Day Two: Foods

On the second day, we all decided to treat ourselves to a small Chinese restaurant just down the street from our hotel. The idea of eating foreign food in a foreign country was intriguing. As far as we could tell (by reading the German menu) there were many familiar food items on the list, but far more new ones. We decided to play it safe and ordered beef fried rice with some wonton soup. But this isn't any normal American-Chinese restaurant; this isn't even a German-Chinese restaurant. It was run by a family of Chinese immigrants, who used the same ingredients and cooking recipes as one might see while eating in China. While we had a good idea for how the meal would look, we were totally unprepared for how it would taste. Everything we had there was not only the best Chinese food we had ever had, but it would remain the best food we would eat while staying in Hamburg.  After that first encounter, we returned two more times - it was just that good. The meat was exceptionally tender and seasoned like steak, the wontons were very plump and soft, and the rice stuck together nicely, unlike traditional American rice.

After a rather non-German breakfast we visited the Fischmarkt on the Hamburg pier, although we didn't purchase any foods other than traditional hot-chocolate. While waiting in the train station for the ram to arrive, I did purchase some Käsetoast. This is an everyday, common-man snack found at every train station convenience store. The aroma and flavor was outstanding. It wasn't exceptionally exotic, but it did contain a type of cheese I had never tasted before. Plus it had very German wrapping over it.

Next we visited the Rathaus, Hamburg's central government building. Nearby was a cafe where we ordered scrambled eggs and bacon on toast. Our waiter brought to us water in a glass bottled by a company in Italy. It was the smoothest water I had ever tasted. Upon having scrambled eggs in both Germany, Norway and Finland, I can conclude that Europe has the most bland eggs ever cracked and cooked.

That evening, the three of us collected together along with my brother's comrades from A&M to eat at an American-style steakhouse. I personally love steak and couldn't accept passing up that opportunity. Unfortunately, the experience was so American, there are very little things of note to specifically mention, other than the less-traditional selection of beverages; there was no American alcohol to be found. The steak, however, does receive my seal of approval.

Upon the third day, we decided to partake in some German fast-food. We ended up purchasing two Döner boxes outside of an U-Bahn station.

These Döner boxes is purchased from a chain of food trucks much like ones you might find in America, except instead of selling tacos, they sell meat shredded off of huge hunks of.... something.

I must say, I am quite surprised at the diversity of choices we discovered in Hamburg. I mostly expected there to be true German cuisine around every corner, but everywhere we looked it was more and more foreign shops. I suppose in both a highly populated city center with both a large industrial base and in such a global society today it would make more sense that the food choices would be more diverse there as opposed to somewhere more like rural Germany. Overall, what amused me the most was the American-style steak house, the Blockhaus; especially as someone from America. It was interesting to see something so familiar thousands of miles away.