Adventure #181: Restaurant 7 (Merano)

We were walking along the main street in Merano and was looking for lunch.  Most of the restaurants with tables along the street looked very touristy and the food not very inviting.  That is until we past this one.

It was a very beautiful day.  The restaurant was very big but practically empty inside.  All the 10 odd tables outside were taken as soon as they were vacated.  We were lucky to get one.

Spritz - our new favourite drink. A very popular drink in northern Italy and a very appropriate drink in such sunny weather.

It was a rather hot day so I didn't feel much like eating. So we had 3 mains to share. First to arrive was the cheese ravioli.  Very rich but delicious.

Even the most standard dish - the spaghetti looked inviting.  Ingredients fresh and very tasty.

Fish on a bed of spinach and peas mixture.  It was so good even the little one (who won't eat green veggies) ate it without any complaints!

Adventure #180: Restaurant im Seehotel Gruner Baum (Hallstatt)

Hallstatt is a very beautiful lakeside town in Austria. So beautiful that a Chinese businessman replicated the entire town in China!  

We stayed the night in Hallstatt. Since many tourists are day visitors, there aren't many restaurants in town.  Luckily, the one in the hotel right next to ours looked very decent. 

 



This is a rather high end restaurant but the waiters don't really speak English. Took us a while to order a beer.

 

We were in Austria, so I chose to have a schnitzel. It was very good, especially with the berry jelly.

G ordered a grilled trout fished from the lake. He loved it.

The older one had a lasagna which she thought was very good.

And the little one had a very normal but delicious spaghetti.

It was a very enjoyable meal. The weather was pretty cold, so instead of the outdoor terrace, we sat indoors. However, as the restaurant had a very high ceiling and very large windows, and with a table facing the window, we still managed to have a meal with a view.

Marktplatz 104
Hallstatt 4830
Austria

Adventure #179: M32 (Salzburg)

Today, we made our way back to M32.  M32 stands for the address - Mönchsberg 32. As the restaurant is on top of the Modern Art Museum, it supposedly has panoramic views of the city from north of the River Salzach to the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the mountains behind them.  To get to the restaurant we had to buy a one-way ticket up and after the meal, they will give patrons free tickets to get back down.

It had been pouring all day, so we didn't expect to see anything up there. We just wanted to sit down and have a nice warm meal. And we were not disappointed.

Lift ticket with the restaurant's signature decor of deer horns.

As mentioned, the weather was not good and hence we weren't able to enjoy the views from the restaurant.  On a good day, this is what you will see from the restaurant's outdoor terrace:

But today, we had to be contented with the inside of the restaurant:

 

M32 specialises in fine dining serving Austrian and Mediterranean cuisine.  The service was great, waiters very attentive (what a surprise!).  They also had a kids menu so the little one can have her chicken nuggets and fries while we have some proper food.

The older one had roast lamb with polenta.  She loved it.

G had pan fried salmon on a bed of mushrooms.  The fish fresh, the skin crispy and the fish cooked just right.

I had sole with risotto.  It was good but a bit rich for me and I liked G's salmon better.

It was a fine dinner we had.  This restaurant is definitely a must when the weather is good.  There is a bar and an outdoor terrace, so if not for dinner, definitely for drinks.

Adventure #178: Afro Cafe (Salzburg)

After a leisurely afternoon wandering through the streets of Salzburg, we ended the day at the Modern Art Museum, which also houses the restaurant we wanted to visit - M32.  Unfortunately, M32 was closed for the day for private function.

As an alternative, we went down the street to Afro Cafe.  We chose this because it looks really funky from the outside!  The photos we took were a bit dark, so I "borrowed" some from their website.  The decors were made from recycled materials - rubbish!



Head made of bicycle seat, nose made of something knitted, ears made of shoe soles and horns made of bottle caps. Funky!



Spare ribs with peanut-chili sambal, pita, sour creme and harissa. The ribs were nicely barbecued and the peanut-chili sambal sauce was heavenly! And the portion was also very large so everyone got a share of this wonderful dish.

Afro-chicken breast with lentil ragout and coriander. The chicken was tender and the lentil mixture was absolutely delicious. We rarely eat lentils but we polished off the whole lot. 

Roast pork on okra with fried bananas.  This was the weakest dish of all. Maybe because we weren't huge okra fans. The fried bananas were interesting though.

Waffles with cream, fresh fruits and maple syrup.  Standard dessert. No surprises but well received by the kids.

Panacotta with pineapple compost.  This is a more adult dish than the waffles and we enjoyed this very much.

This was a very interesting find.  The decor was funky and thoroughly entertaining.  The food, although different, was good. A nice change from Bavarian food.

Adventure #177: Weisses Brauhaus (Munich)

Munich is famous for its brauhaus (beer house) and so we wanted to take the kids there for the experience.  There are two famous brauhaus's in Munich, Weisses Brauhaus and Hofbrauhaus.  Weisses Brauhaus is not the biggest but we think it is less touristy and the food is supposedly rather good.

We arrived for dinner early and so the place was still rather empty.

There was alfresco dinning but we preferred to experience the setting of a brauhaus. In any case, we got a window seat, so best of both worlds!

Weisses Brauhaus serves many different types of beer so we didn't know which to choose. The lady just gave us the most popular one which I think is one of the wheat beers.  Kids had a giant fanta each!

Chopped pork liver, in small slices, with roast onions and button mushrooms, served with parsley potatoes. G thought the liver was a bit tough unlike the Chinese ones but I liked it.  With the crispy onions and the mushroom sauce, I really enjoyed this dish.

Crisp roast porkling breast with sauerkraut and Semmelknodel (white bread dumpling).  We enjoyed the roast/smoked pork at Burger-Keller and so we ordered this.  The pork was rather tough and the dumpling rather tasteless.  All in all, not a popular dish. 

Pork knuckle with crisp and crackling crust and Schneider-wheat-beer gravy, served with Kartofelknodel (potato dumpling) and coleslaw. Finally, our first pork knuckle on this trip.  Looked really good.  Skin crispy and meat very tender.  Kids much preferred this.

Weisses Brauhaus is not very big (we have only seen the ground floor) and the atmosphere cosy.  I think it is a nice place to enjoy a typical brauhaus.  May possibly get rowdier later in to the night but we will never know...

Adventure #176: La Fontana (Nordlingen)

Arrived in Nordlingen, a little town built on top of a 15 million-year-old meteorite crater and our stop-over destination for the night. After settling down at our lodgings for the night, we wandered into town for a walk and then looked for dinner.  Not wanting to miss out on good local food, we actually went in search of 2 restaurants which was recommended by our guidebook and both were closed!  Luckily, luck didn't totally abandon us and we came across a little Italian pizzeria (yup not German) near the main square. 

Housed in an old (18th century?) corn storage, this restaurant called La Fontana, was buzzing with diners.  The weather was nice and there were tables outside, so we plonked ourselves down for the evening.

Started with half a litre of house wine which turned out to be very decent.

Both G and the older one had Pizza Margherita.  The pizza was super thin and fresh. Delicious! Very lucky to have found this restaurant as the kids were a bit tired of sausages (although only the third day into our 2-week journey!)

I had a Pizza with salami. Equally delicious.

The little one had a spaghatti Bolognese. She loved it.

Definitely an unexpected find and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.  This was compounded by the wonderful weather and the alfesco dinning.

Adventure #175: Burger-Keller (Rothenburg)

Today we arrived bright and early in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany, a very picturesque town.  Although the weather was pretty good (a change from yesterday's rain), it was still pretty cold (and yes, it's summer).  A sit down lunch sounded really enticing, so off we went in search of a traditional restaurant at the edge of the main square.

The restaurant is situated in the cellar of an old building.  A pity to eat underground in such a beautiful day but for good food.....

A very cosy setting. As we arrived just as it opened, the restaurant was rather empty but it quickly filled up in the next hour.  

Bavarian liver dumpling soup.  Given the cold outside, I really enjoyed this peppery soup with its rather interesting meatball like dumpling.  I would preferred it more if the liver taste was stronger but it was a good dish.



Bauernschmaus - roast pork, smoked pork and roast sausages on sauerkraut with potatoes dumpling.  A giant dish for the man of the house.  Everything was good, especially the smoked pork.  The potato dumpling, although it was my first time eating it, I found it very tasty and very filling too!

 

Schnitzel "Wiener Art" - breaded pork cutlets with french fries and salad.  It will be a few days before we arrive in Austria but this seemed to be a good choice for the kids and they loved it.

6 pieces of sausages on sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. Another dish for the kids and I to share.  Sausages were great and the sauerkraut was wonderfully sour!

A very delicious lunch in a traditional restaurant.  We didn't have much expectation about German food before this trip but this meal was delicious.

A number of reviews elsewhere commended the owner for his very good service.  The service we received was not bad, it was....I think the best way to put it.....indifferent.  Polite but indifferent. Coming from Hong Kong where services have improved many folds since the crisis in 1998, we were initially a bit taken aback. Later we realised that this is just the way they are.  Cultural difference!


Burgerkeller
Herrngasse 24
91541 Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Bavaria
Germany
Tel: +49 9861 2126

Europe

We will be leaving tonight for a 2-week vacation in Southern Germany, part of Austria and Northern Italy. Not entirely sure about German and Austrian cuisine.........

Come back after 2 weeks and see what I have found along the way!