Würzburg and Gasthof Bären in Randersacker

Last weekend my mom and I went to Würzburg to do some Christmas shopping and to see the Christmas market in nearby Sommerhausen. Würzburg has lots of nice little shops, for example Sinus Shopping and Eckhaus Wohnaccessoires. We also stopped at Café Michel and bought a piece of poppyseed strudel (Mohnstrudel), a piece of cherry strudel (Kirschstrudel) and a piece of poppyseed cake (Mohnkuchen) to enjoy the next day. The poppyseed cake was my favorite of the three.

After browsing through Würzburg we made our way to Sommerhausen. The Christmas market was set up partly in courtyards and partly in houses and galleries. The emphasis on arts and crafts is what sets it apart from other Christmas markets. Of course they were selling the traditional mulled wine (Glühwein), but I don't drink it because it's usually sickly sweet. 

We quickly browsed the market and then headed to the restaurant, Gasthof Bären, in Randersacker where we had reservations. The meal turned out to be excellent. I ordered char cooked with vegetables and served with potatoes (Saibling blau). 

My mom had leg of venison with vegetables and fried dumplings (rosa gebratene Rehkeule mit Gemüse und gebratenen Serviettenknödeln).

 

Then for dessert we ordered the selection of desserts (Dessertvariation). It included Christstollen parfait (geeistes Christstollenparfait), rum pot (Rumtopf), quince mousse (Quittenmousse), mango sorbet (Mangosorbet) and some other kind of sorbet. Christstollen is a typical German Christmas specialty. It's a yeast cake generally made with flour, sugar, butter, milk, raisins, candied orange and candied lemon peel and topped with powdered sugar. There are many variations, such as a stollen made with marzipan, which is my favorite. Rum pot is also a Christmas specialty. You start making it in summer by using fresh fruit and soaking it in rum and sugar. Throghout the coming months you keep adding more fruit and rum. Towards the end of the maturing process you add spices. The rum pot is then served, e.g. with ice cream, around Christmas.