“Places to Love” Restaurant & Food Guide: Europe Edition

When it comes to Europe, you better come with a big appetite no matter which country you plan on visiting! Food here is steeped in tradition, history, and cultural identity whether it’s the kind of cheese to look for in Italy or learning to cook chicken paprikash fresh from a Hungarian market. Check below for the restaurants and food experiences I’ve enjoyed for “Places to Love.”

Check out my European “Places to Love” episodes here!

Everywhere I’ve Eaten for “Places to Love”: Europe Edition

Modena, Italy

Caseificio Castelnovese

When it comes to Italy, food is just as much its own language as Italian and every region has its specialities! One of them in Emilia-Romagna is Parmigiano Reggiano. Have you ever seen pasta cooked in a giant cheese wheel? You’re seeing it cooked in a Parmigiano Reggiano wheel.

Like every Italian classic, the process of creating this cheese is extremely controlled. Everything must fall in certain parameters right down to the location of the farms. You can go to the source and visit various caseificios or Italian dairies and creameries. In Modena, there’s the epic Caseificio Castelnovese, which houses 77,000 wheels of cheese!! And if you’re wondering; yes you can bring it back with you through customs; just make sure you keep its vacuum seal intact.

Acetaia Malpighi

Another specialty of Modena? Balsamic vinegar. The province’s unique microclimate produces the exact grapes needed to create the complex flavors in this condiment. And if all you’ve ever had is the regular grocery story variety in the US, trust me – what you taste at the source is far, far better.

While here, we visited Acetaia Malpighi. The Malpighi family has been in the business since 1850 and stores 3,500 barrels of balsamic vinegar. Book a tour and tasting to learn more and figure out which of their vinegars is your favorite. And don’t be afraid to ask them for their pairing recommendations – I was surprised by how tasty balsamic vinegar on strawberries were!

See more of Modena, Italy here

Bologna, Italy

The Quadrilatero

Ask anybody who visits Italy often, and they’ll tell you quickly that Bologna is the best if not one of the best places for food in the entire country. And at the heart of its gastronomy is the Quadrilatero or central market. This tradition of bustling alleyways filled with vendors of all sorts goes back to the Middle Ages and is a feast to the eyes as well as the tastebuds. If you’re not sure where to start, go right to Salumeria Simoni, and ask to try the mortadella!

Cesarine Home Cooks

Another option, of course, is to book a cooking class! Cesarine is a countrywide network of home cooks that’ll make you feel like you’ve been adopted by a local and taken to their home to learn all their culinary secrets. Home cooks (cesarines) will guide you through markets and teach you how to make their recipes right in their own kitchens. Not only did Cesarine Ester Inzani show me what to look for when buying ingredients in the Quadrilatero, she taught me three different pasta recipes.

See more of Bologna, Italy here

Zürich, Switzerland

Hiltl Restaurant

Did you know that the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant is right in Zürich? It all began in the late 1800s when Ambrosius Hitl fell ill after far too much meat and beer. His doctor ordered him on a vegetarian diet and soon Haus Hitl was born. This restaurant is massive with more vegetarian dishes than I think I’ve seen in my life combined!! For those looking for a more casual meal, they have a 100-dish buffet on the main floor, and then for something a bit fancier, you can just head up stairs to their dining room. Even the most skeptical meat lover will love the food here.

See more of Zürich, Switzerland here

Mainz, Wiesbaden, & Rothenburg, Germany

Bäckerei Striffler

When it comes to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the ultimate sweet treat is a schneebälle (or snowball in English). This pastry is made with strips of dough balled up, deepfried, and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. Get yours at Bäckerei Striffler, a nearly hundred-year-old bakery run by 6th generation baker, Florian Striffler.

Weinhaus Lösch

Over in Mainz, it’s less about the biergärten and more about the weinhäuser or wine house! Stop into Weinhaus Lösch for a cozy atmosphere, a huge selection of regional wines within 20 kilometers of Mainz, and traditional German cuisine. It actually started off as a blacksmith’s shop where the owner sold beer in the backrooms!

See more of Mainz, Wiesbaden, & Rothenburg, Germany here

Berlin, Leipzig, Meissen, Germany

Hasir Turkish Restaurant

The dish you really don’t want to miss in Berlin? Doner kebabs! Check out Hasir Turkish Restaurant’s original location in the hip Kreuzberg District to try them for yourself. The restaurant has been around since 1970 and let me just say, prepare for your mouth to water!

See more of Berlin, Leipzig, Meissen, Germany here

Limerick and County Clare, Ireland

The Roadside Tavern & Burren Smokehouse

Take advantage of being on the Wild Atlantic Way and enjoy some seriously fresh salmon. If you’re in County Clare, The Roadside Tavern has been owned by the Curtin family for over 150 years and specializes in organic salmon. And when they say organic, they really mean it – right down to the salt they use and the food they feed their fish!

