Delicious German Food at Gasthof Gentner

Let me tell you about the best German restaurant I have been to this year and possibly in my whole life: Gasthof Gentner (Gasthof means "hotel" in German) in Spielberg (about a 30 minute car drive southwest of Nürnberg). The food was amazing. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But before I continue on my near-death experience let me give you the background on how I even heard about the restaurant. 

Earlier this year I finally decided to become a member of Slow Food Germany. I had been putting it off since I wasn't sure I wanted to spend €35 (the price for "youngsters") to become a member. But then I decided that I wanted to support the organization and that it was worth the price. For those of you who are not familiar with the Slow Food organization (click here for the US site), members are organized into local chapters called convivia (from the Latin word "convivium," which means "feast"). Since I am living in Nürnberg I joined the Nürnberg convivium. As luck would have it I turned out to be the 250th member of the Nürnberg convivium and I won a bottle of wine and a gift certificate to Gasthof Gentner. This restaurant has been included in Nürnberg's Slow Food restaurant guide, meaning that, besides offering fabulous cuisine, the restaurant is supplied with only regional products by regional suppliers, where possible.

My mom and I decided to check out the restaurant on May 4, the day of the opening of the  Obstarche (engl: ark of fruit) in Spielberg (located right next to Hotel Gentner). What this "ark of fruit" is, is a piece of land planted with over 100 different varieties of heirloom apples and pears. Slow Food Nürnberg took part in the opening ceremony and even adopted one of the apple trees (variety Edelborsdorfer). I'm sure this place will be great once the trees are old enough to produce fruit. This is a big step towards preserving regional biodiversity (one main goal of Slow Food). Before the opening ceremony my mom and I went for lunch at the restaurant (you should make reservations beforehand). I was pretty excited because I had heard very good reviews of the restaurant from a Slow Food friend of mine.

However, before I talk about what we ate I would like to give some interesting information about the hotel. The hotel is under monument protection, meaning that during restoration only certain changes can be made to the original building. It was recently restored and the Gentner family did such a good job at preserving the original building that they won a prize. The restaurant consists of three rooms. The room we were seated in was panelled with wood and had white walls. It felt very cozy. 

The menu consists of one piece of folded paper with just a handful of appetizers, main courses and desserts. Since mostly regional and seasonal products are used in the restaurant the menu is subject to change. After ordering we were started off with a complimentary appetizer of two types of fresh Bauernbrot (engl: farmer's bread) along with a white bean dip. It was very tasty. For the main course my mom had pike perch with vegetables:

I had pork filet with mushrooms in cream sauce served with Spätzle (which are little cooked bits of dough) and a side salad:

It was heavenly. Everything was cooked to perfection and there were no off-flavors. All the food tasted delicious and fresh without additives. Although I was quite full after lunch I decided to have a dessert. I chose the mascarpone cream topped with rhubarb compote and a scoop of vanilla ice cream:

This was also fabulous. I would have to say that this was the best restaurant food I had had in a long time and I would definitely go back. Fortunately, we didn't use my gift certificate, so next time is free!!

 

Traditional Diets and Slow Food (edited)

I just read an interview of Daphne Miller on her book called The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discovers the Healthiest Diets from Around the World—Why They Work and How to Bring Them Home. I really enjoyed the interview not only because I liked Dr. Miller's personality that came through in the interview, but because she also brought up some very important aspects, for example the fact that "good food, nutritious food, and saving the planet are also parallel"! That is the message that I think needs to get out there! Stop eating highly processed foods and you will save your health and the health of the planet!!! 

Fortunately, the international non-profit organization Slow Food is on the right track to getting that message across with the multiple programs they offer. I think it's most important, though, to start at the school level. We need to teach children where food comes from and how to prepare it. We need to let them taste fresh foods. Most kids nowadays are so used to highly processed foods that when presented with artificial and natural flavors of, say, strawberry they often prefer the artificial one because that is the flavor they know, the flavor they are used to. Slow Food also offers taste education programs in schools and universities, which include Garden-to-Table Projects and Slow Food in Schools. I wish we had had a school garden when I was growing up! Fortunately, my parents were against us consuming highly processed foods. For example, my sister and I were not allowed to drink soft drinks. At the time I may have thought it "unfair", but now I am glad because I still don't drink soft drinks.

It looks like more and more people are getting involved in educating our children on good, fresh nutritious foods. A friend of mine just told me about a nutritionist, Susanne Klug, who has started to offer cooking classes for children. She has just opened a branch in Nürnberg. I think this is a wonderful idea! I also just read an article called Cookbook Publishers Try to Think Small about the rising trend of cookbooks for children. Unfortunately I don't have access to these books right now, so I can't look at them to see if they are any good, but I do like the idea of getting children to cook at home. The article also mentions a website called Spatulatta that shows videos of children cooking. I watched the video on how to make "Swedish pancakes". It was too cute! 

