What to eat in Luxembourg, from bean soup to fried Moselle fish

Luxembourg has a name for banking and Michelin stars, and its everyday cooking tends to get lost behind both. That’s a shame, because it’s food you can get to grips with in a couple of meals. It’s hearty country cooking, with potatoes in almost everything and smoked pork in the starring role, served alongside some remarkably elegant Moselle whites. Here’s what to order and where it makes sense to order it.

What do people actually eat in Luxembourg?

The government’s portal sums it up neatly. This is simple cooking with a strong link to local produce, built on potatoes, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish from the country’s fields, forests and rivers, which fed a mostly rural population for centuries. That’s where the rich, filling dishes come from, and why the potato turns up as a side, a main course or a snack, sautéed, fried or mashed.

What has changed is the attitude. The same portal notes that new takes on old recipes are catching on at home and in serious restaurants alike, and that local wine and beer are enjoying a revival, with microbreweries and winemakers producing sparkling wines of real class. If you arrive expecting a country that only eats expensive French food, you’re in for a surprise.

The dishes you’ll see on most menus

The benchmark is Judd mat Gaardebounen, smoked pork collar with broad beans, nearly always with potatoes. For cold days there’s Bouneschlupp, a green bean soup with smoked bacon, and Kniddelen, boiled flour dumplings with Gréiwen, which are small cubes of bacon. The official list is rounded off by Träipen, black pudding with apple sauce or mash, and Stäerzelen, a buckwheat flour dish with bacon.

From the river comes friture, little fried Moselle fish you eat with your fingers, a cousin of whitebait. From the street come Gromperekichelcher, grated potato fritters fried at every local festival and eaten with salt and apple sauce. And for the aperitif there’s Rieslingspaschtéit, a veal pie set with Riesling jelly that the national portal crowns the queen of pies.

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An Italian accent in a very mixed kitchen

This is where people go wrong if they picture Luxembourg as a small corner of Germany. The portal points out that foreign rule from the 15th to the 19th century, then waves of immigration from the 19th century onwards, all left their mark on Luxembourg’s cooking pots. The clearest example is Pastaschutta, the pasta asciutta brought by Italians who came to work in the steelworks, which Luxembourgers made their own with mince, tomato, garlic and onion. With 46.6% of residents holding a foreign passport, according to STATEC, a closed kitchen would be the odd thing. Expect menus written in French first, too, since that is the working language of restaurants.

Cakes, bakeries and patisseries

The sweet side deserves an afternoon of its own. The tourist board singles out Bamkuch, a tree cake turned slowly over a flame while layer after layer of batter is added, and at the Namur patisserie, open since 1863, a single spit produces twelve cakes. Autumn belongs to Quetschentaart, the plum tart, and carnival to Verwurrelter and Nonnefäscht, dusted with icing sugar. For spreading, there’s Kachkéis, a cooked cheese not unlike French cancoillotte.

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What to drink with it

Moselle white wine, above all. Riesling, Auxerrois, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Rivaner share the vineyards, and crémant has had its own name since 1991. I go into it properly in Luxembourg wine. The beer is local too, with Bofferding and Battin brewed in Bascharage and Diekirch still brewed in the town that gives it its name. The tourist board adds ciders, perries and local spirits.

Where to try it without getting it wrong

For me there are three settings for Luxembourgish food. Traditional bistros, for Judd or Bouneschlupp. Bakeries and delicatessens, which sell Rieslingspaschtéit to take away. And festivals, where Gromperekichelcher are fried in front of you. Areas and types of restaurant are in where to eat in Luxembourg. On a tight budget, the bakeries and the fairs are your friends, because that’s where hot, local food costs least.

One practical point that saves awkward moments at the end of a meal. By law, bars and restaurants display prices with service included, inside and outside, so what you read on the menu by the door is what you pay.

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