REMOVED: Bistro Vietnam

This place was quite out-of-the-way and took a bit of walking to find, but was very nice once we got there. There's quite an extensive vegetarian menu, with pictures to help those of us who don't speak German. They were out of plain old tofu at the time we arrived, and had to replace it with soya chicken and pork, but this didn;t really detract from the meal. Not the greatest place to eat in Koln, but still a decent option to keep in mind.

I really enjoyed eating here, great food and atmosphere. its also very close to the tourist area I was in. They expect you to pay for using the bathroom? Seemed odd and I never did pay for it.

A combination of two things that aren't so easy to come by: vegan food and reasonable prices! In addition to the section of the menu marked "Vegetarisch," there's also a section of "special noodle dishes," several of which can be made vegetarian (I think they just replace the meat with tofu and omit the fish sauce). The one of these that I tried was excellent, although unfortunately I now forget which one it was.

Some of the dishes, like kung pao tofu, are more Chinese than Vietnamese, but it's all very good. Dishes marked "scharf" (hot) are not very hot at all. There's a book on each table, separate from the menu, that shows pictures of all the dishes so you know what you're getting yourself into.

The restaurant is a little bit outside the touristy center of town, and it's a little bit of a trek from any tram stop. The walk down Hohe Strasse isn't too bad, although it takes a while, or you can catch bus 132 or 133, which I think go from opposite sides of the main train station. I don't recommend walking from the Poststrasse station - the area is a little bit seedy and not very pleasant.