The first cookbook I ever had was called Peter Rabbit's Natural Foods Cookbook by Arnold Dobrin. I received it when I turned four and I still have it! The recipes are really easy to read (small bits of texts interspersed with illustrations by Beatrix Potter) and easy to make. I used to make the Squirrel Nutkin's Banana-Nut Loaf--yum! Now I have moved on to slightly more complicated recipes!

Starbucks and Other Coffee Places Part 2

I just finished another couple of pages in the book "Starbucked" and while I was reading I began to wonder why I had developed this pull towards Starbucks in the past few days. Okay, maaaaybe the past month...ahem...I didn't just say that. Believe me, it's against my will...but I have found myself going there on a regular basis to work on my thesis. I guess it started when I got bored with going to the library to work, which happened after a ridiculously short period of time. I just can't take the typcial library silence. Besides, it's kind of depressing to go to the library and always see the same people, who are already there when I get there and still there when I leave. Don't they have a life? 

So I was thinking about what was making me go back to Starbucks. The most obvious reason is that I know I like the coffee there. So far I haven't found a single coffee place in Nürnberg that serves the kind of coffee that would make me come back for more. So I go to the one place I know I will like the coffee: Starbucks. Ugh, there, I said it. I admitted it again (my forehead is in furrows and the corners of my mouth are pulled down, that's how much it just hurt to admit that). I guess my preferences for coffee, I should say coffee drinks since I never actually drink coffee, were shaped by those coffee drinks to be found in California, and not just at Starbucks (like I said in my last blog post I hardly ever went to Starbucks while residing in the US). And it's difficult to find a place that serves iced coffee drinks (as far as I remember the Starbucks in Germany doesn't even serve iced drinks in the winter). That's reason one.

Reason two is also quite simple. Since there is no waitstaff at Starbucks there is nobody there to kick you out, so you can just go ahead and read a book for 3 hours (like I did today) and nobody will bother you. Isn't that great? 

A third reason I would say that applies to me is one that is mentioned by Taylor Clark in his book "Starbucked". He quotes the Austrian writer Alfred Polgar who allegedly once said that a coffeehouse is "a place for people who want to be alone, but need the company for it' (p. 77). Yes, that is totally it! That is exactly what I need right now to get my work done: company that won't bother me and that isn't silent. Good thing the wireless internet at Starbucks costs an arm and a leg (and therefore I don't use it). Otherwise I would be tempted to go online and that would be the end of getting any work done.  

I mentioned above that I know I like the coffee drinks at Starbucks. There is also something I know I don't like at Starbucks: their pastries! I think they taste bad, really bad. They taste of mass production and a gazillion ingredients. But hey, I shouldn't complain because I have the biggest sweet tooth (I actually think I have a mouth full of sweet teeth...) and I guess I'm a big enough food snob that I won't eat something if it doesn't seem worth it. 

Starbucks and Other Coffee Places

I just started reading a book called "Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture" by Taylor Clark. I have always wanted to read the dirt on Starbucks! Even though I'm only a few pages into the book, I have to share a passage. 

The author mentions that the most common complaint about Starbucks is the chain's ubiquity (I TOTALLY agree on that one. I thought I was going crazy when I saw two Starbucks across from each other on Robson Street in downtown Vancouver while I was vacationing there in summer 2006. Turns out the placement of these two stores was only the beginning of Starbucks' rise to fame in 1991). 

Anyways, here's the passage (on page 11) I want to share. It's kind of a "fun fact:"

"Which of the following places does not have a Starbucks?

A. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba

B. A Christian church in Munster, Indiana

C. Beirut, Lebanon

D. The town of Starbuck, Washington

E. The Great Wall of China"

And the answer is...D, of course, because it is the least outrageous place you would expect a Starbucks (until you come to know that the town of Starbuck has a population of 128). Looks like Starbucks is taking over the world...

I have to admit, though, that one can find me at Starbucks every now and then. In fact, while I lived in the US I hardly went there, but now that I live in Germany (and Nürnberg now has 4 stores within a ridiculously small radius) I find myself going there (even though I don't want to support such a big corporation) because having Starbucks reminds me of being in the US and I like having that feeling every now and then. I wonder what people who have never been to the US feel like when they go to Starbucks. Do they feel like they belong to the "in" crowd? To be honest, in the US Starbucks stores are often quite dirty and I prefer going to other chains, such as Peet's Coffee (where I first acquired a taste for iced mochas), and most preferably independent coffee houses! My favorite iced mochas I came across while living in Davis, California, could be found at Ciocolat where they top the mocha with delicious vanilla whipped cream and Mishka's. 

