Food: modern
Address: Am Frankenturm 5, 50667 Köln (Cologne), Germany
Phone Number: +49 221 962 673 00
Website: www.maibeck.de
Guide Michelin: 1 star
What I paid: 50 € (1 starter, 1 main, 1 dessert, 1 bear, water, coffee)
Visited: July 8, 2015

The main reason for visiting Cologne (Köln) was to have dinner at the 3-stars Guide Michelin restaurant Vendôme in the evening. However, since we arrived in Cologne around noon we also needed to have lunch.

Though none of us had that much knowledge about Cologne and we also wanted to do some sightseeing etc. I wanted to have a restaurant close to the river Rhine (Rheine), close to the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), not to expensive and of “decent” quality. I found a restaurant that met all those criteria’s very well and that is restaurant maiBeck – Für Dich.

Restaurant maiBeck is located in the Altstadt just on the boarder of Rhine and very close to the most famous building of Cologne, namely the Kölner Dom.

The restaurant is the invention of Jan Maier and Tobias Becker, two motivated young men with a passion for cooking and a feel for combining tastes and flavors. Their specialty is homemade pasta. The best place to eat in summer is the terrace with its view of the Rhine (which was not open when we visited them).

Since we were having a late lunch (i.e. at 14:00) and had dinner at Vendôme at 20:00, I did not want to eat too much. That said, I still ended up having a starter, a main and also a dessert… Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the dishes but I had the following:

• Veal tartare / Rheinische pickles / Chive Mayo
• Mountain cheese ravioli / walnut /fresh fig / arugula from Langengfeld
• Homemade green apple sorbet

In summary: good quality food for a very reasonable price (never seen those low prices in a restaurant with a Guide Michelin star). This in combination with its location in Altstadt by the river Rhine and the possibility to sit outside on the terrace, when the weather allows, makes restaurant maiBeck a compelling choice if you visit Cologne.