Em Golde Kappes, Traditional restaurant pub inn in Nippes, Cologne, Germany
Em Golde Kappes is a traditional restaurant and pub in the Nippes neighborhood of Cologne, with a ground-floor dining room, two halls on the upper floor, and an outdoor beer garden. The menu lists German dishes alongside Mühlen-Kölsch beer on tap, and the text is written in the local Kölsch dialect with standard German translations provided.
Matthias Becker opened this top-fermented beer house in 1913, and the building was listed as a protected monument in 1989 for its architectural value. It closed in 2009 and later reopened under new ownership, which kept the original style intact.
Four stone masks on the northern facade each show a different facial expression and can be seen clearly from the street. Above the entrance hangs a golden cabbage head, which gave the place its name.
The beer garden is a good option on warm days, while the upper-floor halls work well for larger groups or when the weather is not cooperating. The menu is in the local dialect, but standard German translations are available on request if needed.
The golden cabbage hanging above the entrance is not just a decoration: in the local Kölsch dialect, the word Kappes means both cabbage and nonsense, giving the name a double meaning. This wordplay has been part of the place since it opened in 1913 and is still something many visitors only notice when they read the sign more carefully.
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