A blue cheese burger, served with fries and coleslaw at Bull and Bear restaurant and bar in Frankfurt. Gorgonzola cheese gives the burger a tangy zip. In the background is the Asian glass noodle salad. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Bull and Bear restaurant in Frankfurt gets its name from the statues in front of it representing the stock market’s booms and busts, befitting its location by the German financial capital’s stock exchange.
A sports bar and restaurant in a corner building, Bull and Bear caters to a varied clientele throughout the day.
It opens in the mornings with coffee and bagels. At lunch, much of the crowd is in business suits and ties, and by evening it is a loud and rowdy place where people meet for drinks or cheer on their favorite sports team.
People enjoy a night out at Bull and Bear in Frankfurt on Nov. 23, 2024. The restaurant and sports bar offers a large variety of food and drink and widescreen TVs for watching sports. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Patrons play a game of pool Nov. 23, 2024, in the basement bar of Bull and Bear in Frankfurt. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
It’s also a nice beverage hangout after a day of downtown Frankfurt shopping. That’s how my wife and I came to know of it. But until recently we had never tried the food there.
It was a Saturday evening and Frankfurt’s pro soccer team, Eintracht, was playing. Many of the seats were taken by fans staring anxiously at the widescreen TVs on the walls.
We felt fortunate to get a table, though Bull and Bear’s two-level spread on the ground floor and basement is spacious. The menu is as varied as the restaurant’s customers.
A view from the stairs into the basement seating area of the Bull and Bear in Frankfurt on Nov. 23, 2024, a Saturday. The restaurant is open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
It has the aforementioned bagels and paninis, as well as burgers, salads and pasta. In addition, we saw listings for soups, Asian-influenced dishes, Alsatian-style flammkuchen and pinsa, the small, pizzalike fare that is a hot item at the moment.
And because it is Frankfurt, Bull and Bear also offers Hessian and German favorites like handkäse, a low-fat cheese, plus Frankfurter sausages and schnitzel.
I am not a fan of such big menus, but if you are there with family or friends, everybody should be able to find something they like.
A tequila sunrise, right, and an alcohol-free San Francisco at Bull and Bear in Frankfurt. The San Francisco was made with passion fruit, pineapple, orange and lemon juices and grenadine. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
One thing they don’t really offer is starters, except maybe nachos. So we ordered cocktails to sip while we waited for our meal.
The menu says they serve the best burgers in town, so I gave it a try and ordered the blue cheese burger, while my wife chose the Asian glass noodle salad.
My burger arrived on the dark side of medium, more done than I normally prefer, but it was still juicy. The gorgonzola cheese was tangy and added an extra layer of flavor.
The menu called for a sesame-seed bun, which I like, but the seeds were AWOL. The bun was dense enough, though, that it wasn’t too soggy by the time I finished. I don’t know if it was the best burger in town, but it was good.
The fries served with it were crisp outside, soft inside. The side of coleslaw was creamy and tasty, although the serving size was minute, like in a heaping tablespoon.
Bull and Bear’s Asian glass noodle salad. It has bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, peanuts and roasted onions on a bed of glass noodles and a house-made Thai sauce. It can be ordered plain or with a choice of chicken, shrimp or duck. This is the duck version. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
My wife’s dish contained bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, peanuts and roasted onions on a bed of glass noodles and what they called a housemade Thai sauce. It comes plain or with a choice of chicken, shrimp or duck.
She thought the salad was good but tasted rather European, except the noodles. The duck was crispy yet juicy, like you often find at Thai restaurants in Germany.
After finishing our entrees, we both still had room for dessert. I ordered the Vienna apple strudel; my dining companion chose the house-made tiramisu.
The Vienna apple strudel at Bull and Bear in Frankfurt. It is served with whipped cream and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The housemade tiramisu at Bull and Bear in Frankfurt is a dessert highlight on the menu, which has a lot of items to choose from. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The strudel came with whipped cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream that was bigger than the thimble of coleslaw, but not by much. Although quite good, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
The tiramisu, on the other hand, was a dream come true for the taste buds. Light and creamy, not overly sweet or soggy, just an explosion of tastes as it melted in our mouths.
We agreed it was the best we’ve had in a long time, and we are quite the tiramisu testers. It alone was almost worth the trip to Frankfurt.
By now, Eintracht had won the game 1-0, and the fans started heading home, satisfied. After a quick espresso, so did we.
Bull and Bear, a restaurant and sports bar next door to Frankfurt’s stock exchange, gets its name from the animal statues on the square. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Bull and Bear
Address: Schillerstrasse 11, Frankfurt
Hours: 8 a.m.-1 a.m., Monday to Thursday; 8 a.m.-2 a.m., Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m.-1 a.m. on Sunday
Prices: Food ranges from 9.90 euros for a tomato soup to 22.40 euros for a Wiener schnitzel. The desserts ranged from 6.90 euros for cheesecake to 12.90 euros for kaiserschmarrn. Cocktails start at 9.90 euros, alcohol-free at 8.90 euros. A pils costs 4.10 euros and wine starts at 6.90 euros for a rose. Soft drinks start at 4.20 euros.
Information: Phone: 069 13388733; Online: bullandbear.de
