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How’s it going my Steemit friends? Today I’d like to share with you my awesome lunch experience in a Japanese restaurant in Germany.
Japanese food has been so popular not only in Asia but all over the world. I’ve seen Japanese restaurants in almost every major city I traveled to across 6 continents, but many of them in the West only sell sushi rolls, and quite a lot are opened by locals or Chinese. What a great shame!
I know, we Chinese people seem to have a reputation of running restaurants everywhere, selling localized shitty Chinese food or even Japanese food! ;p Although not all of them is bad (like the best fries/chips shop here in Belgium is said to be run by Chinese), I believe when it comes to Japanese food, most foodies still want to try the authentic one made by Japanese people who have an intimate cultural connection with it. And I was lucky to have this chance during our recent trip in Germany. :D
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你听过德国的中世纪古城罗滕堡吗，这个有着童话色彩的小镇处处是五彩缤纷的尖顶房屋，位于有名的浪漫之路和城堡之路的交界处，所以受到各国游人的青睐。尤其是亚洲的访客，被这里迥异的欧洲古镇风情所吸引，很多人前来一探究竟。
因为日本游客数量众多，当我看到这里的一家日式餐厅时，立刻预感会是一个不错的选择。毕竟在西方世界，尤其非亚洲移民聚居的地方，能找到一家比较正宗的日餐，还真不是件容易的事情，通常看到家所谓的日式餐厅，结果进去一看，除了卖寿司卷，就是卖卷寿司，很多时候的区别只是在于卷法的不同，很难指望能吃到碗热气腾腾的豚骨拉面或亲子盖饭之类的抚慰肠胃和心灵的暖食~
那么罗滕堡的这家小餐馆怎么样呢？现在就请大家跟我一起来看看吧：
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It was in the fairy-tale dream place - Rothenburg, a well-preserved medieval town on the crossing of Germany’s famous Romantic Road and Castle Road. I will show you this lovely town in my coming posts with loads of photos and drone videos, but wait, this time it is about a restaurant there. :)
When our car was about to enter the town, our stomachs started to rumble. Having tried plenty of German specialties through the years, it’s time to return to the Asian destiny. So I typed “Asian Restaurants” on Googlemap, and this Japanese restaurant - Louvre popped up, together with a few other Asian ones. My immediate thought is we should try this one out, as I read that Rothenburg is quite popular among Asian tourists, and there’s a great number of Japanese visitors each year.
And we happened to enter from the northern gate of the ancient town wall, where it’s very close to the restaurant. Perfect! So a few minutes later, we came to this street:
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The entrance is pretty small with a Japanese flag on the lamp. I was happy to see the Japanese characters on the black board and some typical decor inside - all good signs showing its authenticity!
On the other side of the wall, you see its name - Louvre Galerie Restaurant. So a Chinese and a Belgian are going to have lunch in this Japanese restaurant with a French name in Germany. Hmmm, sounds international? :)
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As we came a bit too early, there were no other customers yet, so we just picked a table close to the door. It’s not a big space, but nice and cozy. You can see almost all corners of it from my 4 photos below. That means no table was far from the windows, which ensured the bright natural light.
I was fond of their traditional Japanese elements with a modern twist. It also fit in the centuries-old German house, and the paintings inside reminded you that it’s also a “galerie”. Look at the black wooden table and the ancient stone seats. What a smart and wonderful match!
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A girl came to greet us with a big smile and lots of bows, like what Japanese waitresses normally do. She was super sweet and friendly, and spoke English with a Japanese accent. Another great sign! =) They also offered brochures for tourists, and even a few books to read when waiting to be served. Very considerate, weren’t they?
