Deutsches Haus

Deutsches Haus
4875 Victoria Dr
Vancouver, BC

A month or so ago, shokutsu of Eat.Sleep.Dream…Food in a post about Insandong, wrote about population statistics in Metro Vancouver. There, I wrote this comment:

“It was quite interesting you posted those numbers. In fact, I had the odd feeling you listed them to also say the cuisine is not directly proportional to the ethnicity. For example, you listed Filipino, which is higher than Korean, yet, as far as I know, there are only a couple of them (Rekados and Goldilocks are the first ones that comes to my mind). Likewise, Japanese population seems to be smaller than Korean, yet the amount of Japanese (themed) restaurants are a lot larger than Koreans (and other ethnicities). But, then again, as you have mentioned before, probably that’s because it has become more mainstream.”

Now, for some straight figures, Statistics Canada has some numbers here.

If you look at the table in the link above, you will see a discrepancy between restaurants of certain ethnicities and the actual population. Let’s take, for example, Germans. While their figures are higher than Filipino and Korean, you only have a handful of German restaurants in Metro Vancouver. So, with that in mind, I had to ask myself: how good (or bad) are they? And, are there representative of the German cuisine? With that in mind, I went to Deutsches Haus, located in the Vancouver Alpen Club.

Aside from cliché dishes (some sausages, sauerkraut, et al), my knowledge of German food is nil. That’s why for this trip, I asked two of my friends to join me, GX and YS – both of whom have been in Germany for some period of time (in a way or another). We agreed to go there on a Friday night and called for reservations, just in case. I later found out that was a really good idea for weekends.

Again, as per my personal policies, I try not to take pictures of other guests and the picture above was the best I could do. Don’t be fooled by the space dedicated for the restaurant; there was another area which was “closed” when we arrived but opened later that night. As for the ambiance, GX mentioned it lacked gemütlichkeit. During dinner, GX tried the best trying to describe it to me but to no avail, until I was sent the link above. Of course, I don’t have a yardstick to measure against so I will take GX’s words for it…

Also, something about the tables: We were a party of three (info given during reservations) and we were given a table for… 6! We asked if they could give us a smaller table but, nope, that’s the best they could provide us. Oh, well… As for the table, since we are in December already, I guess there was a reason for the Christmas related centerpiece. Oh, the glass there was my drink, a glass of Diet Coke (warning, no free re-fills!). Yes, shame on me – Since I was not driving, I should have ordered beer instead.

Now, the food. All our mains include a salad or soup.

Before I continue, I will apologize for the out-of-focus pictures, despite (or because) I was using the 50mm f1.8 lens. Shame on me… Anyway, back to the food: GX ordered salad while YS and I had the soup – onion soup. And, of course, some bread. The soup was good, though not even close to the best onion soup I ever had. Also, rather than a small slice of baguette, I wished it was served with a full piece of bread. Could I have used the side bread instead? Sure, however, it won’t be crispy then. As for the mains…

GX ordered Rheinischer Sauerbraten – beef marinated in vinegar, some spices and a sweetening agent. It was served with potatoes and red cabbage. In GX’s opinion, it was good though “my mom can make better”. OK, GX, whose mom can’t make a better version of their local dish??? ^_^;

YS ordered one of the specials that day: duck breast with potatoes (thought this was more like home fries) and broccoli. It was reported to be good as well.

As for myself, I ordered Rinderroulade – a meat (beef in this case) roulade – with spätzle and red cabbage. It was served with a really savoury gravy. The spätzle (a pasta dish made with flour, egg, salt and water – similar to other pasta but a lot better I might say) mixed with the gravy was a good side-dish. In fact, I think it beats almost any Italian-style pasta dish I have had in a long time. And the red cabbage, ah, at first, I thought it would be bland. Well, it had a soft texture; however, bland was not. Rather the taste was subtle. The roulade itself was a bit dry (probably because the cut they were using for the roulade was too thin?) but, again, mixed with the gravy… Ah, it was delicious.

Finally, we ordered two desserts to share:

Baked cheesecake – not too different from other cheesecakes I have had before; however, it was dense!

Unbaked cheesecake! No, really! It was cream cheese based and, of course, not baked. It was light and fluffy. If I have to choose between the two, I think it will choose the baked one but by a really thin margin.

By the time we were done with our meal, the restaurant was packed. Bar was full and dancing floor was full! Yes, this is probably the reason why reservations were recommended!

Overall, I must say it is a shame there aren’t that many other German restaurants because this meal was quite good. Would I return? Certainly; however, if I do it, it must be a large party, as I am not sure if I would go on my own (or even if it is a party of two). Also, something I did not mention above: most of the diners were easily over 40, if not over 50 years old. In other words, don’t expect anything hip.

On a final note, GX explained to me, though the food is German, there are different German regions and the dishes in Deutsches Haus do not completely represent Germany as a country. But, if you want schnitzels, OK, they have them in the menu, too…

Tagged under: German • Vancouver