Restaurant: Zum Fass 香宜

Qi Tiao Tong (七條通), near Linsen North Road, is sometimes referred to as the Combat Zone and is notorious for its girlie bars, KTVs and eclectic collection of Japanese and Korean eateries. It's the last place anyone would expect to find a 27-year-old restaurant serving up authentic German and Swiss cuisine.

Zum Fass (香宜), which means "to go to the [beer] barrel," is tucked away in the basement of an nondescript apartment building on the corner of an alley off Linsen. Only a blackboard with the specials posted outside offers any hint of what lies below.

But why put a German-Swiss restaurant here? "This building used to have a Swiss air-conditioning company in it," said Jack Hsu (徐正順), who took over as owner more than eight years ago, after having worked as a bartender when Zum Fass first opened in 1977. "After work, the employees wanted a place to have a drink. So they turned the basement into a kind of restaurant."

In the beginning, the beer took priority over the food, Hsu said. Most of the dishes were made by the wives of Swiss businessmen who worked upstairs. It wasn't until a bit later that a Swiss cook was flown over and hired to create standard restaurant fare. Those recipes are the ones that are still used today, Hsu said.

The menu has over 50 selections, with such Swiss and German specialties as gemischte wurst (a variety of German sausages) and schweinshaxe (roasted pig knuckles), which Hsu said is a favorite among his customers.

The gemischte wurst includes three types of sausage: veal, cheese and frankfurter. None of them is overly sweet. A healthy portion of homefries and imported sauerkraut -- which doesn't have that from-the-can-sour taste -- rounds off the meal.

The perennial favorite at Zum Fass, though, is roasted pork knuckle. Hsu said pork knuckle is often fried to make it crispy. Zum Fass, however, roasts its pork knuckle for more than three hours, allowing the skin to gradually turn dark red and the meat tender.

What would German food be without German beer? Zum Fass's draft selection is Warsteiner Vorn Fass. Erdinger (in three different varieties) -- Kristallklar, Dunkel and Hefe -- is also available in the bottle.

Hsu said Zum Fass hasn't changed one iota since it opened in 1977. Consistency, he said, is what has made his restaurant stand out among his neighbors along Qi Tiao Tong.