Was in the 公館 area near NTU, near the GF's old house before they moved to Xindian. The old place was still there, but the shops and restaurants have undergone plenty of turnover. Funny how it's the undistinguished, even dingy, little food stalls and sundry shops that have stood the test of time.
The Gasthaus is definitely one from the new school. Located within an interior alley and next to a small park, it manages a bit of tranquility in a bustling area. The furnishings were simple and spare without appearing cheap, although it probably is. The front of the room featured their baked goods like multi-grain dark breads and rolls and a freezer case of their home-made ice cream. A bar for the espresso machine and plenty of different glasses for the various German brews. And Taiwan beer, of course. I wonder what glass they use for that?
The menu is sort of nouveau-Deutsch when compared to other Taipei German restaurants, with other European influences like various pastas and a gyro-sausage. They were pushing the full multi-course meals, but it seemed way too much food even by my American sensibilities. So we went with the smaller set-meals, which still featured bread, salad, and dessert along with a smaller main. The bread was the afore-mentioned multi-grain rolls, which were surprisingly good, just about as good as the breads I actually had in Germany, with just a touch less gluten in comparison. Too bad they sandwiched the rolls with generic garlic-bread spread. A bit of salted plain butter would've been better. The salad base was the blah iceberg salad, but they did dress it up with some red cabbage and carrot shred for color, and a real balsamic vinaigrette dressing for flavor. Good way to do more with less.
I had the dual-sausage plate with a bratwurst and weisswurst, with a side of hand-made spaetzle dressed like a light pasta dish in herbs, olive oil, and multi-colored bell peppers. And a big scoop of sauerkraut, complete with caraway seeds, to give it that authentic touch, even if I couldn't eat all of it. I would guess most of their customers won't like it that much either. The sausages were juicy and flavorful with spices. A bit of ketchup and mustard on the side provided a change of pace. The thick, short spaetzle noodles were perfectly al dente, although the light olive-oil sauce kinda gets overwhelmed by the strong sausage flavors. Still, a really good side dish, and I wouldn't mind having the noodles by itself sometime. Washed it all down with a tall glass of Erdinger Unfiltered witbier. Can't go wrong with beer and sausages.
GF had the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Didn't have the heart to tell her it's not really German, although the preparation was a bit different than what I'm used to. Rather than breaded and fried, the chicken thigh, cheese, and ham was wrapped in pastry and baked. The pastry wrap kept the meat perfectly tender. A bit too salty for our tastes, but not out-of-line.
Had a scoop of palate-cleansing lemon sherbet for dessert, simple and good, although I would've liked a bit more acidity. Talked the GF into getting a slice of the apfelkuchen (i.e. German apple cake). The pie-like filling had big chunks of crunchy apple, but the crust was a thick, dense layer, almost like the crust of a Chinese pineapple snack-cake (鳳梨酥). It seemed a bit dry and come out of the cold case didn't help it, although whip cream can almost redeem any dessert. There's plenty of other cakes, pies, and ice cream flavors to try, though. There's plenty of food that'll be worth trying, too.
Goethe Gourmet Gasthaus
哥德德式創意美食
No. 11, Lane 283, Roosevelt Road, Section 3
台北市大安區羅斯福路3段283巷11號
02-23620060