Bistro Zicke in Düsseldorf

Sometimes I read books that include a local cafe or restaurant as character.  It is usually the cheap, art student hang out... you know a few blocks from the "adult entertainment" and a few blocks from their lodgings.  These kinds of places still exist to one degree or another.  These days people are not allowed to smoke inside (for which I am grateful), and the prostitutes have moved to other parts of town.  The atmosphere though is very similar and intimate.  One of these cafes or in this case, bistro, is the Bistro Zicke.  It has been around for at least 40 years if not longer and still today serves students, artists and dancers who live in the center of town.

I have been there before and always bump into the strangest combination of people.  There are art professors, pediatricians, retired dancers, students and desperate housewives.  The walls are plastered with posters of long past art exhibitions; everything is yellowed by the thick smoke that used to be the norm inside.  There are also some sketches and drawings directly on the walls.  The atmosphere is relaxed and unhurried.  What is especially nice is that I can still get a fantastic breakfast or lunch.  The breakfast for two includes fresh fruit, yoghurt  all kinds of breads (which Germans do so well), croissant, boiled eggs, fresh confitures, cheeses, and cold cuts.  We also enjoyed fresh orange juice and tea (for me), coffee for my companion.  The portions are generous and everything is fresh.  All in all the prices are also quite good.

It used to be like this in many cafes, say some ten years ago but today the portions are smaller and everything is sponsored.  One of my old haunts switched to a certain brand of tea which it advertises on the table; another place used to have excellent cheeses now it has these small same tasting packaged cheeses with a well known name on them.  If this is what I want to eat on a rare free morning then I can buy the same stuff at my local and pay a third of the price.  Zicke though still manages to hold on to quality and ambiance.  I like to walk there and I like to relax there.

Bistro Zicke | Bäckerstr. 5a (Conrner of Citadellstrasse / Berger Allee) | 40213 Düsseldorf | +49 211 327800
www.bistro-zicke.de