See more of Limerick and County Clare, Ireland here

Budapest, Hungary

Grand Central Market

When you’ve worked up an appetite exploring Budapest, come to its oldest and largest indoor market – Central Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok). The building itself is a neo-Gothic architectural masterpiece and inside you’ll find a huge array of vendors. To take advantage of all the fresh food, I did a cooking class with Kitchen Pixie where I learned how to make, of course, a chicken paprikash.

New York Café

New York Café is easily the most beautiful cafe in the world! First opened in 1894, it was designed with an incredibly opulent, Italian Renaissance interior. All through the 20th and 21st century it’s seen everyone from writers to editors to dignitaries sit down to a meal or espresso! Even better? It’s open from 7:00 AM until midnight or 1:00 AM depending on the day, so you can visit for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even second dinner!

Stand

For those of you that want a Michelin-starred, fine dining meal, look no farther than Stand. They focus on showcasing all that this country’s gastronomy can offer and putting a more modern spin on traditional Hungarian cuisine. Every dish is created with sustainability, terroir, and local production in mind, and the results are sheer perfection. Don’t forget to try the goulash!

See more of Budapest, Hungary here

Vienna, Austria

Vollpension

The concept of Vollpension, aka the Granny Cafe, might just be one of my favorite discoveries in all my travels. For many people both young and old, this city of grand sights can start to feel overwhelming. Cue Vollpension, founded by a group of students to connect generations. The cafes, designed to feel homey and comfortable, are fully staffed by retired omas and opas. They bake delicious cakes based on their own recipes and are there to help you slow down and maybe even chat for a while. It’s all about community and building bridges between two of the loneliest generations, and every time I think of this place, it warms my heart.

Plachutta

Feel like absolute royalty when you dine at Plachutta. Here they specialize in traditional Tafelspitz, a dish of boiled beef that became a symbol of Viennese cuisine the moment Emperor Franz Joseph declared it his favorite.

See more of Vienna, Austria here

Rhine River Cruise

Stefans Käsekuchen

Just outside Germany’s Black Forest is its sunniest city – Freiburg. And in Freiburg you can find a truly special kaesekuchen or cheesecake! Stefan Linder was raised on the nearby mountain of Schauinsland and his parents ran Rappenecker Hütte. His mother had a ton of recipes he made when he took over and none made people as happy as her cheesecake. He soon brought it into markets in the city and today you can find it all over the country – including in a train station vending machine! I think I’ll stick to Freiburg’s market, which is open every day except Sunday.

Hausbrauerei Päffgen

When it comes to Cologne, the drink of the town is called kölsch. It’s actually, by law, only allowed to be brewed here in tall glasses known as stange. The ale is light and fruity – perfect for a summer’s evening. I had it at the city’s last remaining brewpub, Hausbrauerei Päffgen where I made sure to couple my kölsch with their beef tartare on rye bread!

See more of Rhine River Cruise here

Bern, Switzerland

Molkerei Gstaad

Considering most people hear Gstaad and picture a fancy ski resort town you’d be surprised that the region it’s in, Bernese Oberland, is home to over 200 farms. And that 80 of those farms have their cows graze around Alpine pastures! Because of this, the cheese here is especially delicious. Book a tasting tour of the Molkerei Gstaad cheese grotto and be prepared to enter a cheese lover’s heaven. Back in town you can visit their actual store to buy all the cheese you could ever dream of! 

See more of Bern, Switzerland here

Donegal, Ireland

The Rusty Nail

Want a gastropub that feels like it’s at the end of the world? Check out The Rusty Nail and its bright blue and hot pink facade. And when owners Maresa and Enda McDonagh say their menu is locally sourced, they mean quite literally down the road! As in, sometimes they just call up the local fisherman, see what they’ve got, and nip on over to pick up the goods and put on their menu for that day. They’re most known for their seafood chowder, and if you come on a Sunday, you’ll get to enjoy live traditional music!

Tabhairne Leo

What if I told you there was a chance (albeit an extremely tiny chance) of meeting the one and only Enya? While the singer is famously reclusive, her family still owns and operates Tabhairne Leo in the village of Meenaleck. It was first started by her parents, Leo and Maire Brennan, in 1968 and is where she and Moya Brennan got their start singing. Today the youngest son, Bartley, runs things and the pub offers up great food, good drinks, and live music. And hey, according to the internet, she’s very, very occasionally made an appearance and taken pictures with fans!

See more of Donegal, Ireland here

Have you ever been to a restaurant featured on “Places to Love”? Let me know below!