I love to travel. I was a missionary many years ago. I was also in the military based in England, so I visited several countries including Germany.
Right now, I am land locked and US bound, so when I get a chance to experience another country via a restaurant, I jump at the chance. I'm happy to say that The Schnitzel Garden is as close to being in Germany as you will probably get while living here in Idaho.
From the outside, it does not look like much. Unless I knew it was German, I would never have known. In my mind I envisioned a Grand Bavarian Castle sitting among the cliffs. Ok, maybe that would be a bit hard to pull off in Eagle Idaho, but I can dream, right?
Once I walked inside, I felt like I was actually transported into Germany. The music was German, the decor on the walls looked like Germany, and there were German words everywhere.
You won't find any booths here or even ordinary tables. They are picnic benches and are very hard. I turned to my wife and was about to say this was more traditional and normal, until I looked at the bar stools and noticed those were padded. Why do bar people get padding and we do not? I found this to be a puzzling.
The trouble with picnic benches is they are dark, so it is not possible to tell if they are clean so this was a bit uncomfortable, but it is probably a more communal and traditional approach to eating.
My daughter wanted to know how she was going to read the menu, until I pointed out that there was English as well.
For me, I loved the decor. I could not help though to noticed a couple spots that needed attention. I took pics of them and Im posting these here. I definitely recommend these getting attention. They are spoiling an otherwise very good visual experience.
My wife had the Chicken Schnitzel as did my daughter. I had the pork as that is what the wait person recommended. While we waited, we had the fire bread.
Fired Bread is just a flat bread. We had the onion and bacon on it. The flavor was really good, but the bread itself was flabby.
Now I have never had Schnitzel before, but it is basically just meat pounded down until is pretty thin, then lightly battered and fried. So its fried chicken and fried pork. I had the loganberry sauce on mine, which was very good.
I was quite surprised that the pork was pretty greasy. The chicken was moderately greasy, but not that bad. When my pork Schnitzel came out I could see the grease on top of it. Both tasted good, but like I said, it is very reminiscent of just fried chicken and fried pork. The only thing that made it different was the sauce.
I found the pork to be better than the chicken. It was more moist and tender. The chicken was a little though, but because it is fried longer, it has a nicer crisp and more tasty crust.
I am from Texas. We fry everything there. Pretty much you name it, some Texan has figured out how to fry in. I have even fried Milky Way bars before. The trick is to freeze them first, then an egg wash and something crunchy and salty on the outside like crackers. They are delicious.
Being an avid fryer from Texas, I know a thing or 2 because I have seen and done a thing or 2.
Chicken and Pork that is this thin should not be greasy. Anyone that tells you that it can't be done without being greasy does not know how to fry. Based on my heart rate when I got home from eating here, I'd say the food here must be packed full of salt. So, if you are like me and struggle with high blood pressure, we very careful here.
On to dessert. We had the German Cheesecake and the Apple Strudel. German Cheesecake is made without Cream Cheese. It is light and fluffy and way better than its American Cousin. It is made with something called Quark. I know, right?
When I hear of Quark, I think of a star and the Big Bang.
Fortunately, it taste way better than it sounds. I had to look this up, because I have never heard of it. According to Google its a curd made by souring milk. The process sounds like how Mozzarella is made. The texture is a bit like Cottage Cheese.
It was soooooo good. This was the highlight of my meal by a landslide. I highly recommend anyone that has not had this to come try it.
The Apple Strudel on the other hand was not that great. I like my apples soft, but these were still a bit tough. There were raisins in the Strudel as well, but for me, there was nowhere near enough. For me, it needed a little cinnamon, or something else to get it some extra favor.
The main thing to point out here is the price. There are 3 in my family. We only had water to drink. We had 3 Schnitzels, 1 appetizer, and 2 deserts.
This came to a whopping $100!
So if you are on a budget, you will want to think twice about coming here.
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