I love good food. I love it, even more, when I know that the food served on my plate has a good ‘behind the scenes‘ story. A story that resonates with me and my support for conscious eating and sustainability in the restaurant business.
But wait a minute, you say…
What are terms like ‘conscious eating’ and ‘sustainability’ even supposed to mean?
I’m Paushali, a food entrepreneur and culinary consultant based in Düsseldorf. I also offer creative Indian cooking classes and dining events with The Mustard Table. I love to travel and discover unique gastronomic experiences and write about chefs and food producers. You can read my musings on Instagram @themustardtable.
Simply put, people are concerned about climate change more than ever but often feel powerless to help protect the planet. The conscious eating movement encourages us to take some time to think about how we can consume more ethically and environmentally-friendly, and about supporting those restaurants that consciously make an effort to this end. As a general restaurant visitor though, you may not always be able to evaluate whether a restaurant is taking a clear stand on sustainability.
As this is a topic close to my heart, I decided to research and visit several restaurants in Düsseldorf to see which ones address issues such as product sourcing, carbon footprint, food wastage, and work ethics.
In the end, I came up with a select few restaurants that champion the concept of sustainability based on the following selection criteria:
- Ingredients sourcing– is it regional, local, transparent, and seasonal?
- Food – does the food taste great (after all it’s our tastebuds that need some wooing)?
- Service – is the restaurant staff friendly and attentive in a manner that really stands out?
- Work ethics – is this a positive work environment, that also promotes work-life balance for its staff?
So, here are 5 sustainable restaurants in Düsseldorf that champion the word sustainability (5 more to follow in part II):
The Duchy
An elegant European brasserie-style restaurant, situated in the luxuriousBreidenbacher Hof hotel. But don’t let the word luxury overwhelm you.The Duchy is one of the friendliest and most relaxed restaurants I have been to in Düsseldorf, where each guest is valued. Executive Chef Philipp Ferber is very passionate and open about the restaurant’s sustainability concept. All their food suppliers are brought to the fore through a booklet placed at each table at the restaurant, where each supplier’s work is highlighted. Sourcing regional is at the heart of their menu, and so is having an internationally diverse kitchen team.
Price: €€€
Address: Breidenbacher Hof Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-Allee 36, 40213 Düsseldorf
Hours of Operation: Open Tuesday – Saturday, lunch & dinner
Having read about The Duchy’s different local food suppliers, I was motivated to visit some of the farms myself. I visited Gut Diepensiepen where owner Christian Benninghoven showed me the fascinating process of thousands of organic potatoes coming directly from their land and getting sorted, while his son gave me a personal tour of the apple fields and the “Hühner WG”, or chicken homes. There I could spend some time with well-fed chickens and even bring fresh eggs back home!
The apples, potatoes, and eggs are delivered fresh to The Duchy, and the leftover bread from the restaurant is brought back to the farm to feed the chicken (nothing is wasted).
You can visit Gut Diepensiepen for a traditional German apple harvest festival all of September, and get yourself some organic honey and fresh eggs too.
I also visited the cattle farm Holtumer Landhof, which supplies meat to The Duchy. Family Greilich owns this farm and nurtures the slow-growing Herford cattle breed, which is very different from the modern fast-growing, genetically improved cattle. Anyone can visit their farm and even buy delicious steak, sausages, burger patties, soups, chili, and goulash. I can vouch personally that these dishes are really delicious and most importantly, I know where my meat is coming from!
Noa Foodbar
A neighborhood restaurant with a 100% seasonal menu, Noa Foodbar is a reflection of the owner and chef Murat Avcioglu’s passion for a wholesome good food concept. From self-made sourdough bread to watermelon ‘sashimi’ with dehydrated feta that has an irresistible crunch, this is a true hidden culinary gem in the trendy Unterbilk district. Herbs, edible flowers, fruit, and vegetables are brought from a farm 30 minutes drive away from the restaurant. Even unusual foraged ingredients make their way to the plate, so keep an eye on this place, all you food-forward people!
Noa Foodbar may well be an ordinary (but trendy) looking restaurant, but its food can give many a fine dining, award-winning restaurant a run for its money. Aesthetically pleasing culinary creations, super tasty food, and a perfect physical space to meet up with your friends, what’s not to love about this place?
