Where to eat in Antigua Guatemala : Jardin Bavaria review

It was back to Jardin Bavaria today for lunch after breakfast at Fernando’s. I’ve always liked coming here at least once during an Antigua trip.
My original post : http://www.rishiray.com/another-installment-of-eating-in-jardin-bavaria-antigua/

Today, however wasn’t the greatest meal I had there because of a misalignment of expectations. Customer have expectations and when you see something on the menu that you know … then you order it, with the expectation that it will be the same thing. That’s the point of a menu … to communicate price and dish together in a consistent fashion. When D* and I come here, we’ve always ordered the same thing : Salchichona Teutona. Here’s an excerpt from my previous entry :

It does strike an odd note in your soul to see this odd mix of Bavaria and Guatemala, especially since my soul doesn’t normally hanker for a plate of German sausage, sauerkraut and fried potatoes. The waitresses do rock classic Bavarian dirndls (Those super dorky poofy-sleeved white blouse and striped aprons). As for the menu … order the “Salchichona Teutona”, if it’s only two people and you’re super hungry!

From the original post, you see that the sausage was red, here’s what we got today, which is a white sausage. D*’s not a fan of Munich Weisswurst … and she highlighted to me. I fought her for a couple minutes, because I didn’t believe in my head that they would switch something and not say this or at least explain to us that they didn’t have what we expected.

As an FYI, there are more than 50 kinds of “Brat” in available in Germany, differing in size, seasonings, and texture. Below we describe some of the more well-known Bratwurst (The German Food guide is pretty awesome for some of this information)

• Coburger Bratwurst
  A Bratwurst originating in the city of Coburg in Bavaria. It is made from a minimum of 15% veal or beef, and its seasonings include only salt, pepper, nutmeg, and lemon zest. It is coarse in texture and measures about 10 inches in length. Traditionally it is grilled over pinecones and served in a bread roll (Brötchen).
• Fränkische Bratwurst
  A relatively long (4-8 inches), thick, coarse sausage, originating from the Franconia (Franken) region in Bavaria. It dates back to 1573. The Fränkische Bratwurst is traditionally served with sauerkraut or potato salad, but with no mustard.
• Kulmbacher Bratwurst
  The Kulmbacher Bratwurst, from the city of Kulmbach in Bavaria, is made mainly from finely ground veal. They are long and thin.
• Nürnberger Rostbratwurst
  A small, thin bratwurst from the city of Nürnberg. It is no longer than 3-4 inches and weighs no more than 1 oz. They are traditionally served is sets of 6 or 12 (depending on your appetite) with horseradish and sauerkraut or potato salad.
• Nordhessische Bratwurst
  The Nordhessische Bratwurst (from Northern Hessen) is similar to the Thüringer Rostbratwurst in taste. It is made from coarsely ground pork and is heavily seasoned. It measures around 8 inches in length. Traditionally, it is grilled over a wood fire and served on a cut-open roll (Brötchen) with mustard.
• Rote Wurst
  The Rote Wurst is a favorite Bratwurst of the Swabian region. It is similar to the Bockwurst, and is made from finely ground pork and bacon. Its taste is spicy. To prevent splitting during grilling or pan frying, an X is cut into the ends of the sausage. The ends open during cooking, but the rest of the sausage remains in tact, giving it its traditional shape.
• Thüringer Rostbratwurst The Thüringer Rostbratwurst is a spicy sausage from Thüringen. It is long (6-8 inches) and thin in shape. Traditionally, it is grilled over a wood fire and eaten with mustard and bread.
• Würzburger Bratwurst
  The Würzburger Bratwurst, also known as the Winzerbratwurst, comes from the city of Würzburg. It’s size is similar to the Thüringer Rostbratwurst, but its ingredients include white Franken wine.

Anyway back to the misalignment of expectations …

So we highlighted the difference in sausage to the waitress. The thing is that between my poor Spanish and her non existent English, she got that we didn’t like the sausage and when I showed her pictures from my blog, she immediately got what why we weren’t happy. She was quite nice about the whole thing and explained that the kitchen made a substitution.

Also there was definitely a drop off in the number of German beers available. This could be due to demand or availability. In the end, we settled for some Bitburgers!

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