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Crampous Mad
The bright dining room of Crêperie Crampous Mad, with wooden floor and chairs

Alsatian food in Mulhouse: what to try

Old photo of the crêperie's half-timbered façade, with its sign "Crêperie Crampous Mad Tea Room"

What should you eat in Mulhouse? Between the Vosges and the Rhine, Alsace has a hearty cuisine that is perfect for winter. Here are the savoury and sweet specialities to try during your stay, what to drink with them, and where to find them in town. One thing first: we are a Breton crêperie and we don't serve choucroute, but our menu has a few Alsatian touches (see the end of this article).

In short: on the savoury side, choucroute, tarte flambée, baeckeoffe and fleischschnacka; on the sweet side, kougelhopf and, at Christmas, bredala and manala; in your glass, a Riesling, a Crémant d'Alsace or a beer brewed in Alsace. You'll find them at the Canal Couvert market, at the Christmas market and in the winstubs.

Savoury specialities

  • Choucroute: Alsace's signature dish. Cabbage fermented with salt (sauerkraut), served "garnie" with sausages, smoked bacon and potatoes. Since 2018, Choucroute d'Alsace has been a protected geographical indication (PGI): the cabbage must be grown in Alsace.
  • Tarte flambée (flammekueche in Alsatian): a very thin bread dough topped with fromage blanc, cream, onions and lardons, baked for a few minutes in a very hot oven. Born in village bread ovens, it is meant for sharing and eaten with your fingers. It also comes au gratin, or sweet, with apples and cinnamon.
  • Baeckeoffe: literally the "baker's oven". Beef, pork and lamb marinated in white wine, layered with potatoes and onions in an earthenware dish sealed with a strip of dough, then baked for several hours. In the past, families took the dish to the village baker.
  • Fleischschnacka: "meat snails". Noodle dough rolled around a meat filling, often leftovers from a pot-au-feu, cut into slices, browned in a pan and then simmered in broth. They are served with a green salad.
  • Presskopf: an old-style head cheese, served cold as a starter.
  • And also: spaetzle, small egg noodles; Munster, the cheese of the Vosges; and the bretzel (pretzel). South of Mulhouse, the Sundgau has its own speciality: carpe frite (fried carp), the Alsatian "fish and chips".

Alsatian sweets

  • Kougelhopf (or kouglof): a brioche with raisins, baked in a typical crown-shaped earthenware mould. There is a savoury version too.
  • Bredala: little Christmas biscuits, baked at home during Advent, flavoured with cinnamon, aniseed, orange or walnuts. In the Haut-Rhin they are called bredala; in Strasbourg, bredle or bredele.
  • Manala: a brioche shaped like a little man, plain or with chocolate chips, given to children for Saint Nicholas' Day on 6 December. In Mulhouse it is called manala (or mannala); further north, mannele.
  • Pain d'épices (gingerbread): flavoured with cinnamon and nutmeg, it tastes of Christmas.
  • Tarte aux myrtilles (blueberry tart): the signature dessert of the farm inns (fermes-auberges) of the Vosges mountains, especially in summer, when blueberries are in season.

What about Black Forest gâteau? Contrary to popular belief, it isn't Alsatian: the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is a German cake made with chocolate, cherries and cream, flavoured with kirsch. It is named after the Black Forest, on the other side of the Rhine.

In your glass: wine, crémant, beer and eaux-de-vie

  • Alsace wines are mostly white. The grape varieties presented by the wine trade body are Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, plus Pinot Noir for rosés and reds. The AOC Alsace accounts for more than 70% of production, and 51 terroirs are entitled to the Alsace Grand Cru appellation.
  • Crémant d'Alsace: the region's sparkling wine, made by the traditional method (second fermentation in the bottle). Its appellation dates from 1976, and it now accounts for a quarter of Alsace wine production.
  • Beer: Alsace is France's leading beer-producing region, with around half of national production and about a hundred producers, from large breweries to microbreweries.
  • Fruit eaux-de-vie, as a digestif: kirsch (cherry), mirabelle plum, quetsch plum, raspberry or Williams pear. Kirsch d'Alsace and Mirabelle d'Alsace are geographical indications.

Where to taste Alsatian specialities in Mulhouse

  • At the Canal Couvert market, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 7:00 to 17:00: butchers, cheesemongers and Alsatian produce. Days and times of every market in our article Markets in Mulhouse.
  • At the Christmas market, from 20 November to 27 December 2026: mulled wine, bredala, manala, gingerbread, pretzels and tarte flambée among the chalets. The full programme is in our article Mulhouse Christmas market 2026.
  • In a winstub: the Alsatian version of a wine bar, with wood panelling and checked tablecloths. This is where you order choucroute, tarte flambée and baeckeoffe, the latter often to order in advance. There are several in the city centre.
  • At the bakeries: kougelhopf all year round, bredala during Advent and manala around Saint Nicholas' Day.

For a change, a Breton crêpe

Since 1980, the Crêperie Crampous Mad has brought Brittany to the heart of Mulhouse: 100% buckwheat, gluten-free galettes, crêpes and cider. But Alsace has found its way onto our menu:

  • S'Zewala (€11.90), a nod to tarte flambée on a buckwheat galette: fromage blanc, crème fraîche, lardons, Emmental and onions slow-cooked in cider;
  • La Kassler (€10.80): fried egg, smoked pork loin and Emmental. Saucisse de Strasbourg is also among the ingredients for building your own galette;
  • La Vosgienne (€9.70): a crêpe with blueberries and blueberry jam, flambéed with kirsch. And a Forêt noire (€10.50) crêpe: kirsch cherries, chocolate and whipped cream;
  • to drink: Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer from Maison Heimberger in Beblenheim (from €4.60 for a 12 cl glass), Crémant d'Alsace Blanc de Noirs Brut (€4.80 for 12 cl), kir made with Riesling; and as a digestif, Marc d'Alsace or Poire Williams (€6.00 for 4 cl).

Find us at 14 rue des Tondeurs, a stone's throw from Place de la Réunion, Tuesday to Thursday from 11:30 to 21:00, Friday and Saturday from 11:30 to 21:30, with service all day long (closed on Sundays and Mondays). Crêpes and galettes are also available to take away. Book a table on +33 3 89 45 79 43, and for more sightseeing ideas, read what to do in Mulhouse.

Information checked in October 2026 on the websites of Visit Alsace (visit.alsace), the Alsace wine trade body (vinsalsace.com), INAO and France.fr, and in Le Journal des Entreprises for beer. Menu prices as of October 2026.

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