My European Tour: The Food

One of the most amazing things about Europe is the accessibility of bakeries, cafes and restaurants.  Though there are some chains, most are small businesses with great chefs that prepare amazing food!  I have to admit that not everything we ate was amazing, but so much of it was that I feel the need to share!

Doener - Actually spelled "D'O umlaut'ner" in German.  The "o umlaut" is actually an "o" with two small dots above.

I'm starting with my favorite, the Doener.  Many restaurants throughout Germany and the surrounding area sell Doener's, but none as good as Mustafas Gemuese Kebap.  The Doener consists of toasted bread (shaped kind of like a pita) with kebap chicken (think of the meat on the stick at a Greek restaurant), seasoned vegetables, feta, and cucumber salad (and a choice of 3 or 4 sauces - I only tried the garlic sauce).  The chicken and vegetables are seasoned and cooked perfectly.  The flavors and textures are perfect, a little crunchy and a little melt in your mouth.  It's perfect!

This little stand has the best Doener available.  There is always a line, according to my husband, even at 2 am, but it's worth the wait.

Chocolate Muffin from a Bakery Near Our Flat in Berlin

Pastries and Desserts!  Sugary treats were always in abundance, and so hard to refuse!

Apple Fritters with Vanilla Ice Cream from Bratwurst Roeslein in Nuremberg

Trdlenik in Prague

Pastries from the 15 Suesse Minuten Bakerei

One day we were searching Vienna for a bakery.  There weren't many bakeries in the area of the town we were in so we really didn't think we'd find anything.  Then we saw a photo of that amazing waffle above on an A-frame sign on the street.  We walked in to check it out and discovered that this bakery, 15 Suesse Minuten, was run by a young chef who made everything himself (well maybe he had help, but it was all made fresh in the bakery).  This was our lunch on our second day in Vienna... that must be why I liked Europe so much!

Homemade Pasta with Fresh Pesto Sauce, Pecorino Cheese and Dried Beef

The Pasta above rivals the Doener for my favorite meal.  Homemade pasta with fresh pesto sauce (so fresh that you could taste the fresh herbs), pecorino cheese and dried beef.  This was pretty amazing!  It was from an Italian Restaurant in Vienna called Da Capo that we found wondering the streets looking for food.  We passed it up the first time we walked by but ended up going back.  It was so worth it!  I could have eaten there over and over and over!

Now that I've taken a break to share an actual meal, back to the pastries!

Apple and Strawberry Pastries in Wittenberg

Poppyseed Pastry in Kruezberg, Berlin

Delicious pastries on a beautiful day in Wittenberg (see my full post on our visit to Wittenberg here).  Wittenberg is a super cute little town, and this bakery was right in the middle of town.  The street was quiet, the sun was out, the pastries were amazing, and we had a great view of the Schlosskirche from the outdoor seating.

The second pastry above was one of my favorites.  Bakeries are the best because you don't have to be able to read/speak German.  You just choose by looking and pointing.  I later found out that the little black specs in this pastry are ground up poppy seeds, though I would have never known. Though the poppy seeds probably added some flavor, I have a feeling that what made me like it so much was the obscene amount of sugar.

Cheese and Raspberry Danish in Kreuzberg

The pastries above came from a cafe on the corner of our street in Berlin... exactly what I needed after a good run at Templehof, an old airport turned park near our flat.

Pizza in Linz, Austria

Pizza is always one of my favorites, and we enjoyed this one from Pizzeria Verona in Linz, Austria.  Funny story though, the English menu called this pizza salami and pepperoni.  We hadn't seen pepperoni in the area and were really excited to have pepperoni.  Unfortunately, pepperoni was lost in translation, and instead of pepperoni, we got this peperoncini on top of our pizza.  Small pieces of peperoncini added an interesting flavor to our salami pizza.  It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting!

Delicious Meal from Restaurant Z in Kreuzberg

Restaurant Z is a Greek restaurant, located on Friesenstrasse, about a block from our flat (note that when I say our flat, I mean the flat that my husband was staying in during our time in Berlin).  This was another AMAZING meal!  As an appetizer, we had feta dip with all of the important greek ingredients and warm bread for dipping.  Then, we got the meal pictured above:  chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped with bacon with potatoes on the side.  This is a restaurant that I'd go to often if I lived in Berlin.

Cafe Frauenhuber (Mrs. Huber Cafe) in Vienna boasts such guests as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.  The actual meal, in the first photo above, was kind of like a crepe stuffed with meat, swimming in sauce.  This wasn't our favorite meal in Vienna (see above for our favorite), but it was good - though a little heavy at lunch time.  It was on a quiet street, and we sat on the patio.

And what's a trip to Germany without a little Bratwurst?  We purchased this one in Wittenberg and enjoyed it during our drive from Wittenberg to Nuremberg.

Check out some of my other posts of our trip for photos of the cities we visited and some of the history of the area!