Stuttgart London

The last night dinner in Stuttgart was good fun. We went to a Swabian restaurant which was rather charming. The Onion soup I had was very good, a speciality at the restaurant. A huge onion was hollowed out, made into a light coloured soup and filled back in, covered with cheese and gratinated. Never seen this before. Have seen the famous Paul Bocuse pumpkin soup served in a pumpkin but not onion soup. My pork dish was lovely. Arti’s was a bit disappointing [for her royal palate].

Next day we had a latish start and left for the airport. A short flight to glorious London and back to speaking English and understanding everything. Our flight landed early, cleared immigration in literally 30 seconds, got bags and we were off in the taxi. Unfortunately when we got to our apartment we did not get our favourite apartment. Reason was that a lady who has cancer uses this apartment when she comes in for her chemo treatment. Anyway we were put in the opposite apartment and we are settled in.

We wanted to stay in and have a dinner with cheese and wine. So we went off to La Formagerie to get some cheese. We got a lovely hard Austrian Alpe  Bergkaese, some washed rind Irish Ardrahan,  a creamy Petir Chaource [delightful camembert type skin, melting inside and a hard core] and a hard goat cheese called Tommede Cleon. Then off to Nicolas, the wine shop for a bottle of Prosecco and Selfridges for olives and heavy smoked smoked salmon. All this to be had with a good heavy spelt bread.  Delicious meal.

Today we went to the bookshops and looked for books. Walked thru Chinatown in Soho and bought some Chinese ingredients. Then to Lillywhites for swimsuits . Then swung thru Boots and back home.

Tonight we start the first of our big meals.

Stuttgart

Horror of horrors, our train from Heidelberg to Stuttgart was a staggering 10 minutes late. Most of the Germans had worked up a real lather by this time. They had train connections which they were going to miss. Stress was all around. We did not frankly care. A short train ride and we were in Stuttgart. Our hotel was some 250 meters away from the station, it was a bit of adventure getting to the correct exit but we managed.

Our hotel is very nice, an old classic hotel much like the Bombay Taj however it has been thoroughly modernised so it’s all nice and shiny inside. Superb bathrooms, large TVs, Bose systems in the rooms and a great location to boot. Just 50 meters away from the main shopping drag. However like all old style hotels especially the ones in India internet is not `free’. One must understand that nothing in life is free, no free lunch, no free breakfast and no free internet. The breakfasts and internet are usually bundled into the room rate. However some old fashioned hotels don’t do this. They are exactly like budget airlines. You get a basic room rate and add for everything you touch. Such a stupid business model if you ask me. Today flying in Europe by a budget airline makes no sense since you land at an obscure airport and carry so much luggage that you end up paying as much as a full fare airline. The budget guys are in trouble here. So internet access is rather expensive if you have to pay for it separately. For 27 Euro a day you get 24 hours internet and 24 hours Adult pornographic movies as a package. Now is that not fun.

Stuttgart is not as nice a city as Munich. It’s nice but not worth a special visit unless you are a desperately rabid Mercedes and Porsche fan. The first day we spent just walking around and familiarising ourselves. We went to a few food shops and bought a few nut oils but nothing much. We saw a good meat shop and said we would buy some sausage from them later.

Dinner was at a restaurant whose name I don’t know. The restaurant specialises in Swabian cuisine that is the local cuisine. Basically German/Swiss/Austrian/Hungary [all part of the same empire at one time] – schnitzels, goulash, lots and lots of pork, veal, sausage. The local carbohydrate being spatzle and potato largely. We walked in during our afternoon walkabout and made a reservation for the evening. The people are so friendly, enthusiastic and helpful. All without expecting anything in return. Such a refreshing feeling. Dinner was very nice. All washed down with Hell [larger] for Arti and Weiss [wheat beer] for me.

Today we set out for the Mercedes Benz museum. We went to the station to buy tickets and the station info people were just so helpful and precise in their instructions it make you want to say thank you and give them a tip. It’s really so so different from what we are used to. We got prints of exactly what train combo to take along with walking instructions.

