Gastronomy in Germany!

Visited Berlin last April on a one month backpacking trip across Europe! Studying and living in England introduced me to the kebap and the döner, of which I was told were Turkish... later I was told that the döner is originally German! Regardless of whether that's true or not, you can guess what my first meal in Berlin was then...

Yes, that is the Brandenburg gate in the background! Anyways, this döner, from a cart in the road (go street food!) was the best one I'd ever had. Probably one of the cheapest too. The döner-kebap is closely related to Greek gyros. The meat in the döner, whether chicken, lamb or beef, is roasted on a rotating spit and sliced off into flatbread and then accompanied by sliced raw onions, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes and a yoghurt sauce similar to tzatziki. The veggies were so refreshing after coming out of a carb-saturated tour of Italy!

Amidst a free walking tour, my eyes landed on this famous chocolatier:

Going as far back as 1863, Fassbender and Rausch were chosen as the official chocolate suppliers to the royal German family. That spells quality, no?

After the tour, my travel buddy and I made a beeline back to the chocolate shop (shop is a bit of an understatement as the place consists of multiple floors lined in marble, gold gilding and glass).

After drooling over the truffles, buying samples for ourselves and friends back home, we took the elevator up to the 2nd floor cafe. In the late afternoon there were plenty of people having their between-meals coffees. We popped open the menu and perused a bit after we were shown to a table with a pretty fabulous view.

The menu's prices were around what we expected for a pretty fancy place, but we figured, hey, we're staying in a hostel, not a hotel; we've been eating cheap (but amazing) street food, and we've been walking everywhere, thus saving lots of money. Why not?

What's an afternoon coffee-break without coffee? And they gave a complimentary chocolate!

Traditional apple strudel. Excellent, light, flaky, buttery and perfectly sweet! Great presentation as well!

The eisschokolade (ice-chocolate drink) was definitely my favourite, being a chocoholic. They didn't skimp on the cocoa neither. Plus, who doesn't love fresh whipped cream? Heavenly!

Another venture with sweets that I partook in was a trip to KaDeWe, a fancy superstore of an establishment with a famous gourmet food court.

The inside was absolutely glorious! Fancy glass shelves and cases filled with beautifully plated pastries--everything you can imagine! Cakes, cupcakes, streudels, macarons, truffles, meringues, tarts, brownies...

It was such a difficult time choosing what to sample! So four of us settled to split these two beauties:

Our friend on the right is an apple pastry with streusel on top, a bit resembling a bear claw. The pastry on the right is a strawberries and cream tart (the whipped strawberry cream was spiked with some liquor and pretty strong). I must say, I gave the award to the apple pastry, which was buttery and rather donut-like.

In addition to sweets and street food, we also tried to sample more formal traditional cuisine. Our tour guide recommended a place to us called zum Paddenwirt that was slightly touristy, but served up reasonably priced German food. I decided to order herring with potatoes and sauerkraut.

Being the seafood-lover that I am, I enjoyed the herring quite a lot; it definitely needed the potatoes and yoghurt sauce to balance out the saltiness. The sprig of dill on top was a pretty touch as well.

My friends, feeling quite adventurous ordered pork knuckle/ankle with sauerkraut and potatoes. They enjoyed their fare a little less, so I probably ate most of it, to be honest. A little background: at home I eat pork ankle quite a bit, being of asian heritage and all, so it didn't freak me out. In fact, it was really good trying it pickled instead of braised in soy-sauce, which is also delicious.

Am I making your stomach turn? Maybe I can convince you: if you're willing to eat hot dogs or sausages (assuming you know what these are made of), what's to stop you from trying ankle? Really, it's just another piece of the animal (although, disclaimer: there are parts that I would not try).

Next up, wursts! (I spared you so many terrible puns just now...) Of course one has to sample the various wursts/sausages of Berlin when trying to get a good grasp of the country's culture. It's what Germany is known for, right?

Over our month's worth of trips, we made a habit out of looking up famous eateries; one of them was Currypoint (above). That was actually the last place we went and since we'd already had bratwurst and currywurst, we went for bockwurst!:

Bockwurst is different from bratwurst in that it is usually made with veal; it is also often simmered instead of grilled. It came with a side of potato salad.

