You probably know of Brotzeit Bier Bar & Restaurant that serves up authentic German cuisine and beer on tap, but did you know that the franchise chain actually started out of Singapore? I grew up seeing Brotzeit around in Singapore, though I never set foot in one until I was in my twenties and my colleagues wanted to drink while watching the Premier League game. That was my introduction to German food.

Imagine my delight when I saw a Brotzeit restaurant right here in Beijing! Located at the Grand Summit in Liangmaqiao, the restaurant offers a spacious outdoor patio to enjoy some sunshine, and loops popular sports channels indoors. Its interior seating uses the franchise’s signature wooden bench and table to offer a clean, minimalist aesthetic.

Now when you hear German food, you’ll probably thinking “pork knuckle” straightaway, and of course Brotzeit has a cracking good one. But, personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of pork knuckle. Instead, one of my and my child’s favorite things to eat at Brotzeit is the wiener schnitzel, otherwise known as the original veal escalope. The thinly cut meat is lightly breaded and cooked to golden perfection, and the touch of sweetness from the jam adds a lovely contrast to every bite. The chicken and pork versions are pretty much just as good too!

The classic cheese spätzle dish with fried onions is also another favorite. Think of it as a lighter version of mac and cheese, with the delicious crunch of French fried onions to offset the creamy cheesiness.

And last but not least, the sausages. Brotzeit offers a great variety of sausages, but after trying the platter to sample most of them, my kid’s top choices are the Thüringer and Nürnberger pork sausages.

If you want to try out Brotzeit some time, they offer a good bargain on their weekday lunch specials priced at RMB 88! Our recommendations from the lunch specials menu would be the cordon bleu, oven-baked meatballs, and smoked salmon with rösti.

For more reviews on the go, follow the jingkids International account on must-download local app Dazhong Dianping by simply scanning the QR code below!

Images: Vivienne Tseng-Rush

KEEP READING: DianPing Reviews: Great Leap Lunch or Brunch?

TCB Beer Garden is a rare idyllic spot within the bustling CBD area. Located on the ground floor of the Grand Millennium hotel, the calm garden area features strings of fairy lights adorning leafy parasol trees and romantic “nomadic” tents offering a secluded space for a family dinner.

Known as The Corner Bistro during the day, the restaurant’s menu changes for dinnertime, becoming Beer Garden.

During the day, salads and sandwiches are served from the deli along with Turkish delicacies. The evening menu features a unique blend of global cuisines ranging from German, Chinese, Italian, and even Mexican. The large menu ensures that there is something for everyone!

If trying to escape the summer heat, there is a spacious indoor dining area. Reflecting the design style of the Grand Millennium itself, the restaurant is sleek and modern. Each table is decorated with a light-up globe, sure to appeal to young children. Speaking of children, highchairs are accessible and there are plenty of kid-friendly drinks, including freshly squeezed orange and watermelon juices.

Popular appetizers include Baby Cucumber (with garlic, chili, sesame, and pepper oil) (RMB 28) and Thai Style Shrimp Cracker (RMB 18). For a tasty veggie option, look to the Roasted Enoki Mushrooms (RMB 15), which are slightly spicy and seasoned with cumin.

Beer Garden also serves a variety of skewers with the Roasted Lamb (RMB 12) and Roasted Beef (RMB 12) being the most popular. Fans of spicy food will be pleased to find that all skewers are seasoned with cumin and chili powder. From June 19 to July 31, they will serve crayfish (called “little lobster” in Chinese), which comes in two popular local flavors – “hot and numb”, and “thirteen spices”.

The main courses include a plate of an assortment of tasty German sausages served with mashed potatoes, pickles, sauerkraut, and steamed tomatoes (RMB 168). Also available are a hamburger (RMB 108), as well as a grilled rib-eye steak (RMB 298) and a German-style fried crispy pork shoulder—which are on the pricier side (RMB 288).

If looking for some fun activities after or in between dinner, there are darts, a pool table, and a foosball table.

Beer Garden offers the genuine and distinctive East meets West culinary experience. The restaurant offers dishes that appeal to both local and foreign tastes.

