This article is part of the series “The German Wurst Adventure”
“Teaser” with original itinerary The German Wurst Adventure: Part One – Berlin The German Wurst Adventure: Part Two – Weimar The German Wurst Adventure: Part Three – Erfurt The German Wurst Adventure: Part Four – Nuremberg The German Wurst Adventure: Part Five – Coburg The German Wurst Adventure: Part Six – MunichA new favourite city and a new favourite wurst
You know the drill by now: let’s start with the necessary info. Newbies to the series should read the introduction and itinerary, the article covering Part One of the Wurst Adventure which we spent in Berlin, the one covering Part Two in Weimar and the latest one covering Erfurt
Then you can check out the Nordic Travel Bloggers collective and the official German Wurst Adventure website.
To wrap up this section, I’ll add that my trip was sponsored by the German National Tourist Office for the Nordic region, with help from Deutsche Bahn and Best Western Hotels and assure you that all opinions are my own, as they always are.
Onward then…
After lunch in Erfurt we collected our luggage and jumped on the train. Our journey to Nuremberg consisted of two stages: first we took an ICE to Fulda where we changed to another one for Nuremberg itself.
All told it took us about three and a half hours to reach our destination.
Once at the Haupbahnhof we had to change to the U-Bahn and after a few stops we arrived at Eberhardshof where our hotel is located.
We then had the luxury of almost two hours of free time before the next item on our agenda. I took the opportunity to relax and catch up on some correspondence.
Our group met in the lobby, suitably refreshed and ready for dinner just after seven p.m.
The U-Bahn took us back towards the city centre were we met one of our Nuremberg guides, Tanja, at the Lorenzkriche station. There are so many things to do in Nuremberg that I wrote a comprehensive article here.
From here it was a pleasant walk through the city centre to the restaurant Albrecht Durer Stuben, a historic eatery specialising in local food.
As a starter we got a sample plate with several different wurst to add to our list. All good but nothing ground-breaking.
Despite the fact that we knew it was going to be heavy-going, Janicke and I went for the speciality of the house – an enormous pork shoulder with red cabbage and Nuremberg dumplings. Washed down with a superb weissbier, it was delicious but should preferably be tackled on a completely empty stomach…
This is a very popular restaurant and reservations are essential – and you should definitely visit for dinner when in Nuremberg.
Albrect-Durer-Stube, Albrecht-Dürer-Straße 6 / Ecke Agnesgasse, 90403 Nürnberg
http://www.albrecht-duerer-stube.de/welcome
After a short walk through the city (which is especially beautiful when lit up at night) we returned to the hotel to sleep it off and prepare for a day’s exploring.
The next day we had quite a late start so were able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading out.
Once again we took the U-Bahn to the city and met both of our guides (Tanja was now joined by Angela) outside an even more historic and famous restaurant – Bratwursthausle.
This is a Nuremberg institution with a well-deserved reputation for its wurst. It is also the only remaining restaurant with its own in-house butcher making fresh sausages every day on the premises.
A family-owned business, there are two other places in town under the same management and this place makes the sausages for all three. Not surprisingly, this is the only way they can keep it profitable.
I was really struck by the dedication of the owners – they are determined to produce the best quality food but at very affordable prices – this necessitates that the restaurants are full several times a day but this does not seem to be an issue here. We were already joined by many other diners at 11 a.m. and the real rush wasn’t due for another hour or so.
After a brief introduction and a quick coffee we were taken downstairs to the subterranean butcher’s room.
The process, as with the Thuringian bratwurst, is simple but the important point is to have the best quality ingredients.
The absolute best cuts of pork (shoulder and thigh I believe) are obtained from pigs slaughtered before dawn the same day.
Next the seasoning is added and the meat is ground.
The restaurant has invested in the best machinery on the market and this beast had no problems grinding up the meat in record time.
The sausage casing (stomach) is threaded over and the meat is piped out at speed, with the butcher forming the iconically-sized Nuremberg sausages with amazing dexterity.
He makes 3,000 – 5,000 of these a day, believe it or not…
The links are cut with equal skill and the finished sausages piled up ready for the restaurant above.
Here is a video so you can see for yourself:
Once made, they are sent upstairs.
Finally they are grilled and served.
The restaurant also makes its own pretzels which are extremely tasty.
A house speciality at this time of year is a plate knows as a Schalctschussel which contains a variety of sausages and meat including an enormous blood sausage and served with sauerkraut and potatoes.
As you can see, this is amazing value for money.
We were served three different types of wurst – this one was a boiled and marinated version served with onions – very good too.
A spicy but traditional version that is both grilled and boiled.
Quite a spread, huh?
And of course the real deal – the Nuremberger Bratwurst. You can check the size – they must be between 7 and 9 cm – using a special tool.
Look at that – these are traditionally served three at a time in a bun with mustard as food to be eaten on the go, or at leisure on a plate as here.
So why so small? Well there are several stories about this, ranging from the time of the plague when sausages were made small to fit through keyholes to avoid contact; to a similar story about keyholes but involving a kind citizen who wanted to feed prisoners to the most likely version which is that they shrunk as a response to price fixing and inflation.
