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2014-01-20
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Prior to this Between X OpenRice Food Tasting Session, my only experience with German-based cuisine had been a couple of visits to Brotzeit for some schnitzels and bratwursts. My Deutsch foodie experience was thus greatly enhanced during this Tasting Session, courtesy of Between and OpenRice. Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café is a lovely little German eatery that appears to pride itself on delivering an authentically German experience to its patrons. This was evident throughout my visit.W
Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café is a lovely little German eatery that appears to pride itself on delivering an authentically German experience to its patrons. This was evident throughout my visit.
While waiting to be seated, one already catches a glimpse of the exquisitely-furnished café interior. An impressive variety of pastas and spirits sits invitingly on large wooden shelves. Stepping inside, I was struck by the sight of large majestic trees scattered across the eatery, their branches reaching towards the lofty ceiling. Much thought and care was indeed put into the decorations, with a spinning water wheel and a wall of antique cuckoo clocks among the more outstanding features.
Water wheel: attention-catching centrepiece
Water feature complete with fish
Shelves upon shelves of specialty pastasAfter getting to meet the fellow OpenRicers present as well as Joash, the General Manager (Singapore) of VCNC (which is behind the Between app), we were ready to choose our dishes from a selection of mains and desserts to accompany a Wurstsalat (SGD 18++), a salad with sausages, onions and gherkins.
The Wurstsalat was simple yet satisfying in a understated way. The sausage slices possessed a unique mix of tastes, with a slight sourish tang adding some tart zest to the otherwise salty meat. The accompanying greens and cherry tomatoes added the finishing gustatory as well as visual touches.For my main, I went for the Schwäbische Maultaschen (SGD 25++), which consists of two large pockets of Swabian pasta, each stuffed with savoury minced beef. These were served on a bed of sautéed onions and potatoes. Accompanying these was a mesclun salad complete with bright cherry tomatoes.
The two maultaschen were generously sized and appetizingly presented, with the onions, potatoes and salad each adding a distinct dimension to the meat pockets. The pasta itself was soft and subtly fragrant, and provided a perfect foil to the more intense flavours of the minced beef. The maultaschen were well-complemented by the bed of potatoes and onions, whose tangy flavours I presume may be attributed to a vinaigrette dressing. It was indeed a flavourful and well-balanced dish.
Flavourful minced beef within!Accompanying my meal was a cappuccino (SGD 10++) which was easily the most frothy and fluffy coffee I have ever encountered.
Check out the froth!If you cut through all that fluff (literally), you will find that Stuttgart does really do quite a mean cappuccino. The coffee was thick and full-bodied, with intense aromas wafting up with every (divine) sip.
Rounding off the feast was a slice of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (SGD 12++), a freshly-baked Blackforest cake that was fluffy, creamy, light and rich all at once. The spongy cake layers were interspersed with sweet and gooey cherries, with cream and chocolate shavings holding it all together. The cake was delightfully sweet and intensely flavoured with Kirschwasser, a traditional cherry liquor, making it a wonderful flavourful burst on the palate.While service was reasonably attentive and polite to a fault, it was at times a little slow. We were made to wait uncomfortably long for some of the dishes, but this could be put down to the large group we were in. Overlooking this blemish, the homely ambience and quality of food were indeed top notch, making a visit to Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café an advisable one. Just be sure to visit only when not in a rush, and go prepared to spend a leisurely evening over some great-tasting German cuisine. Do also take the opportunity to take a few photographs (unintrusively of course), as the café is painstakingly decorated.
En Guete!
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