I had several hours to kill at the airport on a recent trip to Germany (travelled with a friend…read morewhose plane left before mine, and not enough time to pop back into town) and gravitated towards this establishment right in the middle of the airport's shopping mall.
It's been decades since my last visit to Cologne and I was happy to see that consumerism had made the prospect of wasting time here a lot more attractive than in the past. Staendige Vertretung would not look out of place in a trendy part of town and probably attract a good crowd. Here it provides an interesting setting in depressing surroundings. I thoroughly enjoyed the cold war inspired photographs and piece of Berlin wall at the entrance - very topical with the current Deutschland 83 craze.
I wasn't actually hungry and opted for a small salad and mineral water only. The most boring option tasted surprisingly good, nice dressing and good mix of fresh leaves and prepared salads. Could have fared a lot worse, this is definitely the most imaginative outlet at Cologne/Bonn, albeit not worth a special trip to the airport if you're not flying off somewhere.