By Don Heimburger Photos by the author or as noted
Wacker’s Kaffee is a third generation family-owned and run coffee shop in Frankfurt, Germany, which I heard about while on a city tour bus.
As the bus zipped past the small shop at Kornmart 9, I had just enough time to see its facade and notice all the customers lined up for coffee. The tour guide recommended the little establishment, which has been in business since 1914, or nearly 100 years.
It’s taken a while for me to actually “like” a good cup of strong German coffee, but now when I return to the U.S., I miss its rich flavor. So a taste-testing trip to this shop was in order, especially since I knew how to find it, and the small shop looked interesting.
When time allowed, it was back to the shop, and trying to squeeze in the shop among the other customers was a challenge. Customers were lined up both for coffee to drink right there—Germany hasn’t become tuned in yet to the term “to go”—and to buy coffee beans in bags.
FILLED WITH CUSTOMERS The several tables outside were filled with customers in December savoring their hot cups of Wacker’s kaffee, while others at the inside counter were purchasing bags of coffee beans and other Wacker’s products (they sell coffee mugs and other coffee-related items).
To keep customers a bit warmer outside, the seats are covered in the burlap bags from the coffee beans, a nice touch.
In the rear of the shop, customers were crowded around several tables, enjoying their coffee and kuchen, which is also served.
The business began when Luise Wacker opened a coffee shop at the location in 1914. Previous to this, a store was located here where the famous writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe purchased his milk supplies.
Comments about the store on Trip Advisor include these two:
“Definitely the best coffee shop in Frankfurt. There are generally two lines, both often stretching out the door; the one on the left is for those who want to order drinks, while the one on the right is for those who want to buy coffee beans. The shop is also very small with limited seating, so when the weather is nice (or even just tolerable), you will see customers spread out both in front of the shop, and sitting on the stone wall across the street, enjoying their coffee and pastries.
“What non-German speakers may find intimidating is that, when the shop is quite busy, the cashier will shout out to customers further back in the line, asking them for their order. Luckily, the words for cappuccino, espresso and latte are generally the same in both English and German, so you should feel comfortable simply shouting your order back to her. “
Another customer said: “Great coffee. The smell is worth it alone.”
Wacker’s offers a long list of ready to drink coffees, and beans, so you’ll need a moment to figure out what you want. Coffee beans, available in bags of 500 grams each, include beans from Mexico, Java, India, Nicaragua, Galapagos, Cuba and Brazil, and expresso beans come from Jamaica, Guatemala, Costa Rica and other locations. I counted 40 bean types available from the shop.
Once your order is ready, you’ll be treated to some really good coffee, German-style!
In 2012, Munich and Upper Bavaria are celebrating an old Bavarian tradition. The 200th anniversary of the edict which permitted beer brewers to sell retail quantities of their own beer in their beer cellars from June until September and to serve beer and bread to their guests will be celebrated this year. The city and the breweries of Munich will offer numerous events in local beer gardens.
MUNICH – THE WORLD CITY OF BEER Big city, high-tech atmosphere mixed with rural charm, art treasures and traditional customs create a very special “Munich mix” which has helped the capital of Bavaria to achieve world renown. But what adds the final touch to the city’s popularity is the drink associated with Munich throughout the world: beer.
BEER GARDEN ETIQUETTE Bavarian beer gardens fulfill an important social function, as they have always been considered to be a popular meeting point for a wide spectrum of the populace. Visitors should not hesitate to take a seat and start up a conversation with their neighbors at the table. Munich’s beer gardens and the beer gardens in Upper Bavaria are the epitome of Bavarian Gemütlichkeit – the uniquely Bavarian atmosphere of good living, warmth and comfort. And it’s been that way for 200 years.
BRING YOUR OWN FOOD Bring your own food! A special element of visiting a traditional beer garden in Munich is the fact that guests can bring their own food with them. A perfect Brotzeit, as a beer garden picnic is known, might contain the following: Obazda (a delicious and very Bavarian soft cheese dip), Emmental cheese, radishes, freshly-baked pretzels, butter and salt and pepper. A table cloth is also important (preferably a cotton red and white check), as are wooden boards to eat from, a sharp knife, cutlery and napkins.
But those who come unprepared don’t have to miss out on a Bavarian Brotzeit. Most beer gardens offer a range of typical treats, such as Wurstsalat (finely sliced sausage, dressed with vinaigrette and onions), Leberkäse (Bavarian meat loaf) or Steckerlfisch (barbecued whole fish, normally mackerel).
