A quick google of “what to eat in Frankfurt” revealed the top three traditional dishes to try: (1) grüne soße (green sauce made with seven herbs), (2) apfelwein (apple wine), and (3) handkäse mit musik (marinated sour milk cheese). And despite one night in Frankfurt, we were able to try all three!
We didn’t have a place picked out (this trip was more about architecture than food), but found a walkable winner with Zum Gemalten Haus. The name, translated from German, means “The Painted House” and is one of the oldest (since 1936) and most traditional cider taverns in the city.
The local popularity of apple wine/cider came about after phylloxera wiped out grape growing in the region. The alternative? Apples! Cider houses, including Zum Gemalten Haus, presse apples and aged the juice in barrels in the basements below, which is still done today.
I ordered the Frankfurter Schnitzel (pork) with grüne soße and fried potatoes ($15.5) while The Bride went with the Vegetarian Frankfurter Schnitzel with grüne soße and fried potatoes ($15.50). For an appetizer, I ordered the handkäse mit musik (marinated sour milk cheese; $6.5).
I didn’t expect to like the handkäse mit musik (sour milk cheese bathed in onions), but it actually was pretty good. Our waitress advised us to butter our rye bead, adorn with the the cheese, and munch away; and we did! The onions were a bit much for us, but the cheese was not bad at all.
The star of our schnitzel was the grüne soße, apparently an import from Italy and France and, for unknown reasons, only available in Frankfurt (there’s a local monument to the sauce of seven green houses, one for each herb). The Bride was a wee suspicious, but ooo-d and aahh’d on tasting the freshness. The seven herbs in grüne soße are : sorrel, borage, chervil, burnet, parsley, chives, and garden cress. The sauce is then augmented with cream, sour cream, mayonnaise, and/or yoghurt. Whatever ours was made of, none of it was left at the end of our meal. The potatoes, boiled and pan fried, were dang good as well.
I tried the house cider, and it was dry and delicious. The Bride was excited to try a dry riesling, and it was delicious. We didn’t have room for dessert (I regret that now…), but it was a memorable and educational first meal on our trip.
Zum Gemalten Haus, Schweizer Str. 67, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.zumgemaltenhaus.de
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