MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY
Germany and Austria Trip
Day 7 - December 12 2016
We looked forward to this trip to Bamberg for a while after reading about it’s charm and regional smoked beer. We hopped on the train from Nuremberg and headed an hour north. I was h(angry) after having days in Nuremberg with nothing but market food and I wanted to eat something before we started tasting beer. The café I earmarked was located north of where we were headed for everything else and away from the city center.
When we got to the café, which was nearly empty except for a single bloke in the corner, we checked the menu that was posted outside. Tex-Mex nachos, tacos, buffalo wings, etc. Not really what I had in mind. Finally, we were off the beaten path, away from the touristy restaurants and the menu is Mexican/American?? Needless to say, we made a joke or two and headed back towards downtown for the nearest brewery on the list. At least we got to see another part of what may be the most beautiful and charming town we’ve ever visited!
In the first brewery, Brauerei Fassla, we took a seat and the friendly server brought us an English menu. She wasn’t fooled by my “Hallo!”. We got a couple lagers (screw the whole eating-before-drinking nonsense), an order of their schnitzel with beer and onion gravy, and a side salad. We planned to eat our way through the town, so, to pace ourselves, we only ordered one meal to share. The schnitzel arrived and it was about a foot long! For 9 Euro, it’s a meal for two at least!
We had two beers each there along with the meal and the total ended up to be 20 Euro!
The next brewery, Brauerei Spezial, was directly across the street and they had the famous smoky beer. After taking our seats on one of the community-style tables, we ordered one of the rauchbier options, a Marzen. They smoke the hops prior to brewing which results in the smell of a campfire, the sweetness of a great German beer, as well as bacon and smoke flavors. Genius. It was incredible and absolutely nothing like anything we ever tasted.
Thanks to the stomach-expanding power of multiple beers, we were ready to eat again. They did not have an English menu, and with little to no cell service, we were left to point and pray. With only about 10 items on the main menu, we ‘eenie-meenie-miney-moe’ pointed. Our server was kind enough to warn us what we ordered by sticking out her tongue and pointing to it. The beef tongue was like thick-cut roast beef. Red in color, tender, but not falling apart and covered in another beer gravy (Mike is in food heaven in Germany). Served on the side was fried potato croquettes (or as I like to call them- “fancy tater tots”) and a salad.
We wandered the old town center, stopping for photos constantly. This town is seriously cute (dare I say, picturesque). We headed to a café with great reviews for it’s desserts and coffee. We needed a little break from the beer so we got some espresso and a couple slices of cakes- one was an apple crumble and the other a marble coffee cake.
The cake was fine, nothing noteworthy, but regardless, it was nice to get back indoors from the cold for a while and rest our feet.
We continued to wander towards the historical sites like the Altes Rathaus and Bamberg Cathedral for more pictures.
On our way back towards the train station, we wandered upon another brewery restaurant we had not mapped out- Schlenkerla. From their website, the pub was “first mentioned as ‘House of the blue lion’ in 1405” and claims to be the home of the ‘Original’ smoke beer. The restaurant was busy and looked like a nice, warm place to grab one last bite and beer. We got one of the last open tables and ordered a dish we had been looking for on all the restaurant menus: Swiebel. Oh, swiebel. A giant meatball surrounded by the largest outside layers of an onion, so the meatball is covered in caramelized onion goodness. A side of mashed potatoes and, of course, a yummy dark gravy. It was amazing. (From their English menu, this dish is: Bamberg style onion in smoked beer sauce)
This town is straight out of a Christmas card. It is not pretentious, nor does it feel fake or like a show for the tourists. It’s honestly one of those ‘heaven on earth’ places we really hope to be able to go to again. If we were able to start over, we would use Bamberg as our base instead of Nuremberg.
We hit the “cow tongue brewery” for one last beer to kill time while we waited for the next train. After finishing our last rauchbier of the trip, we made our way back to Nuremberg with smiles on our faces and bellies full of Bavarian food and beer.