Following Julia’s call to try a new restaurant in her part of town, we started last Saturday first with a long walk in a nearby park (only available in German) to entertain her dog Becky. Of course entertaining the dog was only partly the reason to walk in the woods, I also wanted to work up some appetite before having an early dinner in the late afternoon (one has to do new places justice by ordering a lot and sampling as much as possible). The appetite part was easily achieved since the walk turned into some kind of mud-wrestling between the ground and my boots. My boots lost by the way. They are still residing on the balcony, waiting to be cleaned… (where are the elves when I need them?)
Anyway, I am starting to ramble again, the point was to get hungry with the help of some fresh air and this worked marvelously. We arrived at the Gasthaus Herbeck shortly after 5pm with more or less clean boots (so glad nobody took a closer look).
The restaurant looked already impressive from the outside, a bit like an enchanted castle. It might not show in this grey/early evening picture but I was also told that the garden in summer is especially nice. You can sit underneath lots of old chestnut trees and enjoy the shade.
Inside it was light and airy which was due to the high ceiling and large windows. The windows though were also a bit of a problem, there was quite a draft (and ivy growing through a window inside which is probably really charming in summer).
I started my meal with a “Gabelbissen” (this is how the store-bought looks. So far I never had a home-made one)”. Just seeing this on the menu instantly aroused my curiosity to try it. And what a delicious choice! I remember eating the store-bought one at boarding school for dinner, and it was always a mayonnaise heavy culinary disaster. But here it was light and fluffy, with a hint of sour cream in the mayonnaise and apples folded in with the vegetables. The two slices of ham that went with it made it into a most memorable starter.
As a main course Julia and I had both the bull’s liver with potatoes. It tasted excellent and I just love it when there is enough sauce to mash the potatoes in. The liver itself was good but could have come out of the pan a bit earlier.
The portions were generous so after the liver I was already more than happy. But since Julia skipped the starter she ordered a lava cake. It tasted fine but there was no danger from any chocolate eruptions. I don’t think Julia missed it though because the cake was gone in a flash.
I am looking forward to revisiting the Herbeck to try some more. There were a few dishes I had to decide in-between. That is really the only drawback when you go out for dinner with just one friend (and the friend then orders the same as you), you can’t try it all (such a difference to the Duspara experience). But any reason is a good reason to come again. So in Arnold’s words: “I’ll be back”.
Yours, Pollybert
No pict of dog Becky :-(