Great location, nice design, ok food.
Sure, you can sit quite nicely outside and watch the world go by. You can also simply enjoy some coffee, perhaps some cake - or you can have dinner. It seems that opinions on this establishment vary by whatever people decide to do here. Those who go for coffee and cake seem to enjoy it, while those who eat dinner have a much more mixed experience.
I came for dinner and sat outside on a gorgeous spring evening. There were quite a few other guests outside and whatever food they had on their plates looked very much acceptable.
I am a sucker for a good schnitzel - in part because I have spent more than 35 years perfecting cooking techniques for schnitzel and the obligatory bratkartoffel that come with it. In other words, I have ample knowledge to judge the quality, taste, and texture of these components.
The schnitzel comes with the additional descriptor "Butterschnitzel" which distinguishes it from more traditional methods by imparting a distinct flavor (depending on the quality of freshness of the butter) while requiring a bit of adjustment in cooking technique due to the lower burn point of butter. It can be tricky to get the right golden hue along with a flaky/airy crumb crust.
To come to the point: The Schnitzel delivered! It was nicely done and had just about all the right markings of a schnitzel that was prepared by somebody who knows what he/she is doing. The only short-coming was the lack of flaky crust that should have been present. Oh well, I can live with it, especially when considering that this schnitzel was made in butter. Admittedly, I'm not quite certain that the cook actually used butter or butterschmalz (which I might have used to combine the benefits of a higher burn point and the flavor of butter).
Next were the bratkartoffel. What a sad, sad rendition. Sure, the right base was there - pre-cooked potatoes. But that's where it ended. The potato slices should have been browned on at least one side, preferable on both. They were not. Instead, the boiled potatoes had been exposed to melted butter for just a brief enough period of time to coat them with the butter.
One could almost surmise that the chef did this on purpose, but there is really no justifiable reason to serve something like that to customers.
What's worse, the potatoes were topped with a handful of arugula. Why? The arugula adds NOTHING to the dish. It's a nuisance that has to be removed by the customer. Do greens look good when presenting a dish? Sure. Should they serve a culinary purpose? You bet.
Finally, to top it all off, some of the arugula topping the soggy potatoes was wilted and yellow! That's simply unacceptable.
Overall, I would not go back and you shouldn't go, either - unless you want some coffee and cake (assuming they are good). If you have no knowledge of German cuisine, this is NOT the place to start your exposure. Pick a better place! read more
