Schlenkerla

Schlenkerla is the most famous tavern in Franconia and arguably the most atmospheric room in Bavaria. The building dates to 1310; brewing has been recorded here since 1405; the current owners, the Trum family, are the sixth generation. The beer that made the house name is Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier — a dark, smoke-malted lager brewed on-site and still served directly from a wooden cask tapped at the bar each morning.

The dining room is everything a 700-year-old German tavern should be: low black-beamed ceilings, candle-worn oak tables, a vaulted stone cellar for the overflow, the smell of beechwood smoke in the wood of every wall. The kitchen is Franconian and confident: schäuferla (roasted pork shoulder with crackling and a potato dumpling the size of a fist) is the dish every first-timer should order, but the bamberger zwiebel — an onion stuffed with minced pork, braised in Rauchbier — is the one locals return for.

Service is brisk, gruff, warm — the classic German tavern register. Tables are shared above six people; if you arrive as a party of two, you will likely be seated opposite strangers and that is half the point. No reservations. Arrive before 18:30 on weekends to guarantee the main room. Credit cards accepted since 2023; cash still appreciated.

For a Team Dinner: Schlenkerla's shared long-oak tables, bottomless Rauchbier service, and total absence of pretension create the German equivalent of a family-style Italian trattoria — eight of you around one table, one giant schäuferla platter, a dozen half-litres, and a cellar so old nobody checks their phone. The bill lands at around €30 per head.