We knew as we got ready for the big move that there would be some things we loved about living in Germany, some things we wouldn’t like that much, and some things that were neither good nor bad, but definitely different.
One of the biggest adjustments we have had to make is about how different food culture is between the U.S. and Germany. Germans — at least in the region we are in, don’t really do fast casual food the way the U.S. does. Sure, you can grab a really great sandwich from just about any gas station, train station, grocery store, or bakery, but other than a few American fast food chains here and there (mostly McDonalds and KFC) and some dönor kebab, there aren’t a lot of other options if you need to grab lunch on the run.
And when you do go to a restaurant, the experience is quite different than at a U.S. restaurant. First, a German restaurant does not expect to turnover a table on any given night. If you have a table, it is yours as long as you want it, with zero pressure from the waitstaff to get you to move along. Because of this mindset, German restaurants, especially more traditional ones, expect you to have a reservation, and often seem taken aback if you show up without one.
Some of the Mediterranean food we’ve had:
However, while you have the table as long as you want it, the waiter or waitress will not check in on you repeatedly like American waitstaff would. Instead, once they take your drink and food order, it’s up to you to get their attention to let them know if you want something else to eat or drink, or that you need the check. If you don’t explicitly tell them you want the check or another drink, they will clear your plates, go do something else, and never stop by again unless you wave them down. In some ways it’s great, because you can just relax and take your time. In other ways it can suck, since if you are in a different space from the waiter, it can be difficult to wave them down to let them know you need something.
One of the other major differences in the restaurants that I wasn’t really aware of before we moved here, is that each restaurant specializes in a few things and that’s it. While we never loved the big chain restaurants in the U.S. with pages and pages of menu items, we were used to having multiple kinds of options at most places — a couple burger options, some sandwiches, tacos, nachos, pizza, a few more traditional dinner options, salads etc. In restaurants in Germany, your options tend to be: German (mostly serving schnitzel, wurst, steak, or salmon); Italian (thin crust pizza, several pasta options, and maybe a couple of salads); French (we haven’t been yet, but a handful of traditional French options); and Asian fusion of some sort (often Vietnamese and Thai, with a few things claiming (but mostly failing) to be Chinese.)
There are of course other options, but those restaurants, with a few Greek or Mediterranean places thrown in, represent the majority of the options in our area. Which makes it difficult to decide on a place for dinner if we are in the mood for different things. There are a few places around also claiming to be Mexican, but so far every attempt at Mexican/Tex-Mex/latin-inspired food we have tried has been pretty terrible. One shining example was a taco in Rothenburg: a hard shell taco with tiny chunks of beef, not ground, but tiny little cubes, which were covered in way too many raw red onions and topped with an unexpected (and not great) plum sauce.
Classic German choices, with seasonal asparagus:
Most restaurants also don’t have extensive drink menus. There is almost always 3 or 4 regional (and seasonal) beers on draft — usually from one brewery, a handful of mostly regional wine options, maybe a mixed drink or two, and a few soda or juice options. If you want water you have to order it specifically, and you will pay for it, since it almost certainly came from a bottle, and they will ask you to specify sparkling water (the default around here) or flat.
There also isn’t a lot of ice served with cold drinks — in fact, I think since we’ve been here the only time we’ve had ice in the cold drinks we have ordered was on a particularly warm day, or when we got something from the local U.S. base.
Except for the tragic lack of good Mexican food, most of the differences aren’t bad, just something to adjust to. We’re also still just getting started on trying restaurants, so I expect we’ll find a few places as we go along that tick enough boxes for us that they become regular choices.
Decent sushi and delicious pastries:
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