18 Best Restaurants in Alsace-Lorraine, France

At one of the temples of Alsatian-French haute cuisine, you get a real taste of old Alsace with a nouvelle spin. Founded in the early 1800s, its grand salon is still aglow with skylights, and a spectacular 19th-century painting showing the Strasbourgeoisie at a country fair continues to set the tasteful tone. Chef Romain Brillat heads the team and presents some of the most dazzling dishes around. Drawing inspiration from classic produce such as foie gras, truffles, lobster and seasonal game, Chef Brillat creates sublime dishes that are delightful on the palate and the eye. Not surprisingly, the wine list is extensive.

Marlene Dietrich and Spanish opera star Montserrat Caballé are just two of the famous guests who have feasted at this culinary temple, where the current chef, Marc Haeberlin, marries traditional Alsatian cuisine with contemporary nuances. The kitchen's touch is incredibly light, so you'll have room left for the masterful desserts.

This lovely farmhouse, reconstructed in the Orangerie park, warrants a pilgrimage if you're willing to pay for the finest cooking in Alsace. Chef Eric Westermann focuses on the freshest of local-terroir specialties, supplemented by the best seafood from Brittany. Look for dishes like free-range Alsace chicken with Vosges truffles braised in a traditional Baeckeoffe ceramic dish, or the chef’s signature sautéed frog legs served with schniederspaetle (onion- and potato-filled ravioli). The seasonal desserts are also noteworthy. Two small salons are cozy, but most tables are set in a modern annex made largely of glass and steel.

Not to be confused with the shabby little Koïfhus winstub on Rue des Marchands, this popular landmark (the name means "customhouse") serves huge portions of regional standards, plus changing specialties like coq au vin with spaetzle or choucroute "Colmarienne" with six different meats. Appreciative tourists and canny locals contribute to the lively atmosphere. If you can cut a swath through this enthusiastic horde, you can sit in the big, open dining room, glowing with wood and warm fabric, or at a shaded table on the broad, lovely square.

This modern restaurant on a touristy street offers up creative dishes with regional flourishes that are a hit with both locals and visitors. The small dining room is a discreet space decked out in black and white, with the owner's artwork adding dashes of color. Menu choices include seared skin-on fillet of Heimbach-sourced trout, and steak with Munster sauce. There are standout desserts. The basement dining room doubles as a venue for weekly concerts.

With its stone walls, wooden tables, and friendly waiters, "The Corkscrew" is the best place in town to sample Alsatian choucroute garnie. The menu also promises some seasonally changing innovations, plus a fine selection of Pinot Blanc and Riesling wines. This winstub is recommended for that guaranteed touch of authenticity.

Above all, you'll want to eat in this 1911 restaurant, part of the dependable Excelsior group, for its sensational Art Nouveau stained glass, mosaics, Daum lamps, and sinuous Majorelle furniture. That said, the food is also stylish, and the waiters exude Parisian chic.

Artists, tourists, lovers, and heads of state sit elbow-to-elbow in this classic winstub founded in 1873. All come to savor steaming platters of local specialties. Pike perch on choucroue and braised ham hocks are all heartily recommended. Opt for a table in the ground floor dining room where warm Alsatian fabrics dress tables, the china is regional, and the photos are historic—all making for chic, not kitsch.

This slick gastronomic restaurant in the historic center strikes a chord with in-the-know locals. Art-decked walls provide a fitting backdrop for the artful dishes prepared by chef-owner Loïc Lefebvre, who whips up dazzling creations while his partner, Caroline Cordier, ensures that the service is top-notch.

Named for the 13th-century stone tower that flanks it, La Vieille Tour gives classic dishes a contemporary spin. Chefs Nicolas and Samy Ruhlmann seek inspiration from locally sourced seasonal produce, and their love for it shows in the savory dishes and tantalizing desserts. Take a table in the traditional dining room (complete with oak-beamed ceiling and fireplace), or opt for one on the more contemporary first floor. The fixed-price menus are an excellent value.

This restaurant on the backstreet of a shady square is run by a French-British wife-husband team. The setting is unassuming, with a menu that draws on seasonal produce with regional flourishes. Locals come here for dishes such as homemade foie gras with apple and mango chutney; panfried king prawns, scallops, and cod served with homemade smoked trout; and  locally-sourced  grilled Vosges chicken. If you can, sit at an outside table on the pretty square.

Barely a stone's throw from Place Stanislas, this stylish landmark puts its best foot forward under chef Hervé Fourrière. The menu includes old favorites revisited and noteworthy desserts. The choice of Toul wines is extensive.

Just two blocks away from the cathedral, this intimate, family-run restaurant is tucked away down a side street. It serves Alsace tapas, an original way to discover Alsace dishes in small bites; the cold tapas menu can include homemade Preskopff served with pickles, maki of local trout, and a cheese platter, while the hot tapas menu showcases mini burgers of Fleischkiechle (meat fritters), Fleischschnäcke (slices of ground meat rolls), and mushrooms stuffed with snails. There is also a choice of flambéed tarts and full-sized desserts. The dining room fills up quickly and gets quite lively. 

Across from the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires, you can sink your teeth into authentic Lorraine dishes such as mouthwatering choucroute or pig's trotter with mustard sauce. Tables inside are tight, creating a bustling, canteenlike atmosphere, and the quality of the service seems to vary with the weather, but the hearty food is irreproachable.

This 16th-century, half-timber landmark (one of oldest riverside buildings in Petite France) is draped with geranium-filled flower pots and perennially popular. Come for generous and delicious portions of choucroute garnie, as well as other regional favorites.

What must be the most familiar house in Strasbourg—a richly carved, 15th-century, half-timber building adorned with sumptuous allegorical frescoes—is the setting for this restaurant. Fight through the crowds on the terrace and ground floor to one of the atmospheric rooms above, with their gleaming wooden furniture, stained-glass windows, and unrivaled cathedral views.

This eatery in La Petite Venise, with a superb trompe l'oeil façade, is a spinoff of Jean-Yves Schillinger's two-star Michelin restaurant in Colmar. The contemporary dining room has leather sofas and stylish furnishings that provide the perfect setting for the chef's traditional-meets-contemporary menu. In summer the waterside terrace is a bonus. 

This is a true-blue winstub, with yellowed murals, glowing lighting, and wines available by the glass. The cooking is pure Alsace, with German-scale portions of choucroute, ham hocks, and fruit tarts.