Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Okotberfest All Year Long

So yesterday I was another day to continue my culinary tour around the world. This week's stop was in Germany at the Biergarten, where everyday is Oktoberfest. The Biergarten is set in the heart of a Bavarian Villiage and serves authentic German cuisine buffet style. The inside theme is very similar to that of the Blue Bayou. You are "outside" in this quite german village and all of a sudden you are bombarded with the sounds of a delightful, live German band as they welcome you to feast and celebrate oktoberfest.

So the first thing I decided to tear into was all the sausages and sauerkraut!!! It was really tasty, even the sauerkraut lol. They has a bunch of dipping sauces to go along with the sausages. They had a regular yellow mustard, a spicy brown mustard, and sweet mustard, and some other one that didnt sound appetizing to me so I didnt have any. The meat servings of the day were Rotisserie Chicken which was actually really moist and juicy needless to say I had a few helping of chicken. The Roast pork was the made in authentic german spices. It seemed like it had a familiar taste like something I have tasted before but i couldnt quite place it. It was ok not the best thing there and really the only thing that I was a little disappointed in. The Fish of the day was Salmon with a Butter Dill sauce. I loveddddd it!! It was my favorite dish!! It was so fresh, flaky, and flavorful it was awesome.

There were also great side dishes that added a lot to the German experience. The German potato salad was really good. This is coming from a guy that doesnt like regular potato salad but I liked this one. The Spaetzle was a different kind of side dish. Its like a german duppling which was good but I couldnt eat a lot of it. The Frikadelien was another one of the surprise dishes that I though were really delicious.

When it comes to desserts that Apple Strudel and the Bavarian Cheesecake were the highlights of an assortment of dessert dishes. These were the top two for me. I had two servings of the apple strudel. It was great!.

Coming soon

Ohana
A Food and Wine Festival
Drinking around the World
A Day in the Magic Kingdom
Future with Walt Disney Co.

Foods of the World



So here is the list of some of the stuff that I have already eaten:

I have eaten a Dole Whip from Aloha Isle in Adventureland. Their is only 4 places in the world where you can get them. The first is in the Magic Kingdom, the Polynesian resort, the third in Disneyland, and is at the Dole plantation in Hawaii.

The first real culinary adventure I have been on since I have been down here was when I went to Sanaa at the Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The name of the restaurant (Sanaa) means beautiful artwork and there is plenty of it on the walls and around the grounds there. The theming of this place was amazing. You really felt so far away from the rest of the world like you were actually in a place in Africa but the images of hidden mickeys reminded you that you where in the Happiest Place On Earth. The meal started out with a sampling of Indian style bread service. They give you the choice of choosing three types of bread, Naan, Onion Kulcha, Paratha, Paneer Paratha. We ended up choosing the Naan bread, which is like a fluffy tortilla, the Onion Kulcha, a flattened pancake with onion baked in, and the Paneer Paratha, which is like the naan bread but with this paneer cheese baked on it. Along with the bread service you get to also chose three accompaniments. The choices were Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Green Mango Pickle, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, Tamarind Chutney. Out of these choices the Red Chile Sambal, the Mango Chutney, and the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus were the winners. The breads were so good and so filling that they could have been a meal just by themselves. The Red Chile Sambal was the equivalent of an African hot sauce, but with more seasoning that actual heat. The Mango Chutney ended up being my favorite of the three it was sweet and had a fresh sort of flavor to it, the hummus was also pretty good and Im not really a fan of hummus.

With how good the breads and sauces turned out my expectations for the main courses were through the roof and they didn't disappoint. The title of this portion of the menus was called "Slow Cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well Seasoned" and rightfully so. The Shrimp with green curry sauce and the beef short ribs served with Basmati rice were some of the best food I had ever eaten. The shrimp were a plump and juicy and cooked just right and the curry had just the perfect amount of spice and saltiness that didn't make it overbearing. The part of this meal that really surprised me was the Beef short ribs. They had a fantastic blend of sweet and spice. The taste of these tender ribs was so familiar but I couldnt quite place where I had tasted such a thing. Upon asking the server what it was that the ribs were seasoned with I had discovered what that familiar taste was. CINNAMON the ribs were actually slow cooked in cinnamon. The other main couse that I had the pleasure of eating was Tandoori Chicken. It was wrapped in Naan Bread like a sort of giant sandwich. Minted greens and Tomato and cucumber-Yogurt Raita gave the giant african sandwich its sweet, fresh flavor.

With every bite I could feel myself slipping into a food coma. The final part of the meal was dessert. Chocolate cake, was ok pretty standard I would say but the Passion fruit Kulfi and the Chai Cream were so tasty and delicious. Im really glad I was able to enjoy the wonderful offering from Sanaa and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to try something new and take their taste buds on a wild roller coaster of the strange and succulent.


Wednesday, September 8, 2010