Back in the day the state fixed the sale price per sausage but inflation meant that the ingredients were increasingly expensive, so the manufacturers reduced the size but kept the price the same. Sounds about right…
Bratwursthausle, Rathausplatz 1, 90403 Nürnberg
http://die-nuernberger-bratwurst.de/index.php?id=3821
After this feast we met up with a city guide for a walking tour.
Our first stop was a gingerbread shop selling this popular speciality – known as Lebkuchen. It’s not really like gingerbread but more like cake, very good too.
We then wandered this lovely city. It’s hard to believe that 95% of the buildings were completely destroyed during the war as they have been so lovingly restored using the same city plans as before.
This cute little building was the hangman’s house. Nobody wanted to live next door to him so they found him a place with no neighbours. One of the most famous to hold this position was Franz Schmidt – he became well known because he kept a detailed diary of everyday life in the city around 1600 which has been invaluable to historians.
The other side of the hangman’s house is also a bridge.
As you can see, the old town had a fairy-tale air to it.
The buildings along the river are particularly fine.
The city looks especially good in its autumn colours, too.
One more before we cross the bridge.
Nuremberg has its fair share of impressive churches like most decent-sized German cities.
This plaque on the ground marks the site of a chapel with attached bratwurst restaurant that was destroyed in the war. The ancestors of the proprietors of Bratwursthausle ran this place too but restoration was too expensive as the chapel would have to be rebuilt too.
Once we finished the tour we decided to do as the locals do and grab a snack. We returned to Bratwursthausle and bought a take-away. We also now had a new favourite…
Nuremberg is also famous for its red beer, a fact that had not passed me by. We thus headed over to the Alstadthof Brewpub to try it out.
Lovely stuff. The complex here houses a brewery, pub, restaurant, store and museum and offers tours of the tunnels below ground which were used for beer storage hundreds of years ago.
Hausbrauerei Altstadthof, Bergstraße 19-21, 90403 Nürnberg
http://www.hausbrauerei-altstadthof.de/en.html
Thus refreshed, we returned to the hotel for a brief pre-dinner rest
At 6 p.m. we met in the lobby to take the U-Bahn once more, meeting Angela and Tanja at the main station this time.
Close by is a medieval-style area with craft shops and a few places to eat – the Craftsmen’s Courtyard.
We had a stroll through and emerged at the New Museum – what a contrast this was.
It has a stunning glass frontage reflecting the ancient city wall.
Dinner tonight was to be a surprise – but I was sure were headed for a famous, ancient wurst restaurant that had been mentioned by the owner of the Bratwurst Museum. We seemed to be heading that way so my confidence was high.
We passed this monument to the UN Declaration of Human Rights before I realised that I was very wrong – we were going for sushi as a change from wurst.
Now this was a bit of a treat – although it wasn’t to be completely sausage-free. Oh yes, only in Nuremberg do they have bratwurst sushi…
It worked. We tried all three varieties and liked them all, although it was also good to have more regular sushi too.
Sushi Glas, Kornmarkt 5-7, 90402 Nürnberg
We said goodbye to our guides after dinner and headed back to the brewery to try the red weissbier, which was also fabulous.
A fitting way to finish off our short stay in the city. You’ll notice we didn’t get a chance to see the Nazi arena or explore the history of the Nuremberg Trials. We were focused on the wurst so will have to return to see the rest another time. What I will say is that we all enjoyed our time here and want to come back – probably as part of the #beeradventure 🙂
We journeyed back to the hotel – on which subject…
Best Western Hotel Nurnberg City West
This Best Western is not as central as the others but it only takes 15-20 minutes to reach the city centre and the U-Bahn service is extremely regular.
It’s fairly clear that the hotel is aimed at business travellers, who I’m sure would be just as happy with the facilities as we were.
My room was on the ground floor but there was little traffic outside.
There was plenty of storage space as well as a minibar/fridge in the entrance hall.
A laptop sized safe is also provided.
Again, carpets on the floor but clean so no complaints. The table/desk was a good size for working.
The bed was excellent – once again I slept very well.
Again the bathroom was very small but had everything I needed.
The shower was fabulous yet again – but the actual cubicle was a little cramped.
Toiletries were provided in small bottles and were of good quality.
Here is a video of the room:
And breakfast was perhaps the best of any of the hotels – a really good variety of hot and cold dishes as well as fresh fruit, yoghurt and excellent coffee.
To sum up, this is a good place to stay if you don’t mind a short journey into town – and it may well be worth the difference in cost compared to a more central property.
Best Western Hotel Nurnberg City West, Regerstrasse 6, 90429 Nurnberg
http://www.bestwestern-nuernberg.de
Nuremberg: Total wurst tasted – 7
- Pfefferbeisser
- Fried small Rotwurst
- Fried Weisswurst from Nürnberg
- Nürnberger Bratwurst – handmade and grilled
- Nürnberger Bratwurst – handmade, smoked-dried, grilled and boiled in broth
- “Saure Zipfel” – Nürnberger Bratwurst boiled in vinegar, sugar, herbs and onion.
- Nürnberger Bratwurst Sushi (three different sushi types)
The winner: Nürnberger Bratwurst – handmade and grilled