Bratwurst is generally made of beef or pork, but it can be found made of veal; eaten with a sweet or hot German mustard, it can be then called currywurst!

Aside from the flavour, something else you should look for in a wurst is that snap you get when taking a bite; when cooked/grilled, the ground meat inside the casing expands, making the casing taut and giving you that satisfying snap on first bite!

Also bought a popular German drink called Mezzo Mix; the best way to describe it is orange Fanta mixed with Coke--in fact, when I spent New Years with my friend Lena in Germany, she and her friends made their own with Coca Cola and Fanta. Alas, we don't have it in the U.S...

Want to hear a secret?

My favourite sausage EVER is actually the käsewurst... which I ate in Leeds at the German Christmas Market.

The real kicker is that packed in the ground meat, there are squares of CHEESE and when the wurst is grilled, the cheese melts! This goes onto the list of one of the best things I've ever eaten.

Hanging at Jamie's

Review for Jamie's Italian



So, Jamie Oliver, British Food Network chef and author of Jamie's America just opened up a restaurant in Leeds! As a pretty big fan of the FN, how am I going to pass this one up?

The restaurant is situated in the city centre on Park Row, down the street from Wagamama's, a Japanese restaurant, which is fairly popular in the UK. The entree's at Jamie's run from cheap to mid-range to more expensive, depending on what you order and the portioning. As an Italian grill, pastas, meat-boards, fancy bread baskets, brick-cooked dishes, seafood and salads are available alongside steaks. Click here for the menu. In addition a gamut of wines, hand chosen by Jamie himself, are available for your vintage pleasure. Click here for the wine list. While there is no dress code for the restaurant (I would consider it quite family friendly), I would recommend dressing a bit more smartly than flip flops and shorts, especially for a date.

Food
For my entree, I ordered "Fish in a Bag" and my friends and I shared a starter of Jamie's "Posh Truffle* Chips," which were fantastic. The flavour of the truffles was definitely apparent and popped wonderfully amidst the sprinkled grated mild cheddar. The chips themselves were done very well and were obviously fresh; I expected no less from Mr. Oliver. Although we did not order a starter of bread, I might recommend it as the starter comes with an amazing selection of breads of all shapes, sizes and colours, also picked by Jamie.

The Fish in a Bag was pretty darn good; the fish, caught off the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, was fresh, very tasty and cooked perfectly. The shellfish was a bit small, but considering I'm no connoisseur, this might have just been typical of the types of clams and mussels. What I was most pleased with, however, were the tomatoes that the fish, fennel and shellfish were steamed with. These tomatoes were AMAZING. Generally, I'm neutral about tomatoes; I like them, but I never comment on them-- to me, they're just kind of "there" in most dishes. But these tomatoes most certainly had a presence! They were incredibly sweet, and bursting of flavour. Absolutely wonderful.



Design
Not only is the food good, but the design of the restaurant is fab! When you enter Jamie's Italian, you're greeted by crates of pasta and produce. The building, which was once originally a bank, contains multiple levels, so be prepared to climb a bit. The restaurant is raised half a floor from the entry way, but only contains a ground and first floor, so the stairs aren't terribly daunting. Upstairs there is a bar-style counter from which the food is picked up by the waiters and waitresses so even before you order you can feast your eyes on the fanciful presentations the dishes are served in, usually making your selection even more difficult! :) The colours will blow your mind, especially the colours of the various salads.


Excuse the camera-phone quality
Even the toilets and sinks are awesome; they are really old-fashioned ones made by the original Thomas Crapper company. The font and the cute-ified rococo style appliques are also something to be praised. :) One thing I could knit-pick about, and this is INCREDIBLY petty for a food blog such as mine, mind you, is that there were a few design flaws in the menu such as the white space in the centre, but we'll not pay much attention to that. The ambiance in the restaurant was friendly and the staff amiable. I am happy to say that for those with meager budgets, tap water is available for free (bottled is also available for the not-so-adventurous). Nonetheless, Jamie's Italian proved to be a positive dining experience and I would recommend it!

I will be posting more blogs for my month-long trek across various cities in Europe, so stay tuned! :) Feel free to subscribe to receive updates! Cheers! xx

-Raechel