• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

Germany wakes up to the fry-up as British cuisine takes off in Berlin

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Germany wakes up to the fry-up as British cuisine takes off in Berlin

    This article is a good read. They import our egg and bacay we import their audis and bmws, I!

    Germany wakes up to the fry-up as British cuisine takes off in Berlin | World news | The Guardian

    "My friends think I am a total freak," said Christina Franz, as she washed down her full English with a mug of milky tea on Tuesday. "They cannot understand why I like British food so much – Sunday roasts, scones and clotted cream, cooked breakfasts of course." Even white sliced bread, she added cheerfully, to the visible disgust of her boyfriend, Kai.

    The 33-year-old German was delighted when she heard that a cafe serving British cuisine had opened up in Berlin in May. She had been suffering withdrawal symptoms following a two-year spell in the UK when East London – subtitled God Save Brit Food – started serving scotch eggs, bacon and egg butties and steak and ale pies in the trendy Kreuzberg district.

    Franz has become a "Stammkunden" – a regular – and is one of a growing band of Germans who see British cuisine not as a bad joke but a treat. Until recently, homesick Brits in the German capital had to fill their suitcases full of baked beans and proper tea whenever they returned home – or scuttle off to the niche shop, Broken English, which recently expanded to include a third branch. Now, though, there is an increasing number of bars and cafes in Berlin offering British produce as their USP.

    East London is no greasy spoon, but a high-end caff touting British food as an upmarket delicacy. A full breakfast costs an eyebrow-raising €9.50 (£8.30) and a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale will set you back €4.50 (£3.90). A humble cup of English breakfast tea is €2.90 (£2.50). Nadine Sauerzapfe, the 31-year-old German owner, said she chose the name because "East London is the most hip part of London". While many fashion-following Shoreditch and Dalston hipsters consider Berlin to be their spiritual home, it seems the pull works the other way around too.

    Anyone craving Irn-Bru can head to Das Gift, a new pub in the rapidly gentrifying Neukölln district run by Barry Burns, a musician in the Glaswegian band Mogwai, along with his Scottish wife, Rachel. Popular bar snacks include salt'n'vinegar crisps and Tunnock's Caramel Wafers.

    Das Gift offers a large range of Scottish ales from breweries such as Williams Brothers and Brewdog. "The majority of customers who buy them are German, and they are very enthusiastic about trying them since they aren't very common in Germany at all," said Rachel. The beer is authentic but for one crucial difference. "I know some Scottish ales are recommended to be served at room temperature but summers in Berlin are sometimes just so hot and humid that a cold beer is necessary."

    Back in Kreuzberg, Jim Hudson spends a good part of each day explaining to curious customers exactly what clotted cream is. "As I understand it, it's like a cross between butter and cream," said Annekatrin Trautmann, a dancer and actor, after polishing off two scones lathered in the mysterious dairy product. "Anyway, it was delicious."

    Hudson's, the corner cafe Jim runs with his wife, Katie, specialises in British baking. Encouraged to set up the business after Katie's cakes were so well-received by their German neighbours, Hudson's is now so popular that tables for the famous cooked breakfasts on the weekends must be booked ahead first – a relative rarity in laissez-faire Berlin.

    Katie says she sees herself "a little bit" as an ambassador for the much-maligned British cooking. "Every time we are interviewed by a German journalist they always say that British food has a terrible reputation, but that's usually because they once went on a school exchange and were served beans on toast every night," she said. "Jim always says, well, no one exactly says 'I'm going out for a German tonight', either."

    Deborah Gottlieb, an editor at Der Feinschmecker, Germany's top food magazine, said British chefs were to thank for the improving reputation of British cuisine. "Jamie Oliver – and not only him – has helped increase the popularity of British cooking," she said. "For German gourmets, London has long been a favourite destination because of the large selection of top-class food from around the world." Fergus Henderson's "Nose to Tail" philosophy of eating has also been adopted by many top German restaurants, she added.

    Oliver is a big star in Germany: three years ago the Essex chef even endorsed a Jamie Oliver cabaret show, which sold tickets for €89 (£78) a pop. But his recipes are nowhere to be seen in Kreuzberg's East London.