In a Bavarian beer garden, self-service is the rule, unless it is clear that tables have been readied for service. Typical beer garden drinks, such as beer or Radler (a mix of beer and lemonade or lemon soda), are generally only served in one liter steins. Alcohol-free drinks, such as Spezi (a mixture of cola and orange soda) or Apfelschorle (a mixture of apple juice and mineral water), are normally served in half-liters.
The most important rule when toasting with others at your table is to do it as often as possible, so creating a sense of community and giving you the chance to make contact with your new friends. But don’t forget to look your drinking partners in the eye as you touch steins.
The reason horse chestnut trees can be found in every “real” Bavarian beer garden is a matter of history. According to a decree from the 16th century, brewing beer was banned in the summer months, due to the increased danger of fire. Therefore, beer that was brewed in spring for summer was made with a higher alcohol content to help preserve it. In order to keep the beer cool, beer cellars were constructed close to the breweries, but because Munich has a high groundwater level, deep cellars were out of the question, meaning that those that could be built had to be protected from the sun. And that is why trees which provide a lot of shade, such as horse chestnut trees, were planted above them.
BIER UND OKTOBERFEST MUSEUM, BEER TOURS & MORE Munich is the capital of beer – with six breweries, the Hofbräuhaus and the Oktoberfest. Interested in the story of beer? How German beer effected the monasteries and the purity law? Why is the quality of Munich’s beer so unique? Did you know that Oktoberfest was established as the national festival for the wedding of King Ludwig I with Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen? Visit the Bier und Oktoberfest Museum for the answer to these questions and a lot more.
Although goulash originated in Hungary, this popular dish later spread beyond its borders, first to the Austrian Empire, Germany, and the Balkans, and finally around the world.
Classic Hungarian goulash at a restaurant on Hungary’s Great Plain
By Sharon Hudgins Photos by the author
Everyone loves a good goulash. But ask a dozen people what a goulash is—and you’ll get a dozen different answers: a soup, a stew, a meat dish served on a plate; brown, red, mild, hot-spicy; made with beef, pork, mutton, game, even vegetarian.
Although goulash originated in Hungary, this popular dish later spread beyond its borders, first to the Austrian Empire, Germany, and the Balkans, and finally around the world. That’s why there are so many versions of goulash today.
GOULASH ROOTS Hungarian goulash traces its roots back to nomadic Magyar herdsmen in the ninth century. Shepherds cut meat into cubes and slowly stewed them in a heavy iron kettle over an open fire until the liquid evaporated. Then they spread the meat out in a single layer to further dry in the sun. This dried meat, an early convenience food, could be carried with them as they followed their flocks across the vast expanse of Hungary’s Great Plain. To reconstitute the meat they simply added water and heated it—sometimes with other ingredients, too—in a pot over a fire. If a lot of liquid was added, the dish was called goulash soup. With less liquid, it was simply goulash meat. In both cases it was eaten with spoons dipped into the communal cooking pot.
Goulash got its name from those early herdsmen, who were called gulyás in Hungarian. But goulash as we know it today did not develop until the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th, with the widespread cultivation of peppers in Hungary and the use of paprika as a popular spice. Originally it was considered peasant food, eaten primarily by country folk—farmers, shepherds, cowboys, and swineherds. With the rise of Hungarian nationalism in the second half of the 19th century, paprika-seasoned goulash moved from the campsites and farmhouses to the tables of middle class and wealthy city dwellers, to the menus of fashionable restaurants and eventually across the globe.
GOULASH VARIETIES Goulash is now the Hungarian dish most widely known abroad. But in many parts of the world, dishes called “goulash” bear little resemblance to the gulyás that originated in Hungary and is eaten there today. In Hungary, gulyás is a meat dish halfway between a soup and a stew, made with small cubes of meat (usually beef), no more than 3/4-inch in size, and flavored with bacon or lard, onions and paprika. Gulyás is traditionally served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon.
Over time, Hungarian cooks also developed many variations on this theme, using such ingredients as garlic, tomatoes, mild banana peppers and hot cherry peppers, caraway seeds, root vegetables, cabbage, beans and tiny egg dumplings, as well as pork, mutton, venison and boar meat. Regional recipes abound, with each cook claiming his or her own version of goulash to be the best and most authentic.
