Description: We were disappointed to find
West Coast Restaurant closed on Monday evening. We had looked for a restaurant on our way back to the hotel, but had come across nothing of particular interest. Gaudeamus, the bar at the Crown Plaza, was open, so with trepidation we decided to try it. Lucky us!
This is a very pretty bar, done in the same blues and silver that decorate the lobby and the Westcoast Restaurant. The whole bar is smoking, so we just picked a spot that we hoped would expose us to the least possible amount of dsmoke. It worked well. There is a nice selection of snacks on the table that you may enjoy while you peruse the menu: nuts and two types of light chips. We were particularly happy to see the same bread basket and flavored butter that we had so loved at Westcoast turn up also at Gaudeamus.
The choices were mostly for local German favorites. Al and Bob choose pork steak, which came with baked potato and coleslaw. The coleslaw here was grated carrots with a sweet-tasting dressing. You have your choice of sauce, and Al chose pan sauce, Bob got the cognac, and I had the sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato dumplings. These were actually very tasty fried dumplings, not the soggy balls that we see mostly everywhere else. The sauerbraten was tender and the sauce delicious. Joe had the ribeye steak with fried potatoes. The food was surprisingly good here; we hadn’t expected much and were delightfully surprised.
Of course, we drank some German Pils, and we finished with coffee and dessert. Bob and Joe had the berry compote with marscapone cream--it was fabulous, and I was terribly jealous that I hadn’t ordered it. I chose the caramelized apple crepe with vanilla ice cream because I wanted Al to share it with me. It was yummy, but to our taste, a little too sweet. They were both beautifully presented, ours with a topping of spun sugar.
The prices at Gaudaemus are quite a bit cheaper than at Westcoast. We had a very nice dinner for 29 euros for the two of us.
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