[quote=“olm”][quote=“sandman”]I wonder if he does bretzels with the salt crystals on them. And some weisswurst. And some sweet mustard. And a glass of weissbier.
Best. Breakfast. EVER.[/quote]
So definitely next time I’ll try Wendel’s Weisswurst instead (I asked Michael what’s the difference, and it’s mainly that the veal is replaced by pork for cost reasons, same as with the Canadian stuff I bought) and check how his Bretzeln are when fresh (I only had several hours old so far, when a coworker brought some for me - and they were good, but not very good). I’ll report back with news - also on the service [/quote]
Oops, forgot to report back. So I only got the white sausage they had packed in the store, didn’t try the one in the Bistro. In my opinion it was way inferior to the Canadian ones you get at CitySuper. I hope I remember this one right, though, since I don’t see any white sausage for sale in their online shop
The Bretzeln I bought there were the real deal with salt, although they were not really fresh - at least by the time I arrived home and tried one. I fear the only way to get really fresh Brezeln in TW is to make them ourselves…
Recently I also happened to have a nice dinner there, and had a very positive experience. The service was good, so was the Bratwurst & Sauerkraut & Kartoffelbrei that one of us had. The cheese platter and cold cuts platter were excellent! I don’t really like the standard bread that comes normally very much, though (TWese obviously prefer it), but the server suggested that I order a Kosacken Loaf from the bakery to go with the plates. This, together with the dark Warsteiner (thanks god I had a driver who doesn’t drink), was pretty damn good I don’t need western food often, but once in a while a good bread with meats & cheese is nice. (The rest of the bread I took home).
Also it seems Wendel’s updated the webiste: wendels-bakery.com The German version is still not working, though. And I wonder if the page under “Bistro” claiming that in 2006 they opened another branch in Takashimaya… Japan I guess - or is it referring to “Takashimaya department store” in Tienmu that Google seems to know?
Anyway, I heard from a friend that Wendel’s is soon opening a new shop near SYS Memorial Hall - which would be great for those people who want to get the bread, but not travel to Tienmu every time. I didn’t see anything about that on the website, but I’ll keep my eyes open
When I visited the Tienmu bakery today, they were saying the new Da An branch just opened today. Special there was I think Pretzels for NT$1 per piece or so. Anyway, this is the address of the new shop:
It is indeed there. I saw it tonight, by chance, walking back to my car from Dinner. Picked up a loaf of bread. Been looking for some good hearty bread since I got back from France a couple of months ago, and it definitely fits the bill.
My wife and I made a reservation at the Da-an branch on our anniversary. When we arrived, we were shown to a tiny little table - which happened to be next to a larger table where Mr Wendel was entertaining some xiaojies. When more guests showed up at Mr Wendel’s table, he whispered something to the chief waiter, who then got the most junior waitress in the place to come and ask me and my wife to give up our table and wait for another table. I was amazed.
I would not have minded if the boss had actually come over to greet us (he could have leaned over even) and explained the situation himself, but I felt the whole little scenario was handled in a very tacky manner. When my wife and I cancelled our order, Mr Wendel appeared to be avoiding eye contact with us. Even as we walked out.
So apparently making a reservation there means you might get a table, but you could be asked to get up after 10 minutes and go wait around somewhere for another table. :loco:
I won’t miss his pretzels much.
I’m curious…are there Germans here that actually like this place? I’ve spent some time in Germany and remember the food being much better.
I ate at Wendel’s once. I thought the food was so-so, service was pretty poor. Then I went to the bakery a few weeks later for some dessert (fruit tart) and bread to take home. Tart was decent (notch above so-so), bread was outstanding. I don’t really feel much tempted to return to the restaurant but look forward to a loaf of bread every so often.
I mostly get bakery goods from there. Bread, Pretzels, rolls, some cakes (Donauwelle & Bananenkuchen being the favourites): Outstanding. For the restaurant, I haven’t been there so often, simply because its most often too crowded to just walk in (seems extremely popular with Taiwanese), plus I don’t crave German food too much here in Taiwan. Way too good Chinese food all around me
I really love their cold cuts platters though, especially if the bread is replaced with some fresh cut Kosaken Loaf from the store. I already mentioned all this in this thread I think, as well as the IMHO pretty good Bratwurst. Other things I tried were good, but not as much to my taste as that I would want to travel all the way to Tienmu often. So I guess it really depends on your taste and what you get from the menu, some items can be very good.
If I really want German food without cooking myself, I would mostly go to Paulaner at Guandu MRT once in a while: More Bavarian fare, a beer that suits my personal taste better than Wendels’ Warsteiner, great view from the Biergarten, and a nice place to walk with the dogs.
With service I personally didn’t have much issues worth mentioning there yet. But I am not happy to read that several people seemed to have had pretty severe issues, since I very often recommend the bakery
Well, maybe it’s only me, but the food in the restaurant lost the quality over the years.
Went there one time with my gf for breakfast, and we both were quite disappointed by the quality.
Lunch and dinner are also not so good anymore as it was in the beginning.
So only reason to go there regularly is now for me to get my monthlu stock of bread filled up
Had a rotten experience there tonight, we wanted to get some dessert after dinner today and we figured we’d go by Wendel’s as their cakes are pretty decent for the price.
It was around 7.30 and we asked if we could sit there and eat the cake and order a drink to go with, but apparently we couldn’t, as minimum order was NT$250 a person as it was “dinner time”, which a slice of cake and a drink wouldn’t total to… This was despite the fact that there were five empty tables and no-one else waiting to be seated…
This kind of crap pisses me off something awfully, as in as much as I can understand why they have this rule in place, when it’s busy, it makes no sense when there are that many free tables.
And of course, there’s no contact email address to be found on the website, so actually complaining to the owner seems to be impossible…
In as much as I like buying the odd slice of cake there now and again, I’ll never ever try to get a table to sit there and eat again.
The owner is on facebook. His name is Michael. For me, spending $500nt there would not be difficult. Just get some cakes for there and some to take home - win win!
The funny thing is, I was there a few weeks ago with a couple of friends and then all we had to order was a drink to go with whatever cake we ordered and no-one said anything about an NT$250 minimum order.
And it would’ve been fine if they’d been busy, but there were five empty tables for crying out loud and we were the only customers waiting to be seated.
Having a policy like that when it’s busy is one thing, but when the place is half empty, it’s just silly and they would’ve made more money out of us if they’d let us sit down for 15 minutes…
Michael Wendel is no longer associated with these bakeries/restaurants. They are completely under local management for a few months already. For me, this is good news on several levels.
I guess staying more or less the same, at least that’s what it looks like so far. They’ve been doing some Taiwanese style baked thingies for ages already though, I think. Plus some “not sure if German” stuff, like the delicious banana cake
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