The Stellwerk restaurant (meaning 'train shed'), occupies former offices in Heringsdorf station. Built in 1894, the station lies between Zussow and Ahlbeck on a country line which is part of the Usedom Bäderbahn, a local railway owned by the DB (Deutsche Bahn).
Decorated by a group of rail enthusiasts, the restaurant resembles a 1930s railway waiting room. Seating just 20 people, it has art-deco lamps with thick glass shades, leather-studded seats, dark wooden tables, dark red carpets and a fireplace.
Like A Railway Compartment
Two of the tables are arranged like a railway carriage compartment complete with overhead luggage racks piled with suitcases, hat boxes and parcels.
Framed share certificates of long-defunct railway companies, mostly American like the New York Railroad and Penn Central, decorate the walls. Even the bar has a railway theme as the beer pumps are old railway signal-box levers.
Jörg and Birgit Gleissner
The restaurant which features ‘new Pommeranian cuisine’ is run by Jörg Gleissner and his wife Birgit, both local people. Before they took it on in 2008, he worked as a chef in the town for many years, winning awards for his innovative cooking.
Prior to opening it, he researched old railway books and documents to find recipes for traditional dishes that had been served in railway buffets in the 1930s but had then disappeared from use in the austerity drab years of the Second World War and afterwards when the area was part of East Germany.
Old Local Recipes
The menu (an English version is available) is quite small but every dish is based on an old local recipe that he has brought up-to-date.
A typical meal might consist of a 5-herb soup followed by venison stew with mushrooms, figs and oranges and for dessert a selection of imaginative pastries and ice-creams.
Drinks Arrive By Model Freight Train
A particularly entertaining touch is the way the drinks are served. Having placed your order, they are transported to your table aboard a model freight train that runs on a 2-inch wide track along a shelf around the wall. The glasses stand in open wagons, ready for you to lift them off when the train stops beside your table.
Later the train sets off back again to the bar ready to deliver the next order. At the end of your meal, it comes round once again bringing the bill.
The Stellwerk restaurant is open daily except Monday from noon to 10pm.
Heringsdorf on Usedom in Germany
Heringsdorf is one of the most popular resorts on the German Baltic coast and was the favourite spa of the German Emperors. On the border of Poland, it was known in the early 20th century as the bathtub of Berlin, 100 miles away.
Museum of Local Railways
Next door to the Stellwerk, a small museum in Heringsdorf station has displays about the history of the railways in the area which criss-cross the surrounding countryside. Usedom’s 25-mile coastline has some of the finest bathing beaches in northern Europe with sandy dunes and low cliffs. Inland there is a nature park with cycling and walking trails.
So Heringsdorf Station certainly has plenty to interested rail enthuisiasts, expecially those who appreciate interesting and tasty food.
Gillian Thomas - Having left the BBC's Paris news office to return to England and get married over 20 years ago, I have freelanced as a journalist ever ...
