Smores, German-style

Graham crackers are one of the few American foods or ingredients for which we haven't found a good replacement yet.  However, I suspect crushed Spekulatius cookies would even better than graham cracker crumbs for making a pie or cheesecake crust. So we took that guess a step further and made smores. 

Marshmallows are widely available in Munich, so we paired those up with some Milka minis and our homemade Spekulatius cookies. 

Milkas are the perfect substitute for the Hershey's squares commonly used for smores, and they actually melt more smoothly than Hersheys. 

Put in the oven around 200˚C and cook until the chocolate melts and the marshmallows are toasted.



Mmmm....perfectly browned marshmallows....the kitchen is smelling really good at this point....



And the finished product - a perfect winter treat, and I think the Spekulatius added a nice twist to the smores. If you make your own, you can make them more or less spiced or buttery to fit your taste. We'll definitely be making these again and I'll probably never use graham crackers again. Hmm...I bet Spekulatius and peanut butter would be really good....

Munich Hamburgers: Cosmo Grill

We took a hiatus from trying new burger places while we were getting in shape for the wedding. But a few Sundays ago we did finally try the much-hyped Cosmo Grill. 

The first thing you notice is that it doesn't look like your average burger bar....it's small, white, and minimalist, but with a nice open kitchen where you can see the food preparation.  

Judging from the menu - a wide variety of meats and toppings and everything organic - it was clearly more of a gourmet burger styled place.

This is actually a burger place fit for everyone...if beef or meat aren't your thing, there are multiple veggie burgers, tuna burgers, and chicken burgers. We haven't ordered those yet, but will be curious to see if the "chicken burger" really is a burger made of chicken or more like a grilled chicken sandwich. Sometimes you just never know....

The burgers are cooked up fresh on the grill and they do not skimp on the cheese. It was a nice surprise to get some good orange cheddar, but the burger/bun ratio needs some work. Check out my burger below....the burger is half the size of the bun...not so good.  

But more importantly, what about the taste? This was the biggest surprise to me - a non-greasy cheeseburger. The meat wasn't really seasoned at all, but was clearly top quality and all beef. And after eating the burger, I felt pretty good and not at all like I'd just eaten a cheeseburger. It's definitely a great burger option when you want to still eat healthy.  Probably a big contributor to that is their lack of french fries. They do serve roasted potatoes (your choice of spices - we had the sea salt and the Provence ones, and there's also a rosemary one as well). I have mixed emotions about the potatoes. One one hand, they weren't great. Not bad, but a bit boring and not cooked thoroughly. On the other hand, I'm kind of happy they weren't irresistable because I feel like I could go back to Cosmo Grill, just have a burger, and leave having had a healthy meal. Perhaps we caught them on an off day, so we'll give the potatoes one more try next time. 

Overall, we'd have to give it a mixed review. We'll definitely go back and try it again. I really liked how fresh everything was and it's a great option for getting a burger and not feeling bad afterwards.  And I'd like to try some of the other menu items. They definitely have a lot of options to try and Herr J was a big fan of their guacamole.

But the buns were way to big for the burgers and everything could use a little pepper. One tip - unless you love your burgers with marinara sauce, you may want to ask them to hold the tomato salsa. It was quite good, but it overwhelmed all other tastes, so that it tasted like a burger with marinara sauce. Not bad, but I'm more of a burger purist...I like my burger plain, or with cheese when I'm really feeling crazy.   Just my preference. 

Cosmo Grill's address is Maximilianstrasse 10, however it's actually located on the back side of the building, more on Falkenturmstrasse.  Another big plus in its favor is that they're open late night if you're out at the clubs and need a 2am burger (or a 5am burger on the weekends)!  If you're searching for a big greasy burger and fries, this is not the place for you. But if you like the gourmet burgers or you want a more guilt-free burger, definitely go to Cosmo Grill. 

So far in our quest for Munich Hamburgers, we've visited the following restaurants:

Hard Rock, Zum Goldenen Kalb, Kennedy's, and now Cosmo Grill.  Hard Rock remains the clear front runner, but we're enjoying trying the new places and welcome any suggestions!  

Munich Hamburgers: Kennedy's Irish Pub

Our quest to find the best burgers in town took us recently to Kennedy's, a new Irish pub that the Killian's team (another Irish pub in Munichopened in the former Lamm's space at Sendlinger Tor.  Lamm's was unique: it was open 24 hours/day, VERY unusual here.  

Kennedy's doesn't exactly replace Lamm's, since, well...it actually closes..but there is another 24-hour restaurant now in the same building. Wirsthaus am Sendlinger Tor if you're in desperate need of somewhere to go after 3am. (We haven't tried it, but would be curious to know how it stacks up to Lamm's if anyone has been yet.)

Kennedy's have done a nice job with the interior -  it's a good, solid Irish pub atmosphere.  We were happy to find another hamburger to try - and one that really could be our corner bar (it's so close by!).

According to the menu, their burgers are 100% Irish beef, and of course with Irish cheddar.

Be advised, however, that they come medium-well and that there is a "special sauce" on both sides of the bun. (I don't like such spreads, and specifically asked for mayo "on the side", but the German waiter being German, he only carried out the order as stated.  The spread is something similar to, but not exactly mayo.  Not a nice surprice, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.  So, if you don't like mayo-type sauces, make sure to ask for yours without sauce.)