Germans adapted the basic Hungarian goulash recipe to their own tastes, producing the Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup) that is now so popular throughout Germany, where it’s traditionally served with a slice of rye bread and a mug of beer. Germans and Austrians also make a variety of thick, paprika-flavored meat stews called Gulasch, served on a plate and accompanied by boiled potatoes, egg noodles or dumplings. (The Hungarians, however, would call this kind of stew a pörkölt, not a goulash.) And Kesselgulasch (kettle goulash)—cooked outdoors in a pot suspended by an iron tripod over an open fire—is a Hungarian specialty that many Central Europeans now eat at their own backyard dinner parties and local festivals.
German “Beer Goulash” at brewery beer garden in Erfurt
As part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Austrians certainly love their own versions of Gulasch. There’s even a Cafe-Restaurant Gulaschmuseum in Vienna, where the menu lists more than a dozen varieties of goulash, including turkey or chicken-liver goulash with potatoes, bean goulash with paprika-seasoned sausage, veal goulash with little spinach dumplings, and even a dessert called Schokogulasch (chocolate goulash) containing cake, chocolate sauce and rum. In Prague I purchased a Czech cookbook devoted entirely to the subject of goulash—including versions identified as German, Austrian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Serbian, Bulgarian, even Chinese and Mexican! And recently in New Mexico I came across a Cajun goulash. What a mixture of geography and culinary cultures! From its humble beginnings on the plains of Hungary more than a thousand years ago, this simple peasant food has now become a truly global dish.
GOULASH-SPEAK “Goulash” has also entered several languages as a word meaning more than just “a soup or stew.” In Hungary, “Goulash Communism” was a term for the Hungarians’ attempt in the late 1960s to create their own, more market-oriented, economic system distinct from the Soviet model. In Germany and Switzerland, a “goulash cannon” is military slang for a mobile field kitchen—a big, heavy, black, iron stewpot on wheels, with a cover on the top and a built-in firebox—which is also used for feeding crowds at festivals and other public events. And in the Czech Republic, political parties had a tradition of setting up their own “goulash cannons” in front of polling places at election time, where they dished out free goulash in a blatant attempt to influence voters’ choices on the ballot. As the Czechs said to each other when they headed to the polls to vote, “Have a good goulash!”
Since the Middle Ages, the English university town of Oxford has been attracting scholars hungry for knowledge. Today it also draws hordes of tourists hungry to see its Gothic colleges, top-notch museums, colorful gardens, lively student hangouts and cozy pubs.
We all know that sightseeing is a strenuous activity that boosts your appetite. And Oxford offers plenty of places for filling empty stomachs as well as hungry minds. In this historic “city of dreaming spires,” you’ll find something to suit every taste, from traditional English pork pies to sushi rolls, from falafel sandwiches to chocolate fudge, from goat cheese pizza to the best of British cuisine.
Classic Cornish pasties at West Cornish Pasty Company on Cornmarket Street
FAST FOOD In a town full of students, there’s no dearth of fast-food joints. Skip the inevitable McDonald’s and KFC, and head for the simple eateries offering more typical British fare. The West Cornish Pasty Company on Cornmarket Street sells very good versions of these traditional English turnovers with a selection of savory fillings. Many other takeout places, including supermarkets, offer fresh sandwiches stuffed with prawns, sliced cucumbers or egg salad, perfect for a picnic on a hot summer day. And food trucks parked around the edges of the central city cater to eaters on the go, selling a variety of takeaway dishes from India, Pakistan and the Middle East, as well as British standards such as “toad-in-the-hole” (succulent sausages baked inside Yorkshire pudding batter).
Mushroom stand at the weekly Oxford open-air market
OXFORD COVERED MARKET Opened in 1774, Oxford’s venerable covered market is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. In addition to its fruit, vegetable, meat, fish and cheese stores, it includes several little shops selling cooked foods to nibble on site or take away. Choose from an eclectic group of eateries: a “Brazilian Cheeseball” stand, a “Sooshe” bar, Nash’s Oxford Bakery, David John’s traditional butchery and meat pie shop. An especially popular place is Pieminister, which offers several kinds of freshly made, double-crust, meat or vegetable pies served with “mash” (mashed potatoes), “groovy” (gravy) and “minty mushy peas” (just what they sound like).
