Cuisine

Coffee and Leipzig are inseparable. It was in the Saxon metropolis were the first palm court musicians of Germany entertained their guests: Georg Philipp Telemann made music in the coffee shops at the Market Square together with the collegium musicum, founded in 1701. For more than two decades Johann Sebastian Bach visited the “Zimmermannsche Kaffeehaus” in Katharinenstrasse twice a week. His Coffee Cantata is seen as the highlight of Saxon palm court music of the 18th century. The lyrics had been written by the Leipzig poet Christian Friedrich Henrici (pen name Picander) in 1732. Even the canon “C-a-f-f-e-e” was invented in the “coffee country of Saxony”. The composer was a concerned music teacher from Zittau, who wrote the song to warn his pupils from the harmful effects of the “brown Turkish drink”.

Love Leipzig, love its food: for centuries the people of Leipzig and visitors to this cosmopolitan metropolis have been able to enjoy a host of tasty specialties, from a "Scheelchen Heeßen" (a cup of filter coffee) to a plate of "Leipziger Allerlei" (Leipzig Allsorts, a dish of mixed vegetables), or a piece of "Leipziger Lerche" (Leipzig Lark, a cake made with shortcrust pastry) and a glass of "Leipziger Gose", the local beer. But what's truly typical for Leipzig? Where do the locals go to eat?