As I continue reading the book I hope I will have more infos to share!

Frozen Yogurt in Nürnberg!

I was soooo excited to see that a frozen yogurt shop had opened up in downtown Nürnberg! I had never seen frozen yogurt outside the United States and due to the decline of the quality of the ice cream offered in the numerous ice cream shops downtown I was glad that there seemed to be at least some hope to find a yummy cool and creamy refreshment. 

The new shop is called Yogär (a play on the word "yogurt" with the "ä" being slightly reminiscent of the "ä" found in Häagen-Dazs; little side note: contrary to common (American) belief, the brand name "Häagen-Dazs" is NOT a German word and actually means absolutely nothing). When I first saw the shop there weren't any customers in it so I thought I better not check it out. Funny thing is, this place is located right next to a small Italian ice cream shop and right across from a huge ice cream shop. These people have guts to open up a shop in the vicinity of these other two places which have been there for quite a while!

Last night I was downtown with some friends and we walked by Yogär and I saw a couple of customers in line so I thought "why not?" Yogär offers three sizes of original (no extra flavor) frozen yogurt: small, medium and large. The small size only costs €1,60 including toppings. I decided to go for a small frozen yogurt topped with blueberry-banana sauce. I would have preferred the raspberry sauce, but they were out. Other toppings they had included pineapple, cookie bits and m&m-type chocolate candies.

While the person behind the counter (possibly one of the two young owners) served up my yogurt I playfully asked whether the yogurt tasted like it does in the US. He replied that he had never been to the US but that a friend from Chicago who was staying in Nürnberg came to the shop every day to eat frozen yogurt. I wasn't sure whether that meant anything or not. I would just have to try it myself! 

So I paid for the yogurt and then dug in my spoon to get the first taste. It had a smooth mouthfeel and a slight tangy bite and tasted just like, guess what?...FROZEN YOGURT, like actual yogurt that was frozen and not some artifical conglomeration of chemicals and flavorings. Yogär's frozen yogurt only contains low fat milk and low fat yogurt. And there must be a sweetener of some kind, but I'm not sure what they use. Compare those few ingredients to the ingredient list of Pinkberry frozen yogurt, which apparently is all the rage in the US right now. There are 23 (!!!!!) ingredients in the "original" yogurt. Can you believe it??? My favorite part about the yogurt's ingredient list is the last ingredient: it says: "tocopherol (to maintain freshness)". Why would the yogurt need to be maintained "fresh"? It should be fresh to start out with! This is like cosmetic surgery for food. Ugh. It makes me sick. 

Anways, the verdict is: I will definitely go back! And I hope they become more popular because it would be a shame to see this shop not make it.  

Chocolate Shop in Munich

Last Friday I went on a day trip to Munich (one of my favorite cities in Germany) and stumbled upon a lovely chocolate shop: Stolberg Schokoladen, located in the heart of downtown. I have never seen such a wide selection of chocolates from different national and international companies. The shop felt very cozy despite the slighty cool air (to keep the chocolate from developing the undesirable white "bloom" due to temperature fluctuations). Each inch of shop space was covered with chocolates (bars, truffles, cocoa etc.) and other related products. The best part of the shop was that there were so many samples available. Who doesn't love samples? I find shops that don't offer samples kind of suspicious, like they have something to hide. And shop owners that don't offer samples make the impression of being cheap, a word that I do not like to see in combination with food.

Of all the samples I tried the weirdest sample was coriander seeds covered in chocolate. To say it in one sentence: I prefer my coriander in Indian cooking. But the chocolate-covered anise seeds offered by the same company (unfortunately I cannot recall the company's name) were delicious.

Here is a brief description of what I bought. Before I continue, however, I must say that this was the first chocolate specialty shop I have come across whose chocolates ALL tasted fresh and did not have any bloom!

• Dark chocolate nougat bar ("dunkel") by the German company Nougabella: very good flavor, especially the roastiness of the hazelnuts, but the filling is kind of sticky, reminiscent of peanut butter
• Marzipan bar "noisette" (with nougat) by Danish company Summerbird: good flavor, but I had expected more of the nougat filling and less marzipan, very good nonetheless 
• Dark chocolate nougat bar "noir praliné" by the Belgium company Le Chocolatier Manon: this was by far my absolute favorite; great hazelnut taste, great mouthfeel and delicious dark chocolate coating 
• Dark chocolate coconut sticks by the German company Mayer Junior: yummy! say goodbye to "Bounty" coconut bars, these were fantastic!