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So now let’s have a look at their menu! There were 2 set meals, named respectively after “crane” and “turtoise”, the 2 creatures seen as ausbicious in Japanese and Chinese cultures. Since summer was gone and it’s already getting chilly, we didn’t feel like eating sushi. And sushi rolls are easy to be found, but not this type of genuine Japanese restaurant in the Western world. 😊
When I saw the wide selection of real Japanese food on their menu, I felt exhilarated. If you are also an Asian foodie fanatic, you know I’m not exaggerating! :) It’s not that easy to find Ramen, Udon or Don(rice bowl) in a localized Japanese restaurant in Europe.
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So we ordered a portion of Gyoza (homemade dumplings) and 2 warm meals. You will see what they are soon! ;)
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And of course they had various rolls too! The list went on, but I thought it’s enough to take 6 pictures of the menu to give you a glimpse of the food there. Have you noticed that they applied a different color name to each Maki set? Also, a plant name was given to each Sushi set including Nigiris. If you are wondering the difference between Maki and Nigiri, they are 2 types of Sushi - Maki is usually rolled or wrapped with seaweed and other ingredients, while Nigiri is mostly made with only raw fish slice and rice.
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First, the girl served us 2 cups of tea. We ordered sencha and genmaicha, both Japanese green tea with whole leaves, the later had roasted popped brown rice in it. It was the exact refreshing grassy flavor I expected.
They placed a squash on each table, and I loved this yellow one. Do you feel the slight autumn touch? :)
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Soon, the pork with ginger sauce was ready. It came with rice and soup at 9.3 euros. The price was actually on the lower end, comparing to the average cost in a Japanese restaurant in this part of Europe, like in a big city in Germany or Belgium or France, where the same set is easily over 15 euros. Together with its great quality, friendly and fast service, cozy atmosphere and amazing location, I had no idea what else we could ask for.
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It’s hard for me to resist the temptation of eel rice whenever they offer this choice on the menu. Unfortunately, it has always been more expensive than most other meals. I’m actually a fan of hot and spicy food, but this meal is one of the exceptions. Fortunately, the eel rice here didn’t let me down. When the smooth eel and rice dipped in sweet sauce touched the tip of my tongue, it felt like in heaven! And I devoured it in less than 5 minutes like usual. ;) Yes, this is the magic of eel rice - nothing else exists when I’m eating it. :D
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After we finished the gyozas, pork rice and eel rice, an older lady in apron came out to greet us and asked if everything was good. This was a sweet personal touch - if you can’t kiss the cook, at least you get to talk to her ;). We were very happy with the food and service, but I still felt a bit hungry. No, that’s not the problem of their food portion, it’s just I could eat a lot, plus I didn’t have breakfast, haha. ;)
So… I ordered fried rice with seafood (9.5 euros). I know I was crazy, but I had to grab this opportunity when there’s anthentic Asian food. ;p The lady chef smiled and nodded, and she went back to the kitchen. In a few minutes, my last serving was out. It tasted as divine as the eel rice: fresh seafood and tender prawns, sticky rice and crunchy vegetables, all combined to a yummylicious treat. I was so stuffed! 😋
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The cost of this meal was less than 50 euros, and it could be less for 2 people, as we simply ordered too much - 2 cups of tea, gyozas, and 3 rice meals. As I mentioned earlier, it was excellent in terms of food quality, service, value for money, atmosphere and location. I especially liked the intimate family feel in its small but cozy space. Later I found it’s rated 4.7 on Google Review and 4.5 on Tripadvisor based on hundreds of customers’ experience. I highly recommend this gem to you if you visit Rothenburg and would love to try some genuine Japanese food. 😃
图文 by Donica多
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### Restaurant Information
Louvre
Klingengasse 15, 91541 Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)
感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)
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Here are some of my travel shots. Check out my travel posts on Steemit World Map, and follow me for more adventures around the globe!
https://steemitimages.com/DQmWSyM6PcNQJ9LL5UciWHWdZjHvcKQwP63HHMyJzvzvobB/4.jpg
This page is synchronized from the post: ‘#154 Japanese Food Experience in a German Medieval Town 🍱 🇩🇪 | 德国童话古镇的日餐推荐’