No. 27, Lane 28, Xinguang Rd, Lingya Dist
高雄市苓雅區新光路28巷27號
(07)334-7637
Tuesday-Sunday
11:30am-1:30pm
5:30pm-8:30pm
English friendly: yes
vegetarian friendly: so very not
average cost: 300-400NTD
Oh my gosh you guys, are you in for a treat!
Alone in a dark and twisty alleyway (conveniently located right outside the Sanduo KMRT stop) stands what must be one of the best kept secrets of Kaohsiung: East Meet West Kitchen, a small foreigner-owned restaurant operating in Austrian and German cuisine. What even is Austrian cuisine?!?
...I guess it's basically German cuisine. Their menu is seriously hideous, and a little difficult to decipher, but that can add some interest to your pre-dinner wait. Good thing, too: when we went around 6:00pm on a Wednesday, there was just us and one random group of German people but it still took a pretty long time to get our food. Probably because the owner (one assumedly Austrian dude named Alex) makes all the food himself.
All the main courses are MEAT with some other stuff, and the sides are mostly variations of sausage.
They also have a nice selection of beers and wines, and some good teas, all of them quite exotic in this part of the world. The mint tea I ordered came with real crushed mint leaves in it. How cute! That in the back there is actually iced (read: lukewarm) ceylon tea in a beer glass. You can get it with sugar or without; I'd probably recommend with.
I got the "meat cake" student meal, which comes with drink + small dessert for the low low price of 200NTD. When it first appeared at our table I was like oh no this will not be nearly enough for me! But things turned out okay. You'll see why in a second.
There's a lot to go over here; let's just say all of it was pretty good. The vegetables were well-cooked (still trying to figure out what sort of radish thing that was up there next to the mashed potatoes), the lotus root was a nice touch, the pickles were pickly and the saurkraut was saurkrauty. The meat cake was basically a hamburger made of meatloaf; paired with the mashed potatoes, it was really satisfying. Definitely a nice break from the ordinary.
That pig blood cake-looking thing in the upper right was actually a dense German bread-like thing with a faint flavor of prunes to it... The huge slab of butter on top was pretty much tasteless, but maybe that's a cultural thing. It was interesting, to say the least, and underneath was a bowl of equally interesting vinegary coleslaw stuff.
One member of our party ordered the peppermint lamb, and what a great decision it was! I stole a rib and enjoyed it HEARTILY. I haven't had ribs in a looong time, and could tell these had been lovingly prepared.
The other member of our party got the soup of the day and a cheese sausage appetizer, which came with saurkraut and a soft pretzel! We were all thinking that together this would be enough food, based on the prices, but it was Not Quite. Take note.
You can't see it here but the soup had a generous serving of vegetables and meat hiding at the bottom, and was pretty tasty.
A good way into our meal, the waitress surprised us with potato wedges! They came with either ketchup, mustard, or more tasteless butter (on potato wedges???), so we got them all. The mustard was good sharp mustard, none of that plasticky yellow Kraft business.
Then, later still, the owner stopped by our table and was like, "Do you want pretzels?" And I was like, FUCK YES I WANT PRETZELS. They were just your standard supermarket pretzels but I suppose they're pretty exotic here.
And then the waitress came back, with this! What we have here is basically gas station shoelace jerky cut up into little slices, and I loved it. The hint of BBQ sweetness made it a good lead in to...
...dessert! My student meal came with a little scoop of ice cream in an adorable dish. I only wish it could have been bigger! I think it was rum vanilla flavor, or something equally alcoholic, and could just as well have been made by hand. It was dreamily smooth, sweet, and had a happy touch of alcoholic aftertaste... ABSOLUTELY delicious, 100%.
For an extra 180NTD my peppermint lamb friend got a set meal with a bowl of soup, choice of drink, and (way better) dessert: either handmade cake or "pancake ice cream." That latter option is Germanglish for the above, a honey almond crêpe with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and more incredible ice cream on the side. I stole a bite of crêpe and JUST LOVED IT.
AND THEN, AFTER ALL THAT, the owner came by with complimentary gingerbread cookies. I almost cried. I don't know if it was because he could tell I was going to write a food blog, or liked the fact that I am white, or is actually Saint Nicolas is disguise, or what, but I don't care. It was the best present I've gotten in a long time: the taste of Christmas.
If you're at all homesick for your Western homeland, I especially recommend this restaurant during the holiday season. But you should go anytime! I'm sure you'll be glad you did.
OVERALL REVIEW: 5/5
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