We ate dinner at Thai food 2 last Friday. It is 4 blocks from our hotel and one of the highly reviewed and recommended Thai places in town. It’s an unassuming little restaurant on the corner of a street (Straße, pronounced straase). When we walked in, we didn’t know what to do; the story of our lives right now. We’ve learned one thing as far as restaurants; in most German restaurants you seat yourselves. If there’s an open table, it’s yours. So at this restaurant we sat ourselves, outside and waited and waited for the server to take our order. And then we realized this is the kind of restaurant where we order at the counter and then seat ourselves for the food to arrive. We looked silly, I am sure, but it’s all a learning lesson. I am sure we’re breaking all kinds of social rules these days, but the best part is we both just laugh at each other. It’s fun discovering all this together.
Onto the food. I ordered Green Curry with Vegetables (Grün Curry mit Gemüse) and he ordered Panang Curry with Chicken (I can’t remember the name for Panang curry). We ordered our 2 main entrees and a bottle of hefeweizen (to share) and the total was 20 Euros, reasonable price. Within 5 minutes after seating our food was brought to us. Both curries were served with white rice. The first thing we both noted was the spice level, it was high! In America, the server or host asks for a spice level on a scale of 1- 5 or 1- 10; here there wasn’t a scale and we thought it tasted like a 7 or 8. It was delicious! The green curry was gingery with coconut milk base and had peppers, carrots, and zucchini. His panang curry was really good as well, the only vegetables he got with his chicken were red bell peppers and red chilies (that he decided to skip since the curry was already hot).
As we were walking home, we concluded that they don’t ask for a number on a scale for heat because they probably serve it like it would be in Thailand. I can safely say we’ve found a Thai place we will be going back to often.
I went to Hot Taco for lunch, alone. It’s in the Altstadt (old city) and close to all the shopping areas and touristy streets. I found it online because I was searching for fast food that wasn’t KFC, Burger King or McDonald’s. I had a hard time finding it because it’s a street that I haven’t ventured out to. I went in, ordered a Putenfleisch (bird meat, I believe this can be either chicken or turkey) Taco. I waited by the counter for my food until the cook said to me, “have a seat I’ll bring it to you” in Deutch. I sat down on the bar stool nearest to the kitchen counter so I could watch him make my taco. He made it rather quickly and how he assembled it was new to me. He filled a flour tortilla with meat and cheese and grilled it for 3 minutes, then filled it with the extras: corn, lettuce, salsa, sour cream. I tasted it without the habanero sacue and thought it was okay. I added the habanero sauce and still thought it was okay. I am just not a fan of flour tortillas so I guess that was the pitfall of this taco. I noticed they make burritos from the same flour tortilla. Hot Taco serves food on the go but I don’t think it’s my go-to place.
After walking around the castle and being a tourist for 3 hours, we were starving for a late lunch on Saturday. We’ve been to this Döner Kebab place for their Putenfleisch Döner. And it's conveniently located in the Altstadt. However, this time he suggested getting a Falafel to try something new. The falafel is made to order, so we watched the cook fry the falafels, heat the pita, and fill it with lettuce, tomato, and chili sauce. Their falafels are made with cilantro and chickpea base. It was hot when we were eating it but tasted really delicious and it was just the right late lunch snack. We had to eat it quickly before U1 arrived (No Food in the Train!). I’ll be looking for the perfect falafel but for now this fills the falafel niche.
About the restaurant names, Germans restaurant owners aren’t very creative when it comes to naming their place. There is a Thai Food, Thai Food 2 and Thai food 3; it won’t be long before Thai food 4 comes along. There’s also Stockholm that serves Swedish food. Or remember, Kartofell? My favorite name so far is Dim Sum and it serves Dim Sum. (We haven’t tried Dim Sum yet but plan to sometime this week).
Onto the food. I ordered Green Curry with Vegetables (Grün Curry mit Gemüse) and he ordered Panang Curry with Chicken (I can’t remember the name for Panang curry). We ordered our 2 main entrees and a bottle of hefeweizen (to share) and the total was 20 Euros, reasonable price. Within 5 minutes after seating our food was brought to us. Both curries were served with white rice. The first thing we both noted was the spice level, it was high! In America, the server or host asks for a spice level on a scale of 1- 5 or 1- 10; here there wasn’t a scale and we thought it tasted like a 7 or 8. It was delicious! The green curry was gingery with coconut milk base and had peppers, carrots, and zucchini. His panang curry was really good as well, the only vegetables he got with his chicken were red bell peppers and red chilies (that he decided to skip since the curry was already hot).
As we were walking home, we concluded that they don’t ask for a number on a scale for heat because they probably serve it like it would be in Thailand. I can safely say we’ve found a Thai place we will be going back to often.
I went to Hot Taco for lunch, alone. It’s in the Altstadt (old city) and close to all the shopping areas and touristy streets. I found it online because I was searching for fast food that wasn’t KFC, Burger King or McDonald’s. I had a hard time finding it because it’s a street that I haven’t ventured out to. I went in, ordered a Putenfleisch (bird meat, I believe this can be either chicken or turkey) Taco. I waited by the counter for my food until the cook said to me, “have a seat I’ll bring it to you” in Deutch. I sat down on the bar stool nearest to the kitchen counter so I could watch him make my taco. He made it rather quickly and how he assembled it was new to me. He filled a flour tortilla with meat and cheese and grilled it for 3 minutes, then filled it with the extras: corn, lettuce, salsa, sour cream. I tasted it without the habanero sacue and thought it was okay. I added the habanero sauce and still thought it was okay. I am just not a fan of flour tortillas so I guess that was the pitfall of this taco. I noticed they make burritos from the same flour tortilla. Hot Taco serves food on the go but I don’t think it’s my go-to place.
After walking around the castle and being a tourist for 3 hours, we were starving for a late lunch on Saturday. We’ve been to this Döner Kebab place for their Putenfleisch Döner. And it's conveniently located in the Altstadt. However, this time he suggested getting a Falafel to try something new. The falafel is made to order, so we watched the cook fry the falafels, heat the pita, and fill it with lettuce, tomato, and chili sauce. Their falafels are made with cilantro and chickpea base. It was hot when we were eating it but tasted really delicious and it was just the right late lunch snack. We had to eat it quickly before U1 arrived (No Food in the Train!). I’ll be looking for the perfect falafel but for now this fills the falafel niche.
About the restaurant names, Germans restaurant owners aren’t very creative when it comes to naming their place. There is a Thai Food, Thai Food 2 and Thai food 3; it won’t be long before Thai food 4 comes along. There’s also Stockholm that serves Swedish food. Or remember, Kartofell? My favorite name so far is Dim Sum and it serves Dim Sum. (We haven’t tried Dim Sum yet but plan to sometime this week).
hahaha these restaurant names crack me up! the thai place sounds amazing... i am jealous.
ReplyDeletehahaha i guess for a newcomer, their naming system makes it all easy to figure out what they serve! ;-)
ReplyDelete