Eating and Drinking in Strasbourg: Winstubs, Tarte Flambee & Alsace Wine

Strasbourg's food scene is half French, half German, and completely its own thing. You'll eat in winstubs (Alsatian wine taverns), drink local Riesling from pottery stemware, and discover that tarte flambee is not pizza, no matter what it looks like. The tourist restaurants around the Cathedral are fine but overpriced. Walk one block further and you'll find the real thing at half the tourist markup.

Winstubs are Alsatian wine taverns, the closest thing Strasbourg has to a pub-restaurant hybrid. Picture low wood-beamed ceilings, red-checked tablecloths, wooden booths worn smooth by decades of elbows, and chalkboard menus scrawled in French and Alsatian dialect. The wine comes in traditional Alsatian pottery stemware (thick, green-tinted glass) and the food is hearty, Germanic, and designed to soak up alcohol. A proper winstub smells like sauerkraut, wood smoke, and Riesling. The noise level hovers between animated conversation and outright shouting, especially after 8pm when the locals settle in for the evening.

Choucroute garnie (EUR 18-24) is sauerkraut with several cuts of pork: knackwurst, kassler, sometimes pork belly and blood sausage. It arrives on a platter large enough to feed two people and tastes better than it looks. Baeckeoffe (EUR 20-26) is a casserole of lamb, pork, and beef slow-cooked with potatoes and onions in Riesling wine. Order it when you sit down as it takes 45 minutes to heat through. The meat falls apart when you touch it with a fork and the whole dish tastes like concentrated Alsace. Pair both with Riesling, which cuts through the richness.

Tarte flambee (also called flammekueche) is thin Alsatian flatbread topped with creme fraiche, sliced onions, and lardons (smoked bacon bits), then baked in a wood-fired oven until the edges are charred black. It originated as a test for bakers to check oven temperature. The base should be thin enough to see through, crisp enough to crack when you cut it, and the edges should be genuinely burnt. It is not pizza. Do not expect pizza. The classic version is blanc (white, with the creme fraiche base). There's also a Munster cheese version that smells like feet but tastes incredible if you like strong cheese.

Every winstub and brasserie serves tarte flambee (EUR 10-14 for a full tarte that serves one generously). The ones near the Cathedral are serviceable but rushed. The better versions are in Petite France, where they still use wood-fired ovens and take time to get the char right. Au Pont du Corbeau makes excellent ones, and Maison des Tanneurs (42 Rue du Bain-aux-Plantes) serves them on a riverside terrace where you can watch the canal boats pass. Order Sylvaner or Cremant d'Alsace with tarte flambee. The bubbles and acidity cut through the cream and bacon fat.

Alsace makes white wines almost exclusively, and they're labeled by grape variety, not region. Riesling is dry, high-acid, and mineral, the benchmark Alsace wine that goes with choucroute and fish. Pinot Gris is fuller-bodied with a slight smoky note, perfect with baeckeoffe and pork dishes. Gewurztraminer is aromatic and spicy, almost perfumed, and works with foie gras and Munster cheese. Sylvaner is lighter and more neutral, good with tarte flambee and shellfish. Cremant d'Alsace is the local sparkling wine made by methode traditionnelle. It's excellent value at EUR 8-12 per bottle in shops and tastes like proper Champagne at half the price.

Wine by the glass costs EUR 5-9 in winstubs, served in those thick green Alsatian glasses that hold about 150ml. Order Riesling with choucroute (the acidity cuts the pork fat), Pinot Gris with baeckeoffe (it matches the richness), and Sylvaner with tarte flambee (it won't compete with the cream and bacon). If you're sharing a bottle, ask for local producers like Trimbach, Hugel, or Dopff au Moulin. The house wine is usually decent and costs about EUR 25 per bottle.

Winstubs open around 6pm and fill up quickly. Locals eat dinner late (8-9pm) and stay for hours, so book ahead if you want a proper table. Tarte flambee works as a light lunch or late-night snack. Many winstubs serve it until midnight, making it perfect after a long day of walking around the old town. Wine shops close at 7pm, so buy your Cremant d'Alsace before dinner if you want to take bottles home.