Dortmund Food Guide

Dortmund eats the way it works: plainly, in good quantity and with influences from everywhere. The old coal and steel economy brought cooks from Turkey, the Balkans, Italy and the Levant, and their kitchens became part of ordinary city life. A visitor who looks only for traditional German food will eat adequately. A visitor who follows the neighbourhoods will eat better.

Classics to know

Currywurst is the Ruhr's snack: a grilled sausage cut into pieces, covered in warm ketchup-based sauce and curry powder, with chips or a bread roll. Eat it standing up at a stall. Pfefferpotthast is the proper Dortmund dish, a slow beef stew with onions, bay and pepper, usually served with potatoes or bread. It tastes of old-fashioned pubs and cold weather, and a traditional brewery restaurant will serve it more convincingly than a modern bistro.

Reibekuchen are crisp potato fritters, usually served with apple sauce, and they appear at markets and, in season, at the Christmas stalls. Mettbrötchen, a roll with seasoned raw minced pork and onion, is a regional taste that some visitors enjoy and others avoid. Neither reaction is wrong. Bakeries also sell pretzels, rye rolls and filled sandwiches, which suit a quick, cheap lunch.

Then there is the kiosk, locally the Büdchen, a small corner shop selling drinks, snacks and cigarettes at all hours. It is a Ruhr institution, and a cold bottle from one on a summer evening is a better introduction than any restaurant.

Where to eat, by area

The city centre is the easy choice for a first meal, particularly after the Football Museum or the Reinoldikirche. Expect solid, mid-range restaurants, chains and bakeries, with the traditional brewery houses around the old core being the best bet for local dishes.

The Nordstadt is where the city's migrant cooking is strongest. Turkish bakeries, grill houses, Lebanese and Syrian kitchens, Balkan restaurants and fruit and vegetable shops line the main streets. Go at lunchtime, order one or two dishes and share. The Kreuzviertel and the streets near Kaiserstrasse are better for a sit-down dinner in a neighbourhood setting, with wine bars, Italian places and modern German kitchens.

In the south, around the Hörde lakeside, restaurants have terraces facing the water and are the place for a relaxed summer evening. Quality varies, so choose by the menu rather than the view.

What to skip

Skip anything with a laminated photo menu in six languages, and any restaurant that has to hand out leaflets in the street. Skip the idea that you need a famous restaurant: Dortmund has few, and the best meals come from small places that are busy with locals.

On match days, stadium food is part of the occasion. Sausages and beer taste better in a crowd, and the atmosphere is the reason to be there. Our matchday guide explains the area. For a quieter dinner after a match, leave the stadium district once the crowds clear.

How to plan a food day

A pattern that works: a bakery breakfast, a lunch of grilled or filled flatbreads in the north, an afternoon coffee and cake near the museums, a Pfefferpotthast or a proper Italian dinner in the evening, and a drink to finish. That covers the city's three personalities, working class, migrant and modern, in one day.

Check opening days before you go. Many small restaurants close on Monday or Tuesday, kitchens stop earlier than visitors expect, and cash is still common in small shops and kiosks, so carry some. Vegetarians do well in Turkish and Levantine kitchens, where vegetable dishes are standard rather than an afterthought, and are weaker off in traditional German pubs. Our beer guide covers what to drink with it.