Restaurant Review: Red, vegetarian buffet in Heidelberg

Restaurant reviewed:
Red, die grüne Küche
Poststrasse 42, Heidelberg
http://www.red-diegruenekueche.com/
 
In February, I visited a friend in Heidelberg. At that point, I had been living in a hotel for six weeks and had been eating bacon and eggs every day. While that kind of breakfast is nice once in a while as a treat, it is not really a meal to eat all the time. I was really jonesing for something that was not made of animals by that time. I felt like a sailor, who, fearing of scurvy, craves fruits and vegetables.

Imagine my utter delight when friends and I had lunch at Red, a vegetarian buffet in Heidelberg. And what a buffet it was; everything was vegetarian, super fresh, and super delicious. Red's offerings include organic, fresh, and seasonal foods. There were warm dishes, a salad bar, and desserts. There were German dishes but also many foreign and fusion dishes. I had a hard time deciding what to get but did restrain myself by not taking a tiny sample of everything, since there were so many options. I did sample some hummus, a beet salad, some eggplant dish that was cooked, and other items. Unfortunately, I wrote this review too long after I ate there to recall each item I ate, but I promise, everything was quite delicious.

There is also the option of ordering from a menu, which changes daily to reflect fresh and seasonal offerings.

The main attraction at Red is the vegetarian buffet. Diners grab a plate, make their rounds, and then take the plate of their choices to the cash register where it is weighed and rung up. Drinks are available for purchase there, too. Dining in or take away options are both available.

The restaurant itself is quite cute, too. I'm a bit of a sucker for gnomes and their images were all over the place -- in a cute way! The buffet is set on what almost looks like a repurposed dresser.


We all very much enjoyed our meals. My meal "weighed in" at 11 euros for a large plate, piled with many different types of food. I felt the threat of scurvy lessening as I left, my stomach happy and full.