When you go to a German hotel, they really know how to do breakfast! Their buffets are invariably what we would consider a sumptuous weekend brunch buffet. Time your breakfast right and you can easily save money on your mid-day eating. Each locality varies with the regional specialties they serve and also influenced by the nationality of guests. Just beware putting vitamin tablets into small glasses of juice! I was glad to be hosted to experience German hotel breakfasts.
The Mercure Hotel in Trier is right on the Luxembourg border and very close to France. Breakfasts are served in a room with perfect views of the Porta Nigra, built for Caesar Augustus. Their buffet has artisan local honeys and jams. I tried forest bilberry, which I think grows wild in my yard. It’s dark, mild and sweet. There were German, French and Italian mineral waters. Soft boiled eggs were done properly with a soft but not squirty yolk. German egg yolks are bright orange! They feed their chickens brightly colored wild marigold flowers. Their coffee was a very rich, dark roast . . . exactly what the doctor ordered to cure jet-lag!
Of course, I had to try some German sausages! They had calves liver, which is like our liverwurst, but milder. Bloodwurst was fatty and soft. I was just reading in The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin, that this is the most nutritious food you can eat! I also tried raw ham: aged, but not super salty, still fatty and moist. Scalded ham – something else altogether – is tasty!
NH Hotel has a location in Bingen Am Rhein, known for famed abbess/composer/early feminist Hildegard of Bingen. I can always tell when a lot Brits stay at a European hotel; like here, they serve tomatoes grilled with cheese, beans and potato parcels.
They also had these plastic encased mini sausage spreads that were so absolutely delicious, I was constantly grabbing them off various buffets and vowed to learn more about them, so here goes: Rügenwalder Teewurst. They are made from “two parts of raw pork (and sometimes beef) and one part bacon, which are minced, seasoned and packed in casings — mostly porous artificial casings — before being smoked over beech wood. The sausage then has to mature for seven to ten days in order to develop its typical taste. Teewurst contains 30 to 40 percent fat, which makes it particularly easy to spread.” – Wiki. They were invented in a town that became part of Poland after WWII. The sausage makers there fled to East Germany and resumed production of Teewurst. Only those sausage makers who had originally worked their craft in Rügenwalde can call their product Rügenwalder Teewurst. All others use the terms Teewurst or Rügenwalde-style Teewurst. The red kind is spicier than the pink kind; I much prefer the pink kind.
I also tried Nuremburg sausages, which were herb-y with sage and parsley.
Saarbrucken is an upscale town on the French border: even their Best Western steps it up. The Best Western Victor’s Residenz-Hotel Rodenhof allows doggies at the buffet, which is friendly! There’s sparkling wine, which after the morning I had, was welcome. For a health touch, they have these vitamin tablets on the buffet, each adding different nutrients. Like an Alka Seltzer, I figured I’d take a couple and put them in my small glass of juice. I try to keep my orange juice intake small, it’s also a health thing. Well, the thing foamed up and wouldn’t stop! It was like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia! All my colleagues were laughing at me. It got all over the table and my shirt. You’ll have to check out the slideshow to see more. After that, I threw all caution to the wind: I took a slice of really nice, deep dish apple pie that must have come from dinner service and a glass of sparkling wine, making things much better.
In Stuttgart, the Maritim hotel keeps up with the luxe businesses in their city: Mercedes and Porsche. Their grand buffet has a variety of cold cuts, French and German cheeses, hot eggs, beans, smoked salmon, dill gravlax with dill sauce and horseradish, pickled herring, stronger flavored gefilte fish (which certainly surprised me!), shrimp salad with fruit and mayo, peppers stuffed with cream cheese, fantastically tenderly cooked scrambled eggs with the famous orange egg yolks, as well as traditional breakfast items like cereals and yogurt.
InterCityHotel in Leipzig is a modest accommodation with a nice breakfast in the morning. They carry a number of gluten-free cereals, Bavarian cheeses – soft to medium in texture – as well as grilled tomatoes with cheese and pesto, different kinds of mineral water. On the “fancy” cheese tray, there was a golden, transparent cheese that tastes like wine.
When you go to a German hotel, they really know how to do breakfast! Their buffets are invariably what we would consider a sumptuous weekend brunch buffet. Time your breakfast right and you can easily save money on your mid-day eating. Each locality varies with the regional specialties they serve and also influenced by the nationality of guests. Just beware putting vitamin tablets into small glasses of juice! I was glad to be hosted to experience German hotel breakfasts.
The Mercure Hotel in Trier is right on the Luxembourg border and very close to France. Breakfasts are served in a room with perfect views of the Porta Nigra, built for Caesar Augustus. Their buffet has artisan local honeys and jams. I tried forest bilberry, which I think grows wild in my yard. It’s dark, mild and sweet. There were German, French and Italian mineral waters. Soft boiled eggs were done properly with a soft but not squirty yolk. German egg yolks are bright orange! They feed their chickens brightly colored wild marigold flowers. Their coffee was a very rich, dark roast . . . exactly what the doctor ordered to cure jet-lag!
Of course, I had to try some German sausages! They had calves liver, which is like our liverwurst, but milder. Bloodwurst was fatty and soft. I was just reading in The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin, that this is the most nutritious food you can eat! I also tried raw ham: aged, but not super salty, still fatty and moist. Scalded ham – something else altogether – is tasty!
NH Hotel has a location in Bingen Am Rhein, known for famed abbess/composer/early feminist Hildegard of Bingen. I can always tell when a lot Brits stay at a European hotel; like here, they serve tomatoes grilled with cheese, beans and potato parcels.
They also had these plastic encased mini sausage spreads that were so absolutely delicious, I was constantly grabbing them off various buffets and vowed to learn more about them, so here goes: Rügenwalder Teewurst. They are made from “two parts of raw pork (and sometimes beef) and one part bacon, which are minced, seasoned and packed in casings — mostly porous artificial casings — before being smoked over beech wood. The sausage then has to mature for seven to ten days in order to develop its typical taste. Teewurst contains 30 to 40 percent fat, which makes it particularly easy to spread.” – Wiki. They were invented in a town that became part of Poland after WWII. The sausage makers there fled to East Germany and resumed production of Teewurst. Only those sausage makers who had originally worked their craft in Rügenwalde can call their product Rügenwalder Teewurst. All others use the terms Teewurst or Rügenwalde-style Teewurst. The red kind is spicier than the pink kind; I much prefer the pink kind.
I also tried Nuremburg sausages, which were herb-y with sage and parsley.
Saarbrucken is an upscale town on the French border: even their Best Western steps it up. The Best Western Victor’s Residenz-Hotel Rodenhof allows doggies at the buffet, which is friendly! There’s sparkling wine, which after the morning I had, was welcome. For a health touch, they have these vitamin tablets on the buffet, each adding different nutrients. Like an Alka Seltzer, I figured I’d take a couple and put them in my small glass of juice. I try to keep my orange juice intake small, it’s also a health thing. Well, the thing foamed up and wouldn’t stop! It was like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia! All my colleagues were laughing at me. It got all over the table and my shirt. You’ll have to check out the slideshow to see more. After that, I threw all caution to the wind: I took a slice of really nice, deep dish apple pie that must have come from dinner service and a glass of sparkling wine, making things much better.
In Stuttgart, the Maritim hotel keeps up with the luxe businesses in their city: Mercedes and Porsche. Their grand buffet has a variety of cold cuts, French and German cheeses, hot eggs, beans, smoked salmon, dill gravlax with dill sauce and horseradish, pickled herring, stronger flavored gefilte fish (which certainly surprised me!), shrimp salad with fruit and mayo, peppers stuffed with cream cheese, fantastically tenderly cooked scrambled eggs with the famous orange egg yolks, as well as traditional breakfast items like cereals and yogurt.
InterCityHotel in Leipzig is a modest accommodation with a nice breakfast in the morning. They carry a number of gluten-free cereals, Bavarian cheeses – soft to medium in texture – as well as grilled tomatoes with cheese and pesto, different kinds of mineral water. On the “fancy” cheese tray, there was a golden, transparent cheese that tastes like wine.
Luxe & Down-Home Cuisine/Culture/Travel/Style 