Germany

President Kennedy once said, “Ich bin ein Berliner” - calling himself a donut rather than a resident of Berlin. Donuts or not, we sure love German food!

Germany: the land of the schnitzels, all kinds of wursts and beer. Or at least that’s what it seems like from the outside.

German cuisine sometimes has a reputation for being bland. That may have been the case in prehistoric times, given that people mostly had access to wheat, rye and livestock. But since the Romans, the food grew in variety and sophistication.

Today, you can go from place to place sampling delicious food. German food has a wonderful mix of sweet and savoury. From freshly baked bread, locally sourced meats, and, of course, delicious desserts. Don’t get us started on desserts, from the Black Forest cakes, to Baumkuchen (tree cake), to all the spiced cookies.

German cuisine varies with the regions; the mountains, the coastal villages, and plains all have their own traditions. Like the Nordics, Germans use preservation techniques like saltine, smoking, curing and pickling all types of produce.

Polina is well versed in German food, given she travels there for the Christmas markets almost yearly. But German Christmas food is only a small sub-section of the delicious cuisine.

What we love about Germany is their unusual food schedule. For breakfast, along with their cups of coffee, Germans enjoy freshly baked breads served with a variety of meats, cheeses and spreads. Unlike in many other countries we’ve experienced, lunch is the key meal of the day. This is usually a hot meal, often featuring meat with some potatoes and veggies. Evening meal in Germany is called Abendbrot (evening bread), and, yes, you guessed it, more bread with spreads, meats and cheeses. Polina said that on her travels she found it odd to have a cold meal in the evening, but it doesn’t take away from the delicious ingredients that are placed on the table.

One thing is for sure, with over 300 different types of breads, 1,500 types of wursts and each town having their own beers and pilsners, they will sooner roll us out of Germany than us sampling all the delicacies Germany has to offer

We had a couple of options on how to approach the German food experience. While we could've gone for a more sophisticated restaurant style location, we decided to go for the Bavarian beer hall.

Bierschenke

Bierschenke’s motto is “Bringing Munich to London”. This Bavarian beer hall aims to achieve a sense of “Gemütlichkeit”, a welcome feeling and good spirit. And we have to give it to them, Bierschenke definitely has the Bavarian beer hall vibe, with the large wooden tables and benches, along with a bar lined with plenty of beer options.

A tip for anyone wishing to go to such a place, we'd recommend going in the evening when it undoubtedly has a livelier atmosphere, even Oompah music parties! We went for a lunchtime meal, because we needed the evening to watch Eurovision, of course. The place felt a bit listless at lunch, with TV showing football, which didn’t help (although Germans do love their football).

The staff wore the traditional leather lederhosen and dirndl, which definitely added to the experience. Although it got a bit confusing where to order, we have to say that after a stein, you forget all about it. The waitress helped us pick out the right amount of food for a big group like ours (sharing platters are the way forward!). Overall, the service wasn't bad, but it was a little lacklustre.

Bierschenke gets their sausages delivered from the best butchers in Germany, so we had a good selection of sausages, all of which tasted excellent. They were definitely of good quality meat, and not just filled out with fat or gristle. The schnitzels were decent, but nothing to write home about. The biggest letdown was the lack of dessert choices, given that Germany has some absolutely amazing sweet treats. Their apple strudel (which is associated with Austrian cuisine) was just nothing compared to having strudel in an Austrian place (sorry, not sorry)!

We said at the start that German food has a reputation for being bland. The flavours were all there, the sausages were truly delicious. Looking at the pictures, there isn’t that colourful variety that you would see at a Sunday roast or on a beautifully decorated French dish. We have to say, we missed our veggies, but the yummy pretzels made up for that!

At the end of the afternoon, we left with full stomachs and perhaps a little tipsy (those Stein's are deceptive). And all for a really reasonable price per head.

Time to turn our attention to the east of Europe.

Recommendations

While we are only able to go to one place per country, we want to share with you some other awesome places we found/got recommended if you want to try it out and let us know

• Stein's Berlin, SW7 2PH - A family business, that is an established favourite with German expats
• Katzenjammers, SE1 1TY - Another well know Bavarian beer hall in London