Takeaways, Mitnehmen and Tapau in Erfurt

[Prologue: 

"takeaway" (English) = from "take away", for packed food to be eaten away from the restaurant.

"mitnehmen" (German) = bring with, sometimes with "zu" meaning "to bring with"

"tapau" (originally Chinese but adopted by all in Malaysia and Singapore) = packed]

In these pandemic times, restaurants and eateries can only do takeaways, so I decided to do a little compilation of the takeaways I have taken advantage of for the past four weeks or so. I have to say, though, I never knew that NOT being able to eat in a restaurant or cafe would disappoint me so much. I guess this is what that old adage was referring to, about not missing something (or someone) till it's gone. 

In this case, it's something, and that something is being able to sit in whichever cafe or restaurant I wanted, or whenever I wanted, have my little something and go home with that warm, satisfied feeling in my tummy. I may not eat out a lot, so when I do, I absolutely love it - not just the food or the service, but also watching the people sitting inside with me, and even those wandering outside, who are probably also wondering if they themselves should be popping in for a little something of their own. 

These days are especially wistful for me. The year-end + coming universal holiday season + impending new year (with hopefully good new vibes) are all reasons enough to go outdoors and romp around. And if I happen to come across a nice-looking cafe or restaurant, all the more better! 

Now that those little luxuries aren't available, at least for now, it's takeaways for me (and the rest of Thuringia, I suspect). There are different ways of takeaways. Larger chains do a homogenous kind of menu, where they offer limited choices and you order them in advance for pick-up. Smaller, independent eateries and restaurants offer their normal menu, which you would have to stand around and wait for, while fast food eateries take orders for their quick offerings, which you collect at the cashier's end of the line. 

I decided to try as many different types of takeaways as I could. 

I started with one of the first restaurants to adapt their menu and operations to accommodate these strange times - Block House Erfurt. I've written about their amazing steaks earlier here. In case you didn't know, I enjoyed their food (twice) so decided to try their takeaways. 

As you can see, they simplified their offerings to a limited menu, understandably. As a large-sized business operator, it makes perfect sense to do a focused menu to reduce wastage and maximize current resources (note: this is me putting my MBA to practice. All that slogging is finally put to use, yes!). 

That week, they offered quarter-sized steaks in mushroom sauce, served with a generous side of salad and fries. Dipping my fork into the mushroom sauce, I was not disappointed. It was generously flavoured - I loved the full mushroom taste and they had onions blended in as well, which leaves you with a slight peppery tinge on the palate. 

The salad was, as I mentioned, generous. Seriously. A whole huge bowl that matched the size of the main platter for the steak and fries, and an equally generous portion of dressing. 

I ain't complainin'. The photo shows half of my dressing already rained in my salad, and I still had half a portion leftover. It was THAT generous. 

The salad had lots of Roman leaves, huge slices of tomatoes, radishes, red cabbage and some basil leaves. Like I said, generous. All were crispy fresh, which was absolutely lovely and refreshing. 

The steak, too, was tender. As usual, I ordered mine medium rare, and yes, medium rare it came. 

Super tender and nicely-juicy, with enough mushroom sauce to give it a kick. The pliant onions immersed in the sauce blended nicely with the hardier texture of the meat, the sensations of which fulfilled my palate wonderfully.

Again, Block House Erfurt did not disappoint. 

I did other takeaways too, some of which did not manage to make it on camera, before it all landed in my tummy (food is meant to be eaten, after all). I promise to try harder next time (fingers crossed). 

One of these was at a fast food Asian eatery in the city, the Shanghai-An, housed in the same building as the Aldi supermarket. It's pretty popular within the neighbourhood, as it's very reasonably priced and the food quality is worth every Euro spent. 

Being a little fast food eatery, it doesn't serve in the flamboyant style of larger chain restaurants, but to me, its simplicity is, in itself, an attraction. The hubs and I decided to tapau our favourites. His was the chicken and vegetables, served with rice. 

Don't let the picture fool you. The rice is packed down really well, as were the chicken and vegetables, making this a really filling meal. As for taste, I am never disappointed at Shanghai-An - simple as the food may be, everything is tasty. This was no different. The chicken was tender and vegetables were full of flavour. The sauce they were mixed in, too, tasted really good, albeit spicy. Its spiciness was a surprise, though, as the menu said nothing to that effect, so for those who expected simply sauce, it could be an unwelcoming surprise. 

Thankfully, we like spicy, so all was well. 

I ordered my usual rice and vegetable curry, one of my favourites because most days, I need to have a spicy kick to my food for that appetite boost. Ironically, the spiciness of the chicken and vegetable dish was more than the spiciness in my curry, which was more sweet than actually spicy. I found the same phenomenon earlier here so it must be a preference. 

In all, the curry is nicely-creamy, and not overly