There's no lack of excellent restaurants in Regensburg - and no lack of history.

Two inexpensive eateries should be on every visitor's route.
Nine centuries ago, workers on the Steinerne Brücke received their meals at a riverside kitchen. That same kitchen - the Historische Wurstküche (Historic Sausage Kitchen) - serves up several thousand Regensburger Bratwurst each day to locals and visitors.

On a sunny day, guests can wait an hour or more to sit elbow-to-elbow on slat benches. When the weather doesn't cooperate, the kitchen building itself offers several tables of indoor seating - but smoke permeates every fiber of clothing.

The Danube overflows its banks almost annually - to clean out the kitchen, Regenburgers joke - and signs nearly to the ceiling mark the dates and levels of especially cleansing floods.

Outside, waiters weave their way through rows of trestle tables, take orders, and race to the grill, where white-bonneted cooks tend to the charcoal and to the finger-sized sausages: turning them, serving them, adding new ones. Like assembly-line workers, the waiters hold out plates for the right count of sausages - followed by ladles of fresh sauerkraut and sweet mustard - and race back to drop off orders and pick up new ones. With the river, bridge and Old City as backdrops, it's lunch theater at its best. You'll get your fill for six or seven euros.

If it's mid-morning, get to Uli's Dampfnudelküche (Steamed-Dough Kitchen) before the line starts - although that may be well before opening time on Saturdays. It's a Regensburg institution - or perhaps addiction.

The nondescript shop lies at the base of a seven-story patrician house built in 1260. Inside, only one dish is being prepared: steamed dough with vanilla sauce. One size and one price, about four Euros, fit all. During any visit to Regensburg, a trip to Uli's is required - and may result in return visits. Yes, they're that good.