Café Abseits

July 7, 2008
Very nice old school pub with leafy courtyard. Cheap, solid food with some hard to find beers. A must in Bamberg in my opinion.

February 15, 2008
Not much by way of ambience, just an ordinary small pub, but a neat collection of German beers. The staff were quite young (like teens or early 20s) when I was there, which seemed kind of odd, but nothing wrong with it. Several taps and quite a lot of bottles, none of it big-brewery crap. Worth the long walk from old town. There’s a decent Thai restaurant right across the street too.

January 31, 2008
Good to see I’m not the only person that thought the food was pretty average, but other than that you can’t really fault this place. Fantastic range of beers both on tap and in bottle that you can’t get elsewhere including gems like Griess Kellerbier. Nice little courtyard out the back, and a very studenty vibe. Not far from the station and Weyermann, but a fair way from the altstadt - still walkable though.

December 10, 2007
Nice non-touristy cafe/bar close to the Hauptbahnhof, looking like a typical german students pub. Excellent selection, especially around christmas - many superb Bocks available !

November 17, 2007
A good cafe/bar on the other side of the railway from the city centre. Visited in November, when there were several bock beers on tap and more on bottle. The beer list is long for Bamberg and includes winners like Kellerbiers from Griess and Hummel and Fischer Rauchbier. The food was pretty good too and the waitress coped patiently with my bad German. Very enjoyable.

September 26, 2007
It’s a pretty long walk from the tourist section of town. It was a bit chilly, so we decided to have a drink inside. It took a while to find the entrance but we finally got there. The bar section was way too smokey so we sat in the restaurant section near the front window. Decor is like your local student hangout/pizzeria (lots of bikes in front of the door also suggests this), with posters of upcoming shows and art expositions, specials on blackboards and a few brewery signs. The selection was pretty solid, over 30 bottles plus a few taps, quite impressive when every other place in town only seems to serve one or two Beers. Andescher, Kulmbacher and a bunch of whom I’ve never even heard of. My girlfriend was happy to see Federweisser and Prosecco on the menu, almost happy enough to forgive me for the long walk in this very humdrum neighborhood. I went for a tap brew who’s name escapes me at the moment, which was a bit dissapointing, it tasted quite oxidized. Maybe that’s why it was the "special of the month". Don’t go here for atmosphere or food - unless you’re tired enough of eating pork to go for their pasta plates - but if you want a broader taste of German Beers this isn’t a bad place.

December 29, 2006
Excellent café not far from the railway station. Food is mediocre but edible. Had a Huppendorfer Kathrein Bock from tap and was allowed to take out some other bottles. Recommended after a good meal elsewhere.

September 25, 2006
Relatively empty when we went and sat in the corner of their Biergarten. Plenty of shade and a nice environment but not even the best we seen i town. Menu is pretty good, includes rare and new locals, rotating specials and all the big German brews.

August 9, 2006
Tad expensive on some items, not so on others. Relatively empty when I went and sat in the corner of their Garten. Plenty of shade and a nice environment but not even the best I’d seen that hour. Menu is pretty darned good, includes rare and new locals, rotating specials and all the big German brews.

May 25, 2006
It just doesn’t get any better than this selection-wise in Franconia. First off, they have a few taps from regional breweries, such as Mönchsambacher Lager, and Huppendorfer Völlbier, as well as seasonals once in a while. The bottle list though is what’s the most impressive, over 50 regional beers, from the hoppy kellerbiers Rossdorfer Urbräu and Griess Kellerbier (for example), to the malt mammoths, such as Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock and Kulmbacher Eisbock. Food is very good, and moreover not your typical German fare, so it’s a nice change of pace. A 10-minute walk behind the train station, this can be quite far if you’re in the altstadt, but you have to make the effort. You won’t regret it!