FRIEDA - simply delicious

On the terrace, white, square parasols provide plenty of shade for the tables. Two gentlemen peel off their business jackets and roll up the sleeves of their shirts. They treat themselves to lunch in the greenery. At the next table, three elderly ladies are chatting over coffee and cake. This place is perfect for a lunch break on a summer's day. If you let your gaze wander, you see nothing but green. In the middle of the city. The town hall, the Citytower and Berliner Straße are just a few hundred meters away.

The menu is small, the kitchen offers simple home cooking: from Viennese sausages and chips to salad variations and meatloaf. From the weekly menu, we order marinated "toast topped with sheep's cheese" and "sausage salad with bread", accompanied by two apple juice spritzers. The young, friendly waitress is quick, our food arrives quickly, it is lovingly prepared and tastes really good. The guests at the next table don't have to wait long either. There's even enough time for an espresso after lunch and a short digestive walk in Büsingpark. Refreshed and invigorated, we are happy to start the second half of the working day.

In summer we sit outside, in autumn we look out from inside at the colorful leaves falling from the old trees. In the small alcove to the left behind the entrance is a bust of the controversial woman who gave the building its name: Frieda Rudolph, a city councillor in the 1950s and known as the "angel of the poor". She and other supporters ensured that a retirement home was built here. But in the 1980s, fewer and fewer elderly people came. The house stood empty for many years until it was transformed into a café in an idyllic location in 2009. The Stadt-Café belongs to the non-profit Hainbachtal workshops, a branch of the Workers' Welfare Association. When it was founded, six jobs were created for people with disabilities, who work six days a week with the specialist staff to look after the kitchen and the guests. The result is the best place in town for a chat with friends and the perfect lunch break for many regulars.