The other kind of restaurant

Strausse

During 16 weeks of the year, usually in summer and fall the so-called ‘Straussen- and Besenwirtschaften’ (‘Broom-Restaurants’) open for business. Farmers and winegrowers open their properties up to the public and transform them into small restaurants serving home-made specialties.

step into the living room!

During those weeks the farmers are allowed to sell and serve food in their houses to up to 40 guests. They let you sit in their kitchen or dining room or transform their garden into a beer garden.
The menu can cover anything and everything as long as the products have been self-produced. White and red wine, different kinds of schnapps, home-made sausages, potatoes, fresh-baked bread, or -in the fancier places – deer meat and pork belly. During harvest season many Straussen serve ‘Neuen Süßen’, a specially brewed wine that tastes very sweet.

a broom means you have found a Strausse!

‘Straussen’ are not easy to find since they are only seasonal and are hardly ever being advertised. Sometimes you can recognize them when driving by and looking out for a broom which sticks out at the side of someone’s property. But generally you have to be a local to know which Straussen open at which day and where they are located. Many locals make it a sport to find every single Strausse in their region during the weeks of their opening.