    "Delia we are influenced by," said Sauerzapfe. "Gordon Ramsay too. But not Oliver. His dishes are too Mediterranean for us."
    "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

    #2
    My experience of feeding Germans British food is that they love Yorkshire pudding and Cornish pasties. I reckon a restaurant that did proper stuff like shepherds pie & sausage and mash would work quite well in Munich.
    While you're waiting, read the free novel we sent you. It's a Spanish story about a guy named 'Manual.'

    Comment


      #3
      Plan B?

      Could open a stall..
      "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

      Comment


        #4
        I finally found a McDonalds in continental Europe recently whose staff member claimed that they sold milkshakes, oh joy, although he did add some ominous waffle in broken English that I hoped wouldn't affect the main premise of the claim too much. So I enquired as to how much a Big Mac Meal would cost with a milkshake instead of a coke, half expecting there to be a supplement to the already hefty €6.50 price tag, since milkshakes in Europe seem to be as common as hens teeth. It would be an extra €2! Though having a priori steeled myself for an extra, I was still left semi-stunned by the audacity of the magnitude of the extra cost and decided, after a thoughtful delay, to stick with the coke, as the milkshake meal would be over €8, which is a lot of money for such few calories.

        Anyway next day, having decided to swallow this hefty cost as a one-off treat, I resolved to buy said meal. So a 4 mile mouth watering trek it was to be! Big Mac Meal with Milkshake I ordered, offering a crisp €10 note to be reluctantly snatched from my grip in exchange. "What flavour topping sir", he said. Topping? WTF topping. "Strawberry", I said. Imagine my disappointment when he returned with my 'milkshake', which was little more than a thimble full of something milkshake-like with gunk he'd squirted on top. As this food item would have to be thrown away now that it had been made, I took it and put it down to experience. It was okay, but way, way too small and not to mention hideously expensive.

        Before I left the counter with my minuscule 'milkshake', and after he'd torn my crisp €10 note, presumably to check whether it was counterfeit as he'd done the previous day, I enquired how much the bottled water was. €2.50! Jeez, only a few metres away in the self same establishment was a spigot that provided an almost boundless quantity of fresh water that hasn't been sat in a plastic bottle for months, and where you can fill up all your own water bottles, and have a quick wash and grab some tissues. Anyway that was my biggest spend item while on holiday, apart from the flight cost. With those prices I might have to give McDonalds a miss, though it is also a handy plave for for free WiFi, water, washing, tissues, and lastly food devoid of deliciously icy milkshake calories. WTF is it with Europe and milkshakes?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by doodab View Post
          My experience of feeding Germans British food is that they love Yorkshire pudding and Cornish pasties. I reckon a restaurant that did proper stuff like shepherds pie & sausage and mash would work quite well in Munich.
          Any foreign restaurant should flourish in Munich, German cuisine is disgusting IMHO.

          I always eat Italian or Turkish when in Deutschland.
          Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired. - Cave Johnson

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by gingerjedi View Post
            German cuisine is disgusting IMHO.

            What's wrong with it? I picture sausages, chocolate and busty women with beer?

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by wim121 View Post
              What's wrong with it? I picture sausages, chocolate and busty women with beer?
              Käsewurst and proper kebabs - nuff said...

              Comment


                #8
                On the McD thread... it's so unfair in America Burger King does french toast (the most oily deepfried version ever) with little fried potatoes for breakfast for like $2.

                Why isn't there a fast-food hot dog chain?
                Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                Originally posted by vetran
                Urine is quite nourishing

                Comment


                  #9
                  I love Sunday roast but I have one tiny problem with that Yorkshire pudding concept - wtf is it empty?

                  I mean FFS, it should be called "Yorkshire Shell" or something to this effect, otherwise it is very misleading!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Lots of places they serve the dinner inside a plate-sized YP. Or fill it with mince. Nice.

                    Or you could have it as a dessert with jam
                    Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                    I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
                    Originally posted by vetran
                    Urine is quite nourishing

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X