Lommerzheim: Kölsch Beyond Cologne’s Altstadt
Kölsch Across the Rhine
Spend any time in Cologne or among beer-drinking types who visit often and it won’t be long before you hear about Lommerzheim. Affectionately known as “Lommi,” this Kölsch pub on the other side of the Rhine is a cult classic.
Bundled up against the bluster of autumn I walked across the Deutzer Bridge on the southern edge of the Altstadt, the Cologne skyline beautiful even on this grey-blue morning. Deutz’s main shopping thoroughfare was quiet on this Sunday morning, save for a few cafes. I stopped off for a double espresso to calm the jangles from the previous evening’s Kölsch session.
Where’s Lommi?
A friend had told me where Lommi was (“walk a few blocks up Düppelstrasse from Deutzer Freiheit and turn right”), but I was beginning to doubt the validity of these directions. Aside from the shopping thoroughfare and the Köln Messe trade fair center to the north, Deutz is a solidly residential area lined with apartment buildings.
After a few blocks, turn right I did—and almost walked right past the unassuming exterior with its striated stone and wooden trim framing dozens of small square windows. You see, here’s where things get confusing. This is a well-known Kölsch pub, but the signs on the façade are from DAB (Dortmunder Aktien Brauerei) several cities north. But dimly visible on one of the signs were the faded letters that spelled Gaststätte Lommerzheim. I was in the right place.
Full House
I swung open the door to a full house—at 11:15 on a Sunday morning. It’s like the church of dedicated Kölsch drinkers in here, I thought to myself. I weaved my way through the closely-packed tables, pulling up the absolute last seat around with a pleasant couple in their seventies, originally from Cologne but now living in Bonn. Such is the pull of Lommerzheim that they’re here every two weeks after watching Cologne’s football team, and once a month on Sundays.
Lommi’s non-descript exterior may not win any design awards, but its cozy square interior is a classic “brown bar” not unlike those Belgian classics a few hundred kilometers to the west. The entire interior is lined with brown wood decorated with knick-knacks like antlers, engravings, old photos of guests from decades ago, and a stately statue of Gambrinus extolling the virtues of the Päffgen Kölsch served directly from barrels propped up at the bar beside him.
As I’m looking around the place, one of my tablemates points out a painting of an innkeeper filling his wreath of Kölsch from a barrel. “That’s Hans Lommerheim,” he tells me. Hans ran the pub with his wife Annemie for over forty years until his death in 2005. So beloved were the Lommerzheims that folk songs have been written to sing the praises of their pub.
And the Perfect Pub Snack
I’m told that the Kotelett (a grilled pork chop) is an absolute must here. Since I haven’t worked up that kind of hunger yet, I opt for a block of Romadur, a washed-rind cheese with a rye roll and the requisite rings of raw onion that garnish just about every pub snack in the Rhineland.
Four Kölsches into the early afternoon, I head across the Hohenzollernbrücke, pausing to watch the local trains and ICE trains come and go across the Rhine before continuing on to my next Kölsch adventure beyond the old town.
Related Posts
Cologne and Its Kölsch: A Rough-and-Ready Guide
Päffgen, Cologne’s Neighbourhood Pub
German Beer Vignettes: A Kölsch at Früh in Cologne
Photos by Franz D. Hofer
© 2024 Franz D. Hofer and A Tempest in a Tankard. All rights reserved.
I think that washed-rind cheese has me more intrigued than the kolsch!!
It was tasty! Perfect amount of food, and perfect Kölsch accompaniment.