Eurotrip Stop 2 Continued...

Continued…

One thing that my fiancé has always talked about was a traditional thing to do in Germany called kaffee und kuchen, or coffee and cake. Its something that takes place in the afternoon after your lunch when you need a refreshing bit of caffeine and a sweet something to savor. We did this one day at a small café. We ordered a few traditional German desserts and a round of espressos and cappuccinos for everyone. The cakes that we ordered were the apfel strudel and a hazelnut and chocolate cake. Both were very good, and it was a nice treat to have in the middle of the afternoon. Life in Germany is very easy going and the people just seem to be so happy.

When we traveled to Salzburg, Austria for a few days, we stopped in the mountains on the way back as once we crossed back into the German border for some lunch. It was a beautiful setting in the base of the mountains, with more greenery than you can possibly imagine. We grabbed a seat outside and took a look at the menu. The menu had a very mountain region feel to it. Things were very rustic, and I liked the different look of the food style in this particular part of Munich. I wound up ordering venison goulash with juniper berries, potato croquettes and smoky bacon. This was hands down the best meal I had in Germany. The venison was incredibly tender, and the gravy it was served in was sublime. I never would have thought of potato croquettes to be associated with German food, but these were as good as any that I have had and they paired amazingly well with the warm and homey Venison. The bacon blew my socks off. It was nice and thick cut and probably the smokiest bacon I have ever had. I wanted to take some home with me it was so good. Not to be outdone, we ordered some coffee and dessert and they turned out to be just as good as our main courses. We ordered the apfel strudel, rhabarbakuchen and heidelbeere streusel. These three are some very traditional german dishes. They love rhubarb, blueberries and apples, so they make really nice desserts out of them. They were all senestational. They were fresh without being overpoweringly sweet. You really gotta try them all!

On our last evening out in Munich before we headed home, we decided to hit the locals favorite brewhouse…the Augustiner brewery. We had heard that the food was best here, and that they did not export their beer to very many places, so we would be getting local beer that we may not be able to get back home. Again we started the evening with the Augustiner Helles and proceeded our ways through to the Pilsner and the Dunkel. As if I hadn’t had enough sausage on the trip, I decided to go all in for our final meal out and order the sausage platter, a platter full of bockwurst, knackwurst, bratwurst and nurmberger sausages, as well as sauerkraut. I ordered some Spaetzel with my meal because I had yet to have it on our trip. We started each meal with the German staple of pretzels, and these were definitely the best that we had on the trip. That crunchy exterior was dreamy. There just isn’t anything to compare it to here other than heaven. I tried not to eat too much pretzel because I knew how much food I was getting later and I was definitely ready when it came out. A beautiful plate full of sausages and sauerkraut landed in front of me and I dug in without hesitation. Bockwurst is a traditional German sausage made from veal and pork. Knackwurst is a traditional fatter sausage with a lot of seasonings, a pork and veal mixture and a nice smoky flavor. These are really tasty sausages in additional to the bratwust which I found very different from the American varieties I have had before. It is much more finely ground and a much smoother texture. It's very nicely seasoned and the casing has an amazing snap to it.

The sauerkraut was so amazingly tasty. Easily some of the most flavorful I have ever had. It was very fresh and then it had the pickled flavor I was looking for with just the perfect amount of seasoning to it. It was perfect with each and every bite of the sausages. I was really disappointed in the spaetzel though. I was expecting it to be buttery and rich and just a little bit toasted like my favorite spaetzel here in Philly, but it was a little dry and pretty cold by the time it got to me. I didn’t really eat a lot of it, but there was more than enough sausage and sauerkraut for me to fill up on.

It was plum season in Germany, and my fiancé was hoping that she would be able to have some plumkuchen while we were there. Luckily we found some at the Augustiner meal and she ordered it up. It was very tasty. Plums aren’t something that I grew up eating very often, but I have become very fond of them recently. They are full of flavor and they make incredible desserts because of their sweetness and tartness. This particular cake was just that and had a light airy crust to it, the perfect ending to an amazing meal.

Munich felt like home to me from the second that we arrived. It was my favorite place that we visited last year, and I would go back in a heartbeat. I could totally see myself living there at some point. The food is beyond delicious, even though you definitely cant eat like that all the time. Its very heavy sometimes, but other times it was just right. Munich is an amazing place for a food and beer fan, and you should definitely check it our sometime soon! Prost!