Traditional English pie with gravy at Pieminister in the Oxford Covered Market
PUB GRUB Oxford’s historic pubs are famous as much for their denizens as for their beer. You can quaff a pint of British bitter or English ale in the same spots where Thomas Hardy, Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Graham Greene, the fictional Detective Inspector Morse and many other Oxford luminaries wet their whistles. Pubs also serve food, sometimes the best bargains for a full (and filling) meal in Oxford. Typical dishes include fish-and-chips (battered-and-fried fish filets with French fried potatoes), Scotch eggs (hard-boiled eggs surrounded by sausage meat and deep fried), “Ploughman’s Lunch” (thick wedges of cheese and a slice of ham served with apple slices, sweet pickle relish, bread and butter) and “jacket potatoes” (aka baked whole potatoes, in their skins) with a choice of toppings: Cheddar or blue cheese, pork and beans, sautéed mushrooms, even meaty (or vegan beany) chili.
Traditional English ale at an Oxford pub
(left to right) Food shop inside Oxford Covered Market; Cottage loaves for sale at the weekly Oxford open-air market; The Bear, one of Oxford’s famous traditional old pubs
Purchase a guide to Oxford’s pubs at the Visitor Information Center on Broad Street or at many bookstores. You can also buy a postcard depicting 36 classic pubs for an “Oxford Heritage Pub Crawl.” My own favorite pubs include The Bear, The White Horse Inn, The Rose and Crown, The Lamb and Flag, The Eagle and Child and The Head of the River.
Head of the River, a favorite Oxford pub with a large beer garden
TEA & SWEETS You can’t visit England without having afternoon tea—a civilized sit-down with a pot of freshly brewed tea, finger sandwiches and baked goods (such as scones with jam and clotted cream, and a selection of scrumptious cakes). Several cafes advertise afternoon tea with a sign in their front windows. Some upscale restaurants also serve formal “teas” between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. For an elegant experience in the grand old English manner (with prices to match), “take tea” in the drawing room of the Macdonald Randolph Hotel across from the Ashmolean Museum.
If you just need to satisfy your sweet tooth, stop in at Nash’s Bakery in the Covered Market for traditional British pastries, or head for the Fudge Kitchen on Broad Street, which sells more than 20 different flavors of fudge made fresh daily.
Handmade fudge at the Fudge Kitchen on Broad Street
RESTAURANTS Oxford has a wide range of full-service restaurants to fit any budget. Local foodies especially like Brasserie Blanc, on Walton Street, owned by one of the most respected chefs in Britain, Raymond Blanc; Jamie’s Italian, on George Street, one of a chain owned by another famous chef, Jamie Oliver; Gee’s, an Oxford landmark on Banbury Road; The Old Parsonage, on Banbury Road; and Magdalen Arms, a “gastropub” on Iffley Road. Look for fixed-price lunches of two or three courses for approximately £12 to £17 per person. Some restaurants also offer the same deal for “early supper” between 5:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Luncheon appetizer at Gee’s Restaurant on Banbury Road
Oxford has no lack of Asian restaurants, from Indian to Chinese, Japanese, Thai and “Asian fusion.” Popular Asian eateries include My Sichuan, Shanghai 30’s, Majliss, Saffron, Chiang Mai Kitchen and Wagamama.
And for your big splurge, drive out to Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Great Milton, just seven miles east of Oxford. This fine restaurant has garnered two Michelin stars and won many other culinary accolades. You’ll be tempted to stay overnight at the historic manor house, too. Just be sure to make reservations well in advance, for both the hotel and restaurant. Dining there is an experience you’ll never forget.
● Travel tip: The Oxford Visitors’ Guide, a handy booklet that costs only £1 at the Oxford Visitor Information Centre (15/16 Broad Street), contains a short history of the town, a map, a brief description of the colleges and their opening times, Top 10 Things to Do, a self-guided walking tour, and vignettes of Oxford’s most famous characters. Also pick up a free copy of the Oxford Restaurant Guide booklet.
With summer approaching, it’s a good time to plan to visit the annual food and vegetable markets that pop up in the United Kingdom. Here are four of them that you might like to put on your “shopping list.”
Selection of colorful fruit, Borough Market, London, EnglandPecorino Favoloso, Borough Market, London, England.The farmers’ market in Winchester, England has a great variety of produce, organic vegetables and fruit.
European Traveler 