Find it:
The Corner Bistro/Beer Garden:
No. 7 E. 3rd Ring Rd Middle, Chaoyang District

朝阳区东三环中路7号

Tel: 010-85876888-3012

Beer Garden open from 4-11pm

Images: Capri W

Chinese people eat more frequently than Germans – on average seven times a day. That is what the German institution GIM (Gesellschaft für Innovative Marktforschung) found out in 2016 after they had asked 3,500 Chinese and German volunteers about their eating habits. According to the GIM, Chinese people are also more likely to try out new food than Germans.

But what about the dishes themselves? Let’s take a look at some of the most well-known accomplishments of German and Chinese cuisines, compare them, and find out how different they really are…

Baozi (包子) vs. Dampfnudeln

Germany and China might be thousands of miles apart, but at some point in history two people, separated by culture and country, must have had the same idea, because baozi (包子) and Dampfnudeln (lit. “steam noodles”) show a lot of similarities. Both are a kind of bread roll made of yeast dough that has to be steamed.

There are some differences, too, however: Dampfnudeln are usually much larger than baozi and, typically, you serve Dampfnudeln sweet. You fill them with jam and dip them in vanilla sauce. Baozi, on the other hand, are usually filled with vegetables and meat.

There are a lot of different kinds of baozi in China – for example mantou (馒头), a specialty of the Northern Chinese cuisine – but in Germany, there are only two variations of the Dampfnudel: The Bavarian version (sweet) and the Palatine one (salty). They both compete to be acknowledged as the original form of the Dampfnudel, but that will probably never be determined.

Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面) vs. Käsespätzle  

Käsespätzle (“cheese noodles” – once you know how to pronounce that correctly, you will have one more thing to show off about) and zha jiang mian are both dishes with a very long history. It is fair to say that in Swabia in Southern Germany, Käsespätzle are a part of the cultural identity – there is even a quite considerable amount of poetry based on Käsespätzle in Swabian literature. Zha jiang mian is a very traditional dish, too, especially in Beijing. According to legend, it was brought to the capital by an empress of the Qing dynasty who discovered zha jiang mian while travelling through China. She then found it so tasty that she brought the cook with her to Beijing.

Spätzle are a special sort of noodles made with egg. They are called Spätzle because each noodle is supposed to look a little bit like a sparrow (German: Spatz). There are tons of possibilities for how to serve Spätzle, but in Käsespätzle, they are always combined with melted cheese and roasted onions. Zha jiang mian, on the other hand, consists of thick noodles not mixed with cheese, but with a paste made of beans (for example soybeans) containing diced meat. Oftentimes it is served with raw vegetables.

Tu Dou Si (土豆絲) vs. Kartoffelpuffer

It is incredible how much mind power humankind has invested in inventing ways to serve potatoes. There are mashed, roasted, baked, and boiled potatoes. There is gratin, there is potato salad, and there are French fries.

And there are shredded potatoes.

Shredded potatoes are the key ingredients in both tu dou si and Kartoffelpuffer (a kind of potato pancake), also known as Rösti. But both dishes can contain other vegetables, too – usually carrots that are also shredded or sliced.

If you want to make tu dou si, you will have to fry the potato and the carrot slices. Adding pepper or dried chili will provide some spiciness. In order to prepare Kartoffelpuffer, the potatoes must be mixed with butter and eggs so that the ingredients merge into one mass, which then has to be roasted until it has formed a kind of crispy pancake.

So, what did we learn today? We learned that poetry about noodles exists (here is the link to a poem on Spätzle written in Swabian dialect, which is frankly quite hard to understand, even for Germans: Jeanette Hölzl’s homepage: ein schwäbisches Spätzle-Gedicht (holzl.de)) and we should also have learned that no matter in which culture we live, in the end, we all think very similarly: We will all invent something like baozi at some point in history, and we are all very imaginative when it comes to different ways to serve potatoes.

And I have learned a lot, too, researching for this article, thanks to Ayisha Wangsun, a girl who is a good cook and helped me quite a bit on this piece of work.

Images: Pexels, Dianping