

They even had my favourite – Afri Cola! A sign of a classy establishment!

Brunch at Maingold Cafe needs to be booked – this place is always packed no matter what time of day it is. We booked a table for 10 people and since a few were sick only 6 turned up. The sofas and coffee table they gave us to eat at fitted us 6 people exactly – 10 people would never have been able to sit happily there. The staff are always pretty slow here as they are run off their feet.

This has been my favourite brunch in a long while, though my friends didn’t quite agree. For me, it was healthier than over eating, the thing I ate was cheap and healthy, and I liked the decor inside (mismatched and full of character). My friends didn’t appreciate the lack of choice on the menu, and thought it was a little on the expensive side.

You can find Maingold Cafe at Zeil 1, 60313 Frankfurt am Main. Remember to book.

 

 

Brunch at Iimori

I’m a huge fan of Iimori, a Japanese cafe and cake shop chain here in Frankfurt. There are a few places in Frankfurt (including Kamon Sushi) as well as a restaurant in France – all owned by the same Japanese lady. She’s a real inspiration for people who want to make something of themselves.

I’ve eaten in the Iimori restaurant (on Dom Romer) a few times and consider it to be the most authentic tasting Japanese food you can get in Frankfurt without breaking the bank. The cafe below that restaurant is my idea of heaven – Japanese drinks and cakes in a cafe surrounded by British antiques and mismatched nicnaks.

I went with the gorgeous Yolande from Craftymemories and another girlfriend for Iimori’s Sunday brunch.

This isn’t Japanese food for westerners – though there is some sushi there. This is a buffet of Japanese food known only to those who have spent a lot of time there – Japanese potato salad, Japan’s take on mabo tofu (a lot sweeter than the Chinese version), cold rice noodle salad… The stuff that you wouldn’t get usually at the bog standard Japanese restaurants.

There are a lot more drinks to choose from downstairs so you might like to do as I did and carry it upstairs with you – this is my azuki red bean milkshake.

The buffet is 18 euros and sadly doesn’t include any drinks. The food is nice though so I guess it’s worth it once in a while. But there are other buffets just as nice for a smaller price.

You can find Iimori’s restaurant at Braubachstraße 24 60311 Frankfurt, near Dom Romer tram stop. Brunch is until 3pm.

Brunch at Marianbad Cafe

We may have found THE best place for brunch in Frankfurt. I’m almost scared to post this – I don’t want you all descending on our find!!

Marianbad Cafe is in the heart of Bornheim and has the longest brunch tables in Frankfurt at over 30 metres of delicious Sunday morning yumminess!

Even though you can see I was naughty and had a bit of wheat here, there is plenty for gluten free people like myself, as well as for vegetarians as my friend found more than enough to eat as well.

The drinks were the only downside to this place – they all came in thimble sized cups, despite being full priced. Usually most of us order pots of tea or pints of water or cola to wash our brunchings down with, so we were left very thirsty here.

The highlight of the place was without a doubt the DIY waffle maker with the chocolate sauce. This is TO DIE FOR. Yes, it meant I ate even more wheat but the tummy ache afterwards was just SO worth it.

On the way to the loos I came across this section of the cafe too. Doesn’t it look lovely?! I would love to sit and drink (thimbles of…) tea and read books here all afternoon. In fact, “when I am older” and I have my own tea shop, it’s going to look a little like this. Only a little more antique. And with language books.

I think I have found my favourite place to be in Frankfurt!!

Sunday Brunch in Frankfurt

My friends and I go for Sunday brunch every week. I would say “without fail” but I myself have been known to be absent from time to time… But I’d like to write a little about the places we have been to and which places were best.

First of all, I should explain a little about who “we” are. There are about 7-8 people in our group, with myself as the wheat intolerant one, and we have one vegetarian in the group too. We like to keep the costs down as much as possible, and ideally we look for decent brunches with bacon, eggs, sausages and so on.  We only go to buffet brunches.

We used to go to The Fox and Hound every week. This was ideal as it is around 10 Euros for the brunch, with big pots of tea for a couple of euros more. They had a good English Breakfast (with baked beans too!!) and home made cakes to boot. Why we stopped going here was because they showed lots of sports, so there would be large groups of British men come in and eat most of the food before we would get there, and also because the general quality seemed to go down and down each week. We’ve not been in over 2 months now, so maybe they have improved. It’s worth a try though.

Similar to The Fox and Hound, is Yours Australian Bar. This is my second favourite place – there is lots for me to choose from that is wheat free, the staff speak English and are so happy and helpful, and the home made lemonade is to die for. The downsides to this place are that it is FULL of kids – not that this is a bad thing, but they are running around and screaming a lot, it is usually full and it’s hard to get a table (they don’t do reservations after 11am), and the drinks are a little pricey ar 5 Euros a glass for the lemonade, which really bumps up the overall price.

My least favourite place so far was Cafe Albatross. The staff were so-so, the place was so small that we had to sit outside in the cold (under cover though) to eat, and the buffet was really small. It was very carb heavy, with lots of bread and pasta and so on. Other people in the group really liked it though, so I guess it wasn’t that bad.

My favourite, favourite place is Cafe Schopenhauer. It’s the most expensive at 18 Euros, but all the drinks (even champagne!!) are included. It is the most “posh” out of all the places, and the best quality for sure. The waitress studied in Scotland for a while and has the cutest Scottish accent. Only down side was that there were no big pots of tea. But with all the juice and all the herb teas available, no one was bothered for long.

Lastly, a non-buffet brunch… well, it says it’s a buffet brunch on their website but maybe we misread the day and it’s only on Saturdays. It’s El Pacifico. We went here last week and ordered from the menu and it was pretty nice. I’d go there for Mexican food in the evening too. The food was slightly on the pricey side, I guess, but they had nice teas and the waiter was very friendly and spoke great English.

If anyone else knows of any good brunch spots, please let me know!