Lunch near the Eifel Crater Lakes (Monday, day 3)
Maarstraße 22
Schalkenmehren, Germany
Lovely hotel, with a lovely terrace and a beautiful menu so after our walk around the crater lakes I was really looking forward to this lunch. But what a disappointment it turned out to be!
Top-left: Lamm von der Maarwiese im Heu gegart an Kräutertunke Salzkartoffeln und Bohnengemüse (€ 10.90)
Translates as: Local lamb baked in hay (!) with simply boiled potatoes in herbsauce and green beans.
Ridiculous lamb. Overcooked and tough, drained in a horrible Knorr-sauce that came straight out of a package. I doubt it the lamb had been in the hay. The beans were definitely not fresh but from a jar and they ran out of potatoes so they served us (without consulting) some horrible, gluey rösti and potatocroquette.
Bottom-right: Zarter Braten vom Milchzieglein an ThymianSoße, Kartoffels aus dem Maarkessel und Bohnengemüse (€ 14.90)
Translates as: Soft roast from a young goat in thymsauce, with local pototoes and green beans.
This meat was full of fat and tendons, not a real pleasure to eat, but okay, I think this could be normal. But the sauce again was horrible! It was harsh, tasted only like tomato and pepper, almost like goulash or something. Totally killing the taste of the meat. And for sure there was no, absolutely no thym in it. It was a joke, really.
But the owner insisted that everything was as it should be. Except for the potatoes of course. And the waiting time, which was incredibly long, due to the first busy day of the season. It was the Whit Monday. So she offered us free dessert. We both ordered the strawberry cake I had seen at other tables, but it turned out they had run out, they only had cherry-cake. I didn't fancy that, so we only ordered one piece. Of course it turned out they billed us for 3 pieces of cake! Haha.
And then last but not least, the wine they had recommended was a complete mismatch! But luckily, by the time our food arrived we had already finished it. Hahahaha.
Anyway, like I said, it was a lovely terrace, the sun was shining, we were sitting under a beautiful, big tree so we were enjoying ourselves anyway. And oh yeah, the waitress had a brilliant sence of humor. She was really nice even though everybody on the terrace was complaining and there were a lot of angry faces.