Luxembourg Food Guide – What To Eat In Luxembourg

I have to admit that I had no idea what to eat in Luxembourg before we planned our trip. I expected a lot of influence from both France and Germany, but was excited to learn about the traditional foods of Luxembourg. This meant some hearty meals as well as some amazing wine and beer. 

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What To Eat In Luxembourg

When it comes to how to visit Luxembourg city for food, a lot of the top restaurants in the city focus on international cuisine. There are some top-notch French restaurants, along with Italian and Asian.

But, I wanted to eat Luxembourg specialties, ones that I can’t get in every big city. In this Luxembourg Food Guide, I share some of the top must-eat dishes in Luxembourg.

Although some of these are certainly influenced by France or Germany, they each seem to have a little bit of Lux in them as well. It’s common to find dishes like spaetzle, goulash, and schnitzel, but I tried to include below some more of the food from Luxembourg rather than Germany. In many cases, it’s hard to separate the two. The same goes for French cuisine.

Cost Of Eating In Luxembourg

One thing to note about eating in Luxembourg. Dining out in the city, and the surrounding towns and villages, is not cheap. Most main courses cost somewhere around €20 a plate.

The portions are huge! So there is some value there, but dining out in Luxembourg is not like tapas hopping in Seville, where you are able to taste a little bit of everything. You are sort of committing to a larger portion. Try sharing with your travel companions to try more dishes.

What you will learn in this Luxembourg Food Blog:

1. What are the Luxembourg famous foods you must try. Get your appetite ready, there’s some hearty food on our list.
2. How to find the best food in Luxembourg. Including tips on how to eat local rather than international.
3. What to drink in Luxembourg. Beer, wine, and cider – there are a lot of options.

Traditional Foods of Luxembourg – 12 Must Eat Luxembourg Foods

Luxembourg cuisine is hearty. Part of this might be due to the German influence, but it also probably has to do with the weather. Luxembourg can get pretty cold and it rains a lot.

Much of the food in Luxembourg is stick to your bones cuisine. The type of food that makes you want to crawl up afterwards in front of a warm fire with a little schnapps. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Many Luxembourg restaurant menus are in multiple language. Despite being an international city a few menus did not have English translations. Expect to see menus in Luxembourgish, French, and German, the three official languages of Luxembourg.

I tried to include the translations or words for each of these dishes in Luxembourgish. If you are from Luxembourg and I got a spelling wrong, please let me know. I tried my best! 

Check Out Our Luxembourg Travel Guide 

Beef Carpaccio And Beef Tartare

Known in Luxembourgish as Tartare Vum Rand or Carpaccio Vum Rand, these are two versions of raw beef that are common to find on Luxembourg restaurant menus.

Each dish is probably a nod to French cuisine. But, if you love carpaccio or tartare, take advantage of it being readily available to eat in Luxembourg. As a note, don’t be surprised to see horse on many menus as well. Look for cheval in French

Bouneschlupp

Bouneschlupp is a hearty soup with beans, potatoes, and either bacon or sausage. It’s sometimes topped with sour cream or slices of cured pork sausage.

This is winter fare, although some restaurants make a lighter version for warmer months, with more leek and celery than potato. Also, look for Gromperenzopp, which is a potato soup.

Gromperekichelcher

This dish seems to be of German heritage. Growing up in a Jewish household, I loved potato pancakes topped with sour cream or applesauce. The gromperekichelcher is a similar dish of fried, crispy potato fritters. And, they are often served with apple compote. Just like childhood.

Paschtéit

The paschtéit is a typical food in Luxembourg but is definitely of French origin. It’s similar to the French Vol-Au-Vent. Most Vol-Au-Vent are small, hollow puff pastries. In Luxembourg, the puff pastry is kind of on steroids. It’s much bigger and filled with creamy chicken and mushroom, sometimes with bits of pork as well.

Rieslingspaschteit

It’s common to find Rieslingspaschteit at prepared food shops, like Kaempff-Kohle in the city center. Rieslingspaschteit translates to Riesling pork pies. It’s sort of a pork pate cooked inside a pastry dough, often with a Riesling-based aspic.

Aspic is sort of like a jelly made with meat stock. I love sausage and meat pies when traveling in the UK, but I am not a fan of aspic. The ones we saw at Kaempff-Kohle, though, didn’t seem too heavy on the aspic.

White Asparagus

This is a seasonal thing. White Asparagus, which is popular in Luxembourg and in Germany is found in the late winter and early spring. The stalks are huge! It can be served as a starter, or even as a main course. It can be topped with Hollandaise sauce. This version was a starter, which I ordered as a main course.

Friture De La Moselle

The Moselle River runs along the edge of Luxembourg, separating the country from Germany. In the wine region, we stayed in a hotel and across the street was Germany.

Something a little unusual for Americans to see. The Friture De La Moselle are fried river fish, similar to fried boquerones that we eat in Spain, but a little larger. Or, try F’rell Am Rèisleck, which is a fried trout in a Riesling sauce.

Wainzoossiss Mat Moschterzooss – Luxembourg Sausage With Mustard

A lot of the traditional food in Luxembourg includes sausages at some point, either mixed in or as a topping on some of the more hearty dishes.

This dish with an incredibly long name, filled with o’s and s’s includes wine-marinated Luxembourg sausage with a spicy mustard on the side. I let our friend who lives in Luxembourg order the Wainzoossiss Mat Moschterzooss.

