The Three Wise Men have once again proved their worth. After growling my way through the last month trying to stick to my Weight Watchers points, The Family (of three) took a vote that I should be taken to a restaurant before I actually ate any of them. You don’t need to give me Gold (okay, maybe), Incense (stinks anyway) and Myrrh (am going to have to look up what it is before I continue…) to make me happy – JUST FEED ME!!

We arranged to meet friends of the family who live just outside Nuernberg, about 1 ½ hours from here – the lengths they have to go to keep me happy. Actually, I am “feathering myself with false feathers” (bet you’ve never heard that one before!) OR in German “Sich mit fremden Federn schmucken” OR giving myself false credit. But still, I was thrilled to eat out AND at such a great restaurant. The photo below shows one of the decorated tables in the restaurant.

The place was packed!! We had to wait for the second (and not last) sitting at 1pm (hey, Germans eat early, thank goodness) as we couldn’t get a table before that. We were a table of 7 happy bunnies plus one adorable West Highland doggy. You’ll meet them all later, but today you are getting to enjoy the memory of a great meal with me. There was a full length mirror in the hallway (near where the photo below was taken) and written on it was something along the lines of:
“The most important asset of this restaurant is looking at you right now!”
How clever is that?!

They have an A la carte menu and a daily set menu. We were there last Sunday and for Euro16,80 you got a magnificent three course meal. There was more than enough food, it was beautifully presented, tasted great and the service was excellent. We had Maria (not photographed) as our main waitress, the friendliest person (after me, of course) on this planet. I photographed the waitress you see on top as she was wearing the traditional “Dirndl” – this is a traditional German dress worn mainly in southern Germany and has the same importance as the kilt to the Scottish.

BUT now we move on to the food, yummie!

The first course was a Leberknoedelsuppe. Don’t know what that is? It’s a Liver dumpling soup. Stop pulling such a face!!! It is deeelicious, so try it before you pull a face like that again, damnit. The broth was beef and was a tad salty for my taste, but otherwise superb.

The next course on the set menu was “Wildschweinbraten mit Kartoffelklos und Pilzsosse“. Need help again? Roast wild boar with a potato dumpling and mushroom sauce. Again, this was beautifully presented and tasted deeelicious - I stole some from Gudrun as I ordered something else…

I decided to order the local specialty of Roast Pork shoulder (with its crackling), oodles of gravy and a huge potato dumpling. When I fall off the wagon, I really fall off the wagon. Again, it was superb to say the very least. And due to the presence of the doggy, I could quite comfortably ask for a doggy bag. Sorry Onya (the doggy), but as much as I love you, Pork shoulder is pork shoulder and tastes even better warmed up! I did manage to eat all the crackling as that just goes rubbery so you MUST eat it, tu va?

As an aside, German dumplings differ from English ones in that they seldom are made from flour, but more often from bread or in this case freshly grated potatoes. They are formed into balls and then simmered in a pot of boiling water till done. During my stay here I will make some and give you a German Dumpling 101 course. Oh yes, Ekkehard (and I am spelling it correctly) had a Fish Dish which looked superb – I only just met the man so leaning over and digging in will have to wait till next time…

I did not have dessert, but I did taste Joerg’s and it was also very good. It was a Strawberry and Chocolate pannacotta – I am going to have to invent a recipe for this as it was so pretty and tasty that I too would like to enchant my guests with its beauty and flavor.

I had an espresso and basta.

PS: I just looked up Myrrh and there seems to be a discussion as to whether it is an anointing oil or an embalming oil. Embalming oil?! Give me food, thank you very much!!

You can find the restaurant here (even has English translations):
www.distlerhof.de