From the moment we stepped in, we knew it was going to be a great dinner. A popular and well-known Aussie jazz pianist, Aynsley Green, was performing that night, which was romantic for us, and greatly entertaining for Chubbs. He played old jazz tunes and maybe even a few of his own compositions. It gets better... once we were seated, the waitress immediately brought Chubbs a whole selection of story books, crayons, and colouring books. Although the stories were all told in German, the illustrations were beautiful, and Fuzzy felt compelled to put whatever German he knew to good use by translating the simple, light-hearted stories to us. Chubbs also got to practise colouring on the animals in the activity book provided, using their fabulous Faber Castell crayons. He was thrilled.
The boys reading German.
Then came the food; starter- mussels, main course- veal shank, dessert- a traditional German cake, and a complimentary glass of wine each. All for $35; excellent value.
The mussels were decent, but it lacked oomph, and was far from the best we've had. The Belgian places make this dish much better.
Us and our veal shanks; this is the epitome of comfort food. The shanks were meltingly tender, the accompanying dish of creamy braised cabbage was divine, and the potatoes were roasted to perfection. We greedily polished everything off.
While we tucked into our mains, Chubbs was presented with a Chef's special. Because the chef has a daughter about Chubbs' age, he kindly offered to make the little one something for him to nibble on so he didn't feel left out. Chubbs got a bowl of the most luscious mashed potato we've come across. It was home-made, and oozing with cream, milk, butter, cheese, and seasoned nicely.
But Chubbs hated it; Fuzzy finished it.
Dessert was interesting; the barely sweet, dense cake base was topped with caramalised almonds, and the whole thing sat in a berry coulis. I loved the intensely sweet and aromatic almond slices, but the texture of the cake itself, was a tad too weird for me.
The chef surprised Chubbs with dessert too; a decorated slice of apple (I think only parents of toddlers know what this means).
He loved it, and polished it off.
The main down-side of the meal is when the pianist was done playing his first set, he put the CD on, and out came jarring German pop. I felt the need for ear plugs, and judging from the faces of fellow patrons, I wasn't alone in this. Also, the waitresses should have provided wine recommendations for the meal (especially being a wine speciality shop) , because the wines we picked, although they were very good, were not full-bodied enough to compliment the lamb shank. Noentheless, it was a very pleasant meal, made extra special by the efforts of the chef and waitresses to make the experience fun for Chubbs too. Never thought I'd say this, but Magma, a German wine bar, is a great place to bring your kid!
After dinner, we couldn't pass up a stroll along the old ceramic tiled corridors of the shophouses to Majestic Hotel for Chubbs to see the interesting sights and have a run-around before getting into the car. He loved the challenge of the numerous stairs and ledges that he could climb on.
He was particularly drawn by the highlight of Majestic itself; the interesting and different chairs Peng, the hotel owner hand-picked from all around the world.
Testing for size.
Chubbs sitting the same chair the same way his Sam-Sook did, two years ago, while taking a break from the exhausting wedding dinner festivities. And there's the hubby, resting his feet while his bride was abandoned in the restaurant, entertaining their guests all on her own. Good one, Love.
