Hahndorf Inn: Big on meat, big on freshly baked pretzels
Big meals meet South Aussie German flavours at this rustic timber pub.
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You might expect Monday lunch on a run-of-the-mill day in Hahndorf to be a quiet one.
At this German-style inn there’s only one word for it. Big. Lively groups fill the lofty ceilinged, 100-seat space, warmed by lots of rustic timber and a king-size blackened fireplace.
The meals are – big. The menu is big on meat, big on platters, light on salads with bigger piles of sauerkraut and big soft, freshly baked pretzels.
Shweinshaxe, weisswurst, bratkartoffeln, flammbrotchen and gegrillter kassler are among charred or roasted meats and sausages, fortunately well described in English.
A Hahndorf stroll and lunch is part of a sightseeing day with US visitors who’ve enjoyed Down Under backyard barbies and pavlova. Today, South Aussie German flavours are added to their souvenir experiences.
The inn’s friendly service is brisk, leaving us to “play mum” and portion good-looking meat feasts. The schnitzel is a good ’un. Tender crumbed veal laps over the plate’s edges and would be easier to divvy up had we asked for chips on the side, not under the meat.
A big knife is spiked into a big crackly pork knuckle. The rosy flesh barely holds on to the bone so it’s easy to pull away our helpings. One tasting plate comprises 11 char-grilled sausages that spit juices when we cut them into bites. It’s a good sign. The varied short to long and chubby specimens are well-cooked and come with creamy Bavarian potato salad, sauerkraut and two of those giant pretzels.
Pork ribs racks are the only letdown, the meat a tad dry, only saved by a sticky barbecue glaze that’s agreeably beer-based rather than overly sweet.
After all this, there’s only one taker for dessert. His apfelstrudel fits the generous theme. It’s a nice presentation of apple roly-polyed in puff pastry, with cream and ice cream, if not quite like one any Oma surely used to make. For the rest of us, phew, no dinner thanks, perhaps just a late-night scrape of leftover pav.