The Museum was impressive however, for me, unemotional. The Ferrari museum often brought you to tears. The emotional appeal of a blood red car and the mixing of the cars with legendary drivers who drove them evokes much emotion. Here it was just the cars, world history and a beautiful museum. Left me cold. There was no mention of any driver or any image. This may be because of the fact that until 2 years ago Mercedes did not have a F1 team of recent years. It was Malaren earlier and now it’s Petronas with Schumacher piloting the car, a name synonymous with of all things Ferrari. Maybe, the intention of the museum was to not involve drivers. The question arises in my mind, when will any, I mean any, Indian company set up a museum of even half this scale showing their history. I have been to the reasonable RBI currency museum in Fort. It’s OK, the best thing about it is the fantastic air-conditioning and being free entry, it’s a good way to cool off in sunny Bombay. No Tata Museum, Reliance, Birla, Goenka Piramal? Why? Mercedes is not that old a company only about 111 years or so.

Tonight we are booked for dinner to another Swabian cuisine restaurant.

Tom we leave for London, back to speaking English and the end of Bitte, Danke and Danke Schon. Also no thinking of saying `Ve von the War.’ Back to Rule Britannia. 

Brunch on the river

The day started with a reservation on the Hotel launch Patria. This was a brunch cruise.

The system is that you got a menu, fascinating I must say, of 14 items. These are in Tapas size. You could have as many or as little as you wanted. It was a fixed price. All liquids, coffee, water, booze you had to pay extra for. The boat had 3 decks. On the lowest were the dining tables, as you can see with white linen. The middle deck had a lounge type seating and the top deck was open to elements. Kids were not allowed in the dining area. The waiter was charming and on seeing we were not German took our menu away and translated it into English. Very sweet. No one here cares if you have any food allergies, fetishes, quirks, dislikes or are Jewish [God forbid] and can’t have shellfish. Two nights ago we were given Cows Head [waiter’s description]. Today we started with Tuna Tartare and Beef with pesto. Let me inform the Alibaug smart set that the French discovered sushi before the Japanese. Actually it was probably the Mongols who did so but that is another story. It’s been a good 15 days without any Masala. It’s  not that I was dying to have an aromatic Kosha Mangsho and Hyderabad Dum Biryani but suddenly we were served Orecchiette with Shrimp in a curry sauce.

Very nice morning. Complete waste of 3 hours with very little by way of excitement or discovery. The one tense moment was when the camera fell into the desert. Desert damaged, camera survived to take another photo. The boat went thru a lock twice, once in and once out. Terribly exciting. Like watching a bathtub fill with water and on the way back slowly drain out. The boat naturally rises and falls with the water level. But then it’s Sunday and as we say in Indian English you have to `take rest’. So today we are `taking rest’.

We had made a reservation at the famous Sindhi patronised restaurant Hakkasan[ani] in London. In fact it’s a coming home of sorts as Hakkasan is setting up its Indian outpost in collaboration with a mover and shaker Sindhi in Bandra. We were deeply suspicious of our move and often questioned our motives at making this reservation. Were we drunk? Did we want to keep up with the Mansukhanis and Advanis? Why oh why had we done this? Finally today, we cancelled this and have got ourselves a table at a fantastic new restaurant called Gilbert Scott. This is really a great setting, and we hope great food. The Chef is Marcus Wareing whose books we absolutely love. Do have a look at the website. It’s quite something especially those who have an architectural love/eye. We are looking forward to this meal.

http://www.thegilbertscott.co.uk/

Tomorrow we leave for Stuttgart a city a scant 90 kms from here a short 45 minute train ride. Stuttgart is the home of Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. We will go to the museums as we had done at Marnelo the home of Ferrari.  Stuttgart is also home to beer gardens.

Dinner is at a nearby restaurant called Goldene Falke. Most restaurants are shut on Sunday so we don’t have much choice. Our Hotel owner assured us that (i) he ate there once a week and (ii) it was good simple German food. Iii) He would make a reservation for us

Arti had classic German/Swiss potato pancake with apple sauce as a starter and I had a Goulash [which was a bit too sour]. For mains Arti had a sausage with sauerkraut in a wine sauce  while I had a Wiener Schnitzel [pork]. Both very good. 

http://www.goldener-falke-heidelberg.de/pdf/speisekarte.pdf

Loads or rather busloads of Indian have turned up in Heidelberg. I feel so sorry for them for a variety of reasons too long to write here. They are another cookie cut clone of each other. All with new sports shoes of poor quality and all with totally inappropriate winterwear of all shapes, sizes colours and types. They are a nightmare.  Very sad and not much scope for improvement unfortunately.

More later