Opened seven years ago, Taipei's German eatery, Haxen Gastatte has built up a solid reputation with its south German menu, which has brought in a regular clientele of office and business people.
Designed along the lines of a European eatery, with solid dark wooden furniture and an interior which is sparsely decorated, Haxen Gastatte provides a relaxing no-fuss atmosphere in which to wine and dine.
While not exactly extensive, the menu does feature enough Germanic fare to pacify the hungriest sausage, pork knuckle, potato and sauerkraut enthusiast. As you'd expect, and pretty much in keeping with tradition, the eatery's most popular dish is pork knuckle. Available either boiled or roasted, the pork knuckle served up at Haxen Gastatte is both a hearty dish and, when compared to other German diners, quite moderately priced; at just NT$510 for both the roasted and boiled varieties.
PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES
For the all-day breakfast buff, the NT$180 farmer's breakfast, a plate of fried potato topped off with two fried eggs should set them for the long-day ahead.
Haxen Gastatte offers patrons a total of eight types of German sausage. All priced at NT$280, the sausage inventory lists veal, cabanossi, cervelet, pork, pepper, frankfurter, chipolate and Nurnberger. For the true Haxen Gastatte sausage sensation, patrons should try the NT$420 mixed plate -- four types of sausage of the diners' choice with sauerkraut and mashed potato.
Although predominantly based around southern German meat-heavy dishes, there are a couple of vegetarian dishes on the menu. The most popular is the pesto spatzle, or pesto dumplings, costing NT$260. Along with the a la carte menu, the restaurant also has daily specials. Both the lunch and all-day specials change everyday and are reasonably priced from NT$199 through NT$550 depending on what ingredients the chef has opted to use.
Diners can choose from two brands of German beer -- Erdinger or Warsteiner. While there's only two brands, there are more than two varieties on offer. There are regular Pilsners, dark and yeast beers, which cost between NT$145 to NT$195. For diners looking for something a little less gassy, then they should try the reasonably priced schnapps, with glasses of Kirsch Wasser and Poipek Williams at NT$180. Along with the schnapps, the restaurant also serves a rather interesting drop called Underberg, which, according to manager, Kero Chen (
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