Discover it for yourself…
Price: €€
Address: Martinstraße 11, 40223 Düsseldorf
Hours of Operation: Open Wednesday – Saturday, dinner only
Phoenix Restaurant
Located on the ground floor of the landmark Dreischeiben Haus at the Kö-Bogen, the Phoenix Restaurant could not have a better location. Enter the restaurant and you will be greeted by polite staff and an elegant ambiance. The Michelin-star restaurant is run by the husband-wife team of Philipp and Tanja Wolter (head chef and restaurant manager respectively) and serves the chef’s signature style of creative European food. Serving “good, honest food”, focused on the concept of sourcing regionally and eating seasonally is the philosophy of Phoenix Restaurant.
Michelin star Chef Philipp Wolter was totally open about where he sources his ingredients from, such as lamb from the Bergisches Land and vegetables from a city farm in Düsseldorf called Blattsache. You can check out a list of their regional suppliers on their homepage.
Phoenix has two menu options for dinner, the ‘flora’ and the ‘fauna’, and a quick lunch option menu. The latter is more pocket and time-friendly, especially if you want to eat some good food in a stylish atmosphere.
Price: €€€€
Address: Dreischeibenhaus, 40211 Düsseldorf
Hours of Operation: Open Tuesday – Friday for lunch; Tuesday – Saturday for dinner
Bistro Fatal
If you are looking for some really good French food, then the unpretentious but charming Bistro Fatal in Düsseldorf’s hip Flingern district should be your go-to place.
This trendy bistro has won the Michelin Bib Gourmand award every year since 2018! Personally, I thought Bistro Fatal is great because it’s a place that serves excellent food at good prices, there is attention paid to the details including warm serving plates, and it is a great choice for vegetarians.
The restaurant is also very intentional about reducing food waste. From ‘upcycling’ leftovers to ensuring the entire fish or meat is used for cooking, sustainable kitchen practices are super important! Alexandre and Sarah Bourgueil are the bistro owners, and being parents of young kids themselves, they are a very child-friendly restaurant. Families, please take note!
Price: €€ – €€€
Address: Hermannstraße 29, 40233 Düsseldorf
Hours of Operation: Open Thursday – Saturday for dinner; Sunday for brunch
Berens am Kai
This iconic Michelin-starred restaurant in the Media Harbour area was founded 30 years ago by Holger Berens and is at the forefront of culinary forward-thinking gastronomy in Düsseldorf. Currently spearheaded by talented young Polish Chef Michal Slawik, Berens am Kai serves high-quality, creative international food inspired by Slawik’s professional background in London and Copenhagen.
Big on cooking seasonal produce, this restaurant is an ardent advocate of sustaining established relationships with its food suppliers. Fish is only sourced from Fisch Pahlke, a fish vendor on Carlsplatz. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and salads are sourced from an organic farm called Farideh, five minutes away, keeping the carbon footprint of this restaurant rather low.
Although Berens am Kai serves food mainly influenced by Nordic, English, Italian and French cuisine, Chef Michal Slawik’s passion is clearly in the area of fermentation and getting creative with vegetables! So, when I saw and heard the Chef talk about his signature dish of seasonal vegetables served in fresh, dried, rehydrated, fermented, pickled, fried, and poached form, with vegetable jus, artichoke aioli, and farm salads and herbs – it sounded more like a breathtaking symphony than just a plate of vegetables!
Price: €€€€
Address: Kaistraße 16, 40221 Düsseldorf
Hours of Operation: Open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 3 pm to 12 am; Friday 1 pm – 12 am; Saturday 5 pm to 12 am
My Conclusion
Eating at various sustainable restaurants, my observation is that there is a clear trend in Düsseldorf toward creating more innovative vegetarian dishes among all the chefs I’ve had a chance to speak with, not just within the restaurant scene, but all over the city. Restaurants were once able to sell with complex and meat-heavy menus. This is changing as more people are questioning their food source. “Eat meat, but less and from a good source” seems to be the other tendency among chefs and conscious diners. Becoming mindful of food waste and acting upon it is also what our champion sustainable restaurants are doing.
With destroyed ecosystems and increased health problems, it is high time for us as diners to rethink what really makes a restaurant good and the price we are willing to pay for it.
The conscious food movement has already started in Düsseldorf. Will you be a part of it?
In the words of Michal Slawik, head chef of Berens am Kai, “When people see how much work goes into farming, maybe then they will waste less.”
