The Best Vegetarian in Germany

You ring a bell at an unmarked door in a hotel courtyard, climb a creaky staircase, and arrive at a Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant that used to be a nightclub, which somehow feels very Berlin. The industrial room runs five to seven courses, strictly plant-based, with vegan options and wine or alcohol-free pairings. The staff are unhurried without being slow, and the crowd ranges from committed herbivores to the merely curious.

A two-Michelin-starred restaurant on the Landwehrkanal in Kreuzberg, with a terrace tucked from the street and a room where period wood panelling meets a Jim Avignon mural. Sebastian Frank's set menu is vegetable-forward in a way that sounds like a manifesto, with dishes named "mushroom liver" and "fuck caviar." The wine list leans Austria and Eastern Europe, which at this level feels almost punk.

A Michelin-starred vegan tasting menu restaurant in Schöneberg, where the six or seven courses change with what local producers are bringing in that season. No meat or fish, and the kitchen doesn't seem to miss either. The cocktail pairings are as considered as the food, the young team talks through every course without making it feel like a lecture, and there's a cookery school next door for when dinner isn't quite enough.

Buckwheat gnocchi with beetroot and sesame cream is the kind of dish that makes you forget you're eating vegan food, which is probably the point. Lucky Leek is a relaxed Prenzlauer Berg restaurant running three- to seven-course tasting menus built entirely from plants, with à la carte available if commitment isn't your thing. The Michelin Guide awards it a Bib Gourmand. In summer, the front terrace fills with a mix of locals and tourists who all seem very pleased with themselves.

Meat appears here as a side dish, which tells you something about the kitchen's priorities at this organic country restaurant in the Swabian Alb. The Tress family runs the whole operation on Demeter-certified principles, nose-to-tail when animal protein shows up at all. Portions lean small, so the table tends to share its way through several plates. A chestnut tree shades the terrace. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand.

Three thousand jars of preserved and fermented produce line the shelves, pulling double duty as pantry and décor. This vegetarian restaurant in Harvestehude runs on regional, Demeter-certified ingredients and a genuine commitment to the ecological bit, not just the branding. Floor-to-ceiling windows face the street, there's a terrace in summer, and the sharing format means the table orders widely. The crowd skews young and effortlessly underdressed for how good the food is.

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Black Forest and the Schauinsland peak, and the terrace outside does the windows one better. This restaurant inside a wellness resort in the hills above Freiburg runs a four-course vegetarian set menu, with the option to add fish or meat, or to go fully vegan. The open kitchen leans hard into regional sourcing, and the wine list gives German labels the attention they deserve.