G is for Germany @ The Zeitgeist

My forays into German food have been few and far between, apart from a recent visit to Kurz and Lang in Farringdon and a seemingly odd German restaurant in the countryside outside of Medellin in Colombia, that served awesome ham hocks and sauerkraut. It’s been pretty miserable to say the least.

Well there was that one night many years ago in Munich at the Oktober Fest, where I guzzled down litres and litres of fine German beer in those mighty stein glasses, and consumed so many sausages and hocks it defies belief.

So when G came up there really wasn’t too much competition. Well Greece was a front runner, but since one of us is off a sailing holiday around the Greek islands in a few days it made more sense to go with other options. A Ghanaian pub in south London was blown out of the water by our Polish musical loving cartoonist, as he had heard there was a Polish chef there and couldn’t see the point of eating Ghanaian food cooked badly by a fellow countryman.

So looking around it seemed Zeitgeist was getting all the accolades as the best place in London to sample some fine German beer and food.

The menu is amazing, there are 9 different schnitzel dishes on it. I was so sold, and therefore I sold it to everyone else as well. It’s a good job to be the chooser.

Zeitgeist used to be what looks like an old time boozer. With its large open room with a horseshoe bar in the middle. I bet the regulars were a tad miffed when their beloved watering hole became a German beer house. Although I am sure they changed their mind, especially with the impressive array of German beers on tap, which may even put a bar in Germany to shame.

But we were here for one thing and one thing only. Schnitzel. Yes, a simple piece of meat breaded and then fried. Yes, sometimes life is about the simplest things done well.

Damn I love this dish, from the chicken escalope, to the milanesas of Argentina, and those schnitzels from my days on the kibbutz in Israel.

What could be more heavenly than taking a piece of meat, pounding the hell out of it, dripping it in egg and then breadcrumbs and then frying them. Heaven.

There is only one schnitzel to have and that is the Weiner Schnitzel. A large thin piece of veal (or baby tortured cow as Cartman calls it), fried to crispy paradise.

They also do a schnitzel coasted in black pudding, then breaded and fried. It’s good, damn good, so good I only got one solitary bite of it. Damn.

They claim to have the best schnitzels in London, while technically I’ve only had a schnitzel here, but for other versions of the breaded meat, then Garuffa wins hands down. Theirs are the best. It’s a shame they only do them for lunch though.

The food at Zeitgeist is good and hearty, but it is the beers that make this place worth the visit, plus the pronunciation of them from the staff is spot on.