The Tannenbaum

New West BC

Ok I will be the first to admit that I’m not particularly knowledgeable about German food. I’ve only been a few times and I can’t say I’ve particularly enjoyed any of them.

When German food does come to mind though, and if you are from the Fatherland. please don’t take offense to this, I don’t think of it as one of the world’s great cuisines. In fact possibly one of the worst. And my people come from Scotland! Do you know what Haggis is made of?

Tannenbaum recently opened up in New West. And as I’ll try anything once, well almost anything, including haggis, we thought we would check it out.

My first impressions of the interior aren’t great. It’s clean but the high open ceiling is also open to the kitchen so you get quite a lot of noise. I’m not thrilled with the table setup either. The window tables are nice but interior tables just seem out of place. If your looking for an Old Bavaria House feel this is not it. You definitely feel like you’re in New Westminster. Even with all the kitsch.

But as always more importantly we are here for the food. We started with the baked Camembert.

The cheese itself I found good but the breading was salty. Which was muted when paired with the fruit or Cranberry sauce. But isn’t Camembert French?

For our main we shared the Tannenbaum platter.

Ok now no one can argue about the origin of these dishes. Beef Rouladen, Bratwurst and Schnitzel with Spatzle and Sauerkraut. Oh wait. Sauerkraut is actually from China. Whoops.

So I’m really not a fan of pickles thus the Rouladen wasn’t my favorite. The beef was very tender and flavourful. But when you get that burst of pickle juice it turns me right off. The Bratwurst was excellent. Wouldn’t mind a little more sear on it. The Schnitzel was both tough and tender, depending where you cut it. But crispy and tasty. Pork apparently most of the time in German cuisine. The Weiner kind is from Austria! And it’s veal. By law.

The Spatzle/Spaetzle/Spatzel was great. Basically German pasta. Could have used three times as much though. Considering it the cheapest thing on the plate I had to ask myself why they were so skimpy with it. Us Scots are the notoriously cheap bastards

The highlight of the meal was the (chinese) sauerkraut. Made from red cabbage here it went really well with everything. I don’t eat it a lot but might have to whip some up myself. It’s very good for you!

Apple strudel for dessert. Doesn’t get much more Austrian that that.

I definitely prefer a puff pastry strudel. This was anything but. But it still was excellent. Yummy warm apple filling with melting vanilla ice cream. So good!

Can you eat German food and not have a German beer? I wasn’t about to find out.

They only had Warsteiner on tap. First time I’ve had it. It was good. It’s a bright pilsner with mild bitterness. Pretty refreshing on the hot day that it is.

So let’s sum up. Decent food, ok setting, good beer.

And having said that, probably not going back. I think it’s fine but you probably have to be German to really appreciate it. Personally I’d rather hit the local chippy (3 doors down in the same strip mall) or the Haggis and Blood pudding shop.

Did I really just say that?

Food 7/10

Ambiance 5/10

Beer 7/10 Try Innis and Gunn!

Apple Strudel 8/10

Overall 7/10

Not sheisse not Wunderbar.