Sweet treats made with pistachio cream, including this croissant sprinkled with powdered sugar, are one of NEO Cafe Deli's specialties. Pistachio pancakes, with fruit and pistachio cream, are one of the most popular breakfast items on the menu, according to the owners. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
The acute lack of breakfast and coffee spots in the heart of Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, went a long way toward being remedied with the 2024 opening of NEO Cafe Deli, and already a table for breakfast or brunch there is hard to come by.
On Wednesdays, the first weekday the restaurant is open, the phone starts ringing for reservations for the rest of the week, said Nelly Cherdron, who realized a longtime dream when she started the cafe with her sister, Olga Di Fede, in July.
The menu is small but simple, with a mix of breakfast choices, sandwiches, coffee and other hot drinks, aperitif cocktails, beer and nonalcoholic beverages.
The panini with prosciutto and cheese at NEO Cafe Deli in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. The restaurant menu includes a number of nods to Italy. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
A green tea matcha latte with a slice of German bee sting cake, or bienenstich in German. The baked treat is a white layer cake with a vanilla cream filling and a crunchy almond- and honey-topping. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
NEO also offers various daily specials and homemade cakes. I tried the Neo favorite, a hearty sandwich on a sesame bagel with avocado, cream cheese, feta cheese and tomatoes.
It came with a side salad made with homemade dressing and topped with pomegranate seeds. It tasted fresh and filled me up, so I didn’t mind paying 14.90 euros for a sandwich.
On another outing, the matcha latte with a generous slice of German bee sting cake — a layer cake made with vanilla cream and a crunchy honey-almond topping — made for a nice combination.
NEO Cafe Deli in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, serves four bagel sandwich variations, including one called the NEO favorite, shown here. It has cream cheese, avocado, tomato and feta cheese on a sesame seed bagel and is served with a side salad. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Luckily for procrastinators and late risers, NEO serves breakfast all day, along with its bagel sandwiches and paninis. Pancakes drizzled with pistachio cream and served with fresh fruit are among its most popular menu items, Cherdron said.
Pistachio is a menu theme at the cafe. Besides the pancakes, other staples include a pistachio cream-filled croissant and a latte known as pistachio bliss.
As for avocado, the other green fruit well-represented on the menu, it can be found in the aforementioned Neo favorite and the avocado lover. The generous slices of the fruit itself in that bagel sandwich mingle with avocado cream and smoked salmon.
Sisters Olga Di Fede, left, and Nelly Cherdron opened NEO Cafe Deli last summer in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. The cafe is especially popular for breakfast, with reservations for a table in the morning filling up quickly each week, according to the sisters. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
More than six months since the launch of the restaurant, Cherdron and Di Fede said they are thrilled that their business idea has been so well-received by both Germans and Americans.
The sisters had long thought about running a cafe, but it always seemed to be more of a pipe dream than something real, said Cherdron, who grew up in the local area.
That changed when the century-old house in the center of Ramstein village became vacant. The place used to be a post office and a vaping lounge. Other restaurants have come and gone from the location over the years.
A corner table at NEO Cafe Deli in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, offers a nice view of the center of town. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
When a friend recommended the sisters and their cafe idea to the owner of the building, Cherdron and Di Fede were initially hesitant because the house needed a lot of work to be functional as a business again.
But the owner agreed to help with renovations, bringing the dream into fruition. There is a play area for small children at the cafe. Upstairs, a one-family apartment the sisters own serves as a vacation rental or temporary lodging accommodation.
“We love it,” Cherdron said of the cafe while sitting at a table surrounded by big windows with a view of Ramstein village’s main street. “We see a lot of people use it.”
svan.jennifer@stripes.com @stripesktown
NEO Cafe Deli is a new addition to Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany. It opened in the town's center in July after extensive renovations to an old house that used to be a post office, a vaping lounge and a fabric shop, among other businesses. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
NEO Cafe Deli
Address: Landstuhler Strasse 4, Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany
Hours: Wednesday to Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Prices: Breakfast ranges from 9.80 euros for a classic German breakfast with bread, sausage cold cuts, an egg, butter and jelly; to 14.20 euros for a larger meal that includes the classic items plus bacon, cheese, scrambled eggs and Black Forest ham. Paninis range from 5.90 to 6.20 euros. Pistachio pancakes are 11.50 euros. Bagel sandwiches range from 14.90 to 16.20 euros. Coffee and hot drinks start at 3 euros and go up to 5.50 euros. Aperitif cocktails start at 4.70 euros for prossecco miol; a mimosa is 5.20 euros; the Aperol spritz, Lillet wild berry and lavender spritz are 7 euros apiece.
Information: Phone: +49 6371-5975324; Instagram, neo_ramstein
