meet & eat market

Street food + after-work market

The workday is finally over! It’s time to go shopping at the weekly open-air market — which offers small delicacies at its street food stands and pleasant get-togethers after work. Cologne’s Meet & Eat concept market combines a variety of urban ideas — and livens up the urban scene. It’s surprising, meaningful and vital.

When and where? Every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the Rudolfplatz behind the Hahnentorburg. This is a playground for the many foodies and people hungry for new experiences who enjoy this three-way market happening, which consists of a shopping experience, street & gourmet food and a weekly open-air market. Come join us!

Unusually diverse, with excellent organic ratings

Vietnamese spring rolls, Brussels waffles, Argentinian empanadas, vegan surprises and organic steaks — there are probably few other places where so many different dishes and national cuisines are gathered together in one small space. At this street food market in Cologne, you can find specialities from Italy, Peru, Brazil, Turkey, France and Austria as well as products from Spain, Asia, Tunisia and the Cologne region.

Roofed-over benches and tables enable visitors to eat and drink in comfort in every kind of weather. Incidentally, in line with the basic concept, alcoholic drinks are served only in combination with food, snacks and prepared dishes. That’s because here the idea of lively interactions in a marketplace has precedence over insobriety. So if you want a second Kölsch after your meal, you’ll have to ask someone to bring it along for you. As a rule, alcoholic drinks can be ordered only together with food. Unconventional? Yes. Like the entire Meet & Eat market.

Cologne’s after-work market for working people

The idea behind Meet & Eat was to create a positive response to modern social developments. Working people usually do their shopping in the afternoon or evening. No regular open-air market is open this late. Eating out will soon make up the same share of household spending as buying food to prepare at home. And an open and informal meeting point for pleasant interactions at the heart of the city is a permanent requirement for many Cologne residents anyhow. Voilà: Meet & Eat combines business with pleasure. That’s very urban, don’t you think?