If I ordered it myself, I probably would’ve just pointed to it on the menu – a perfectly acceptable way to order in countries where you don’t speak the language.

Fish And Chips

Yes, fish and chips. Unlike the smaller Friture de la Moselle, the Friture de Poisson Avec Frites, is a larger piece of fish, most likely trout, and served with fresh fries, or frites. The version I ate was light and crisp and served with a remoulade sauce.

Schwengshax – Roasted Pork Leg

We are sucklers for pork leg, pork knuckle, or pork knee. Whatever you call it. It’s one of our favorite things to eat in Prague too. When I heard about a version in Luxembourg I was thrilled.

This might be more influenced from Germany rather than a Luxembourg traditional food, but I didn’t care. One note, this is another giant dish. Go in hungry, or maybe even share one.

Judd Mat Gaardebounen

Another hearty dish with pork as its base. Judd Mat Gaardebounen is a mix of salted or cured pork collar along with broad beans. It’s not the prettiest dish to look at, but the flavors melt together so well after being cooked for a long time.

Kniddelen

I am saving my favorite for last. I did a lot of research before traveling on Luxembourg dishes and didn’t see this one listed on any other travel blog, yet it was on almost every menu. Kniddelen could be considered the Luxembourg national dish. Kniddelen are small, dense dumplings.

Luxembourg restaurants often include a few varieties. Try the ones topped with bacon sauce (Speckzooss), beer sauce (Beierzooss), or with Luxembourg sausage.

Being a dumpling lover, this was my favorite of the Luxembourg dishes we tried. But, the portions are huge and filling. When ordering Kniddelen, maybe skip the starter.

Träipen

If you travel around Europe enough like we have you are going to eventually encounter black or blood sausage. We’ve enjoyed it in Spain, Ireland, Italy and in this case, Luxembourg. Träipen is the Luxembourg version using all the “nasty bits” of the pig including lung, kidneys, and tongue, plus blood. Blood sausage always garners a love or hate reaction. For us we love it and highly recommend tasting it twice. 

Street Food In Luxembourg

I’ve found that many food travelers are always searching for street food. Unfortunately, street food is not as common in Europe as it is in Asia or Latin America.

Not only is street food not as much a part of the culture and history in Europe, but the European Union regulations are pretty strict when it comes to food prep.

That said, as in many other cities in Europe, there is a growing trend of food trucks in Luxembourg. These sort of fill the role of street food vendors, although many of the food trucks come out mostly during festivals or events.

For more information, check out the Luxembourg Food Truck Association. Or, plan a trip around the Food Truck Festival In Luxembourg.

Luxembourg Desserts And Pastries

For those with a sweet tooth there are a few additional must eat Luxembourg foods.

First, as much as this is very French, you must try the Madeleines at Lea Linster in the city center. They are easily the best I ever tasted, warm and moist in the center with a nice crispness on the outside. Lea Linster is one of the most famous chefs of Luxembourg, being the first and only woman to be awarded the famous Bocuse d’Or award.

Next, stop at Chocolate House for some classic desserts or chocolate truffles. For us, the real treat was a unique hot chocolate on a spoon. We took two home with us.

Essentially, this is a wooden spoon with everything you need for a hot chocolate stuck to it. We soaked ours in a mug of hot milk and we had an instant gourmet hot chocolate at home. There is a whole wall of these chocolate delicacies in the shop. We only bought two. I wish we had purchased more flavors. They make a great food souvenir as well. 

What To Drink In Luxembourg

Being nestled between France and Germany, it’s no surprise that both wine and beer are popular in Luxembourg.

Beer

We drank a decent amount of beer, with a focus on trying to find ones that are produced in Luxembourg. Look for Bofferding, which offers tours of their brewery which is outside of the city center. Or, try Battin beer or Clausel, which has a brewery and restaurant within the city on 12 Rives de Clausen, a river side entertainment district.

Cider

Another treat came from visiting the Ramborn cider production in Born, Luxembourg. It’s a little difficult to get to without a car and our friends took us out.

But, they are doing a great job of rejuvenating at ancient cider-making tradition that almost died out in the country. They offer tours and tastings, which must be booked ahead of time. Let them know if you need an English-speaking guide. 

Schnapps

While out in the Moselle River Valley, we also visited an artisan distiller who is making traditional Luxembourgish schnapps. We managed to arrive as they were distilling, which was very cool to see.

Look for the Zenner brand at restaurants and bars in Luxembourg. There’s even a local Luxembourg dry gin called Opyos. 

Luxembourg Wine In the Moselle Valley 

First off most people don’t think of wine when they think of Luxembourg. Neither did I before I started research for our trip. The Moselle River separates Luxembourg from Germany and both sides of the river have a long wine-producing history.

Although the Luxembourg wineries produce some red wines, where they shine is cremant, a sparkling white wine made in the same method as Champagne.

It can be a challenge to visit the wineries in Luxembourg without a car. But, if renting a car, definitely head out to the river region for stunning views, hikes, riverboat cruises, and wine tastings.

We visited Caves St. Martin, which has the only wine cellar in Luxembourg that is actually carved out of the side of a mountain. Or, visit Poll-Fabaire, which is a wine cooperative. Both are easy to visit with prior appointment through their website or email. They also both operate a wine shop where it is easy to pop in and pick up a bottle.

*Visit Luxembourg supported us during our stay in the country and helped us to explore the wine region, but all views are our own.

FAQS – LUXEMBOURG CUISINE