The beers are light and foamy fun in Germany- here I am having Krombacher my first evening in Frankfurt.  But, the fact they come in liters is ridiculous. I don’t understand how people aren’t constantly visiting the W.C.

The food in Germany was very heavy in meat and carbs- and the plates very large. My favorite dishes were:

At Goldenes Posthorn, in Nurnburg (a stop on the way to Munich from Frankfurt) we started with a bread basket which of course had pretzels. I just don’t like pretzels very much though unless they are fresh and hot and doughy: usually the middle is the best part. However, another plus that I noticed during my days in Israel and Germany was the flavorful seedy bread: why don’t we have more bread like this in the US?

How cool is this “appetizer plate” of pewter we each got the shape of a bell. You can also see we are enjoying Tucher beer yes, at lunch.The famous Nurenberg sausages, with a small side of horseradish, also came in a similar dish but it was heartshaped, aw. The sausages have been a delicacy since 1313 and are actually protected by EU law so they can only be produced here in this city. Per wikipedia, they are pork-based and typically seasoned with fresh marjoram which gives them their distinctive flavour.

They are traditionally grilled over a beechwood fire (which explains as soon as we walked through the door why the place smelled so wonderful- we saw the charcoal grill in the center later as we were leaving). They are served in sets of six, eight, 10 or 12 on a pewter plate (round but also frequently heart- or bell-shaped) with either sauerkraut or potato salad (though we didn’t have this here as it as an appetizer), and accompanied by a dollop of horseradish or mustard. The mustard is in a little jar just out of the frame of the photo to the right. It was great with the Tucher beer (yes, beer at lunch- depending on the region in Germany, this might be expected by the customer to win their trust!)

The highlight though was the entree. Lunch entree was a braised beef cheek which was very falling apart tender in a rich wine sauce and the little bits of tart here or there from the pomegranate. Also on the plate are dumplings made out of bread (so it’s a bit more like a doughy stuffing), and in the bowl next to it a sort of cheesy greens and rice. That sauce was so delicious.

My other favorite dish was the Roast pork from Bavarian production with crackling in natural gravy with Spaetzle egg noodles at Hofbrauhaus (enjoyed with a Dark Radler, which is their Dark Beer with lemonade- I was slightly beered out after a lot of mugs of Radeberger beer the previous two evenings during work dinners). I saw lots of crackling in the market but didn’t get any until my last night in Germany, and the crackling was as wonderful as I had hoped for.

Did I mention how much I loved the seedy bread in Israel and Germany? Also, I cannot object to a breakfast buffet brimming with cheeses and meats. Below, you see the cheese offerings at the Dan Accadia in Israel (included in the room stay), and then the last two photos show the offerings at the Hotel Campo dei Fiori (included as part of room stay) with its location right next to the Viktualienmarkt in Munich.

I had no idea Israel was such a strong dairy producer… though I suppose there have been a lot of sheperds there for a long time, so they definitely have access to the raw goods. Best of all, it wasn’t just pickled (feta) cheese- lots of fresh cheeses, and goat cheeses. Also in Israel I really liked that instead of the dryer baked goods you see at coffeeshops in the US, they offered bureka, a puff pastry stuffed with cheese or potato or spinach. I suppose it’s sorta similar to a stuffed croissant, but the puff pastry is lighter and flakier. Though it probably uses just as much butter…

Next post follows me to Asia.