Thoughts on eating in restaurants & buying groceries in Germany [View all]

[Cairycat]

We (husband, grown son and I) just got back from a 10 day trip to Germany. We spent six days in Berlin, then took the train to the small northern Bavarian town of Kitzingen, where I lived in the mid seventies, and were there two nights, one day. I kept a journal and noted most of the restaurants we ate at and the food, but wanted to share some general thoughts.

Berlin is a very dynamic, multicultural city. There are an enormous number of restaurants, representing many cuisines, especially Middle Eastern. With so many places to eat, it's relatively inexpensive to eat in restaurants, bakeries and cafes in Berlin.

In Germany, one usually just seats oneself in a restaurant. Usually though, if you exhibit some hesitation, restaurant staff will ask how many are in your party and seat you. The international signal that you're ready to order is closed menus. Every place we ate, they got each person's food order and then took drink orders, whereas, at least where I live, you order your food and drink at the same time. Sometimes, if we looked to be having trouble deciding what we wanted, they'd get the drinks first and then get the food order.

Both in Berlin and in Kitzingen, in ethnic and in German restaurants, the food was served very attractively. It being summer, many dishes were garnished with tomato and cucumber, and sometimes fresh fruit as well. It seemed that rather more care and attention was paid to presentation than is often the case in the US, especially in restaurants that are not high end.

Food in Germany is served piping hot. Not that you often get cold or lukewarm food it the US, but in Germany it was always really hot.

Our appetites may have been affected by traveling and touring, but we found the German portions quite large and often more than we could eat at a sitting.

I think in Germany people are more accustomed to sitting and enjoying dinner companions' company. In the US, the server tends to bring the bill as soon as they note you're finished (or in a busy place may even try to rush you a little), but we had to learn to either allow plenty of time for a meal, or risk looking like impatient Americans and ask for the bill.

We did do some grocery shopping. Food prices, at least in Berlin, seem cheaper for a lot of things than they are here. Beer can be had for 59 Euro cents for a half liter bottle. A kilo of Italian apricots was 1.49 Euros - California apricots had been selling for $2.99 a pound here in Iowa, so that's roughly four times the price. Much produce and other foodstuffs were "bio" (organic) and not that much more expensive than the regular kind.

There is a deposit on most bottles and cans of drinks - often 25 Euro cents, so it adds up.

I plan to talk about specific meals in the "What's for dinner" and breakfast threads, but thought you might be interested in my general observations.