Friday 25 June 2010

One recommendation and half of one



One of these places I took my parents to when my dad was still alive. On the way back to the city from the airport, I made a big deal about how most places where you ate were smoking. My mother is a former smoker, and the then-European style of restaurants/cafes where smoking was still allowed was hard for her to bear. So here I was reminding them that places rarely had non-smoking sections like places in the States. It just wasn't done, I warned them.

Then we went to this place that first day of their trip, and the first thing the lady asked us as we walked in was, 'Rauchen oder Nicht Rauchen?'

I couldn't believe it. My mother's German is good enough that she knew that all of my earlier words were wasted. Here was a place that had an entire room where we could eat without the nicotine-stained air. Needless to say, we ate their multiple times on that trip. Since then, my dad has moved on and my mother makes it over here more often. Now it's against the law to smoke in pubs and restaurants, and my mom is in heaven when we walk into a place to eat.




The bakery I like has two locations, and I actually prefer the other one. Not because it's nicer or better (it isn't), but because this one gets far more traffic. At the weekend, there's a line out the door. Mothers with kidlets in tow, single men clearly grabbing breakfast on the way home from a run, elderly retirees who have enough of a pension to afford the obscene prices. You can find quite a selection of Germans who know this is the best place in the hood.

So which one is the recommendation? Well, although the Jagdschlössl has a reputable history of providing their customers with anon-smoking option, the food is nothing more than average. They know it. the customers know it. No one goes there for the quality of the fare. It's not that it's bad. It's not bad. It's meh...one thumb up.

If you want a Bavarian eating experience and the beer is more important than the food, then the Jagdschlössl is just for you.

I can happily send you to the bakery, though. It's pricey, but worth the bother. Everything's organic and made with obvious love. The ladies behind the Theke, are friendly and granola and will make you think of that one place in your university town where they made decent hippie bread. This is that place for Neuhausen.

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