Restaurant Mittermeier

The Restaurant

Restaurant Mittermeier occupies a historic hotel building just outside the Würzburg Gate in the northern walls of Rothenburg's old town. Chef Christian Mittermeier has run the kitchen since 1999 and earned a Michelin star that the restaurant held through the mid-2010s; the kitchen continues to cook at that level and remains listed in the Michelin Guide. The main dining room seats thirty-six in a pale modern space above a 14th-century barrel-vaulted cellar that serves as the bar and the private dining room.

The cooking is modern Franconian: a signature smoked Tauber Valley trout with horseradish cream, venison preparations during autumn and winter, a Franconian pigeon with walnut and quince that has been on the menu for a decade. The tasting menus run five or seven courses at €95 and €125 respectively. A serious à la carte is available for guests who want less time at the table. The Schäufele (braised pork shoulder) has a cult following at lunch.

The cellar of three hundred references runs heavily Franconian with particular depth in Escherndorf, Iphofen, and Würzburg producers, as well as a strong German Riesling section and a deliberately understated international programme. This is the place senior German-speaking business visitors go when they pass through Rothenburg — consistently the best composed meal in the walled town.