Old Bavarian eatery’s a real banger
The ancient city of Regensburg is one of the largest medieval sites in eastern Bavaria. From the southern bank of Europe’s second-longest river, a neat row of preserved Roman, Romanesque and Gothic buildings stand before a towering twinspired cathedral.
Narrow cobblestone laneways lead into the heart of the city’s Old Town where castle remains sit next to hipster ruin pubs and lively beer gardens.
The 12th-century stone bridge across the Danube is considered a masterstroke of medieval construction, while the wiener dog museum is considered one of the must-visit tourist attractions. As is a tiny mint-green building selling sausages.
The 500-year-old Historische Wurstku¨ chl is said to be the oldest continuously open public restaurant in the world. The building was erected in 1135 as a construction office while the city’s stone bridge and cathedral was being built. Then called Garkueche auf dem Kranchen, translating to ‘‘food stall near the crane’’, the outpost would provide sustenance to workers in the form of boiled meat.
It is believed that signature sausages became the main dish at the start of the 19th century.
Instead of drawing stonemasons and dockworkers, the little stone eatery is now an accessible attraction for river cruise tourists.
When I visited in the middle of summer, smoke billowed from the black and orange tiled roof, as a crowd mingled outside waiting for one of the 28 soughtafter seats in the dining room. During the high tourist season, Wurstku¨ chl assembles long wooden benches in front of the building to cater for an extra 100 diners.
Right next to the Danube, with views across to the tiny island of Stadtamhof, it is arguably a better position to wolf down some bangers.
The restaurant cooks about 6000 of its fingerthin sausages over charcoal every day.
Hot from the grill, the smoky, slightly blackened sausages are available in orders of six, eight or 10. The most popular way to enjoy them is on a nest
of traditional Bavarian spicy sauerkraut, ripened by the barrel in the restaurant’s cellar.
My order was a pair of the snags stuffed into a crispy caraway seed roll with sauerkraut and a generous dollop of the proprietor’s famous wholegrain mustard.
Your classic Kiwi sausage on white bread can’t compete with the depth of flavour.
Other diners could be seen enjoying cheesefilled bratwurst kipferln, deep bowls of potato soup and giant salted pretzels. It almost seems compulsory to accompany your meal with a refreshing glass of weissbier.
You could easily spend an entire afternoon under the shelter of Wurstku¨ chl’s umbrellas, but missing the other attractions in this Unesco World Heritage destination would be the absolute wurst.