A couple dinner date night for parents is a luxury, as every school-going-child parent knows. For me, it's doubly so because when your work is home-based, going out for anything is a luxury.
And so it was that we ended up at Pier 37, a local restaurant that's nestled in a pretty corner between Erfurt's old cobbled streets and buildings. Right next to it is a creek, a branch-off from the little river that runs through the city, and a really cute mini bridge over the creek to yet another little local restaurant and even more quaint streets.
I've been here more than once - I've had their Schnitzel, meats with potatoes, Thuringian Klöße (specialty Thuringian dumplings) before - with great success. So last night, I decided to try out something different - their vegetarian offerings. To be honest, I miss eating vegetables and now that I'm in my late 40s, I AM trying to be a little more balanced in my meals; not so much for weight than for health, simply because I do intend to fully enjoy my twilight years doing as many of my favourite physical hobbies as I possibly can.
They had three offerings in their vegetarian section of the menu: a pasta, grilled vegetables of some sort and vegetables cooked in some specialized art form. To be honest, as a non-vegetarian, none of them sounded especially delectable but I'm always up for a food adventure (read: experiment) so yeah.
It's called Confetti Pasta. I got attracted by its name alone. I mean, who won't? It sounded so festive and happy and party-time fun. If anyone were to ask me now why I ordered this, I would say, it was solely for its name.
When it arrived, my first thought was that it was a salad. My second was, now why would it be called a pasta when it was a salad. The greens all over the top are what's called Blattsalad or lettuce leaves, a popular choice of salad here, mixed with flat beans. The pale, transparent stuff is grated cheese. All throughout the dish are sun-dried plums and everything is doused with olive oil.
I went hunting for my pasta. After all, when I order a pasta, I do want to actually have a pasta for my meal. Pushing my greens aside so I can see what's underneath it all, I found my (actual) confetti pasta.
They did look festive. Summery, colourful, and yes, they looked like fun.
There were three colours of pasta: red wine, spinach green and the normal cream. Each were round with ridged edges and filled with a mishmash of mashed vegetables and cheese.
In looks, at least, they lived up to their name.
The grated cheese on the top melts into the hot pasta and olive oil, giving it the typically salty flavour. This, I discovered, was quite needed because on its own, the lettuce leaves were essentially bland. To the non-vegetarian, without the melted grated cheese melding, it would be like eating grass. Like literally.
The pasta was really creamy and rich. I loved that, because it fulfilled the need for something less leafy/fibrous for the non-vegetarian diner like me. I'm guessing for the vegetarians, this won't be an issue but yes, for the one who doesn't opt for a meat-less meal often, it's important not to feel like something's missing in the dish in order to fully enjoy it.
There was also plenty of pasta. Don't be fooled by the mass of leaves on the top. I assumed they had a huge serving of leaves to hide a sad portion of pasta. I could not be more wrong.
There was a lot of filled-up pasta underneath, and I mean, super generous. I love pasta, but even I couldn't eat all of it because they just filled me up. Pasta on its own is already pretty filling. Filled pasta was doubly so. I'm not complaining, of course, I love it when restaurants are generous. Eating the pasta with the melted cheese and olive oil all melded together, plus a forkful of Blattsalat and flat beans made a really good combo on the palate. The occasional sun-dried plums coming into the mix made a nice bump in the flavouring, adding a sour-ish tinge and squishy texture to the lettuce leaves.
A word of caution for those with a low salty palate, though. The melted grated cheese in the olive oil increases its salty flavour, so if you're like me and a little sensitive to salt-like flavouring, push the grated cheese aside (as opposed to mixing into the oil) or just omit it altogether. The pasta is stuffed with some cheese too, so those alone are enough to un-bland the salad and pasta.
All in all, it was a good meal. While not necessarily in the cheap range, Pier 37 isn't exactly ultra expensive too and I would say, they give good value for money.
And eating good food by a bubbling, clear creek in summer? Always a good idea.
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