Aside from the unwanted sauce, it was a decent burger, though nothing spectacular. A little too much bun and the bun was a little on the boring side. The steak fries, on the other hand, are excellent. True steak fries, they're a bit thicker cut than the ones at other burger places.  And there are all kinds of tasty Irish and German beers on tap to wash it down. They do serve Augustiner, as well as Guinness, Kilkenny, and the other Irish pub standards.

We'll definitely go back to Kennedy's often (can't beat the proximity in a cold winter season!), and I'm looking forward to trying the Guinness Goulasch, Irish Stew, and a few other menu items.  If you just want classic pub food, they also have the same kind of baskets as they serve at Killian's bar near Marienplatz.

As far as the search for Munich's best burger goes, Hard Rock still is on top, though we need to return to Zum Goldenen Kalb to try the Wagyu Burger (we only tried their regular burger).  We did revist Hard Rock a few weeks ago and they've upped their game. The burger was perfectly cooked and seasoned - with a little pink in the middle - plus they changed from the sesame buns to one that reminds me a bit of the potato bread buns you find in the US. It was a much softer and finer bun than the sometimes dry sesame buns, and was a little less bread. Really a perfect balance and combination!

Next up will be the highly recommended Cosmo Grill. 

July 4th Food

Happy July 4th!

Since it isn't a holiday here in Germany, we celebrated yesterday with a good, old-fashioned American summer meal.

Spicy pork ribs, sweet corn, and rosemary potatoes...with some Andechs Bergbock Hell, of course.

We've found an easy way to do ribs here (and luckily good pork is available everywhere). Wrap the ribs so they're air-tight in aluminum foil and bake in oven around 100°C for several hours.  The steam released from the meat should make the packet puff up as it cooks.  We usually just leave them in low all day and they come out perfectly tender and falling off the bone.

As a special treat, we topped it off with a homemade version of one of America's finest inventions - Reese's Cup Blizzard!
It's not a road trip without stopping at Dairy Queen, and sadly they don't have them here. Reese's Cups finally are becoming more widely available here - they have them occasionally in the American section of grocery stores in Kaufhof or Karstadt. But now they're available at the mini-Edeka in the Hauptbahnhof and at many gas stations!

Take your favorite ice cream and let it soften. Add crumbled Reese's cups and blend.

Delicious! 

While it's wonderful ice cream, the Häagen-Dazs Beligian Chocolate really is a bit too rich for this. It's great on it's own, but is just too much and also overpowers the Reese's cup taste a little. Next time we'll try with some vanilla or less chocolatey ice cream.

Hamburgers

One of the best parts of living abroad is that I find myself doing things I never would do at home...most notably meeting people (including other Americans) with whom my path never would have crossed at home.

On the more mundane side of things, are food and entertainment. In most US towns (excluding NYC and Miami), I would probably never go out for dinner or drinks at a hotel bar. Or spend the afternoon at the mall. Yet, in Germany, there are many great restaurants located in hotels that don't rely on hotel guests. In SE Asia, you can easily escape the heat or monsoon by spending a very pleasant day in a megamall - seeing a movie, having a pedicure, eating a great lunch, and having coffee and not necessarily ever shopping at all.

But there's one thing I've realized I do abroad that I would NEVER do at home: Go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Sure, when we were kids, it was cool to collect HRC t-shirts or pins from locations far away. But as an adult I never would choose to go to one in my hometown or while on holiday in another US city.

That, my friends, has changed.

 

Because, some days, you just need a good burger.

Hard Rock is one of the few places worldwide where you can reliably get a good, American-style burger, ice-tea, and even American-style salads or decent pulled-pork sandwiches. There's something valuable about that!

It started in Bangkok, where we Americans in the office would go every few weeks for lunch (usually pulled pork sandwiches). We even found it was a fun place to go out at night, always with good coverbands playing crowd favorites.

In Munich, Herr J and I have found it to have the best burgers so far. We've found that the best cure to a bad week often is a burger and some ice cream (Hagen Dazs is on the walk home).

It's also one of the few places we've found yet in Munich that will cook your burger medium. Though Germans happily eat tartar (on an open-faced sandwich in many delis), many restaurants refuse to let the burger be pink in the middle.  Many burgers here also are a mixture of beef and pork, so they just aren't the same.

We've had a few other decent burgers (MC Mueller, Killian's Irish pub, Feuerberg, and the kangaroo burger at Outland) here, but haven't made an official survey. If you anyone has recommendations for good burgers in Munich, let us know. We're ready to branch out and find the best burger in Munich

(As for other Bangkok burgers, I highly recommend the Elvis Burger at any Greyhound Cafe. They're in a few shopping centers, including Emporium and Central Chitlom)

American Beef + German Beer

What better combo??

In general, American beef is EXTREMELY expensive in Germany (unless you have access to a military base). It's also not found everywhere. However, German beef is usually quite good for roasts, ground beef, and other uses, and Uruguayan and Argentine steaks are quite good.

But when I saw ribeyes at the store for insanely low prices, I had to give them a try. They were the perfect way to christen the grill Herr J had put on my balcony while I was away (he knows the way to a southern girl's heart!).  Yes, the label really does say my beef was "Born in the USA". In Germany, when you can get 3/4 of a pound of American ribeye for less than the price of a maß of beer, it's celebration time!

Herr J put a nice cajun rub on these big boys and then set them out to grill:

You'll have to ask him what was in there, but it was really tasty.

We made a nice salad (heavy on the pine nuts and parmesan, of course), and had a good German pilsener - this time a Bölkstoff. What a great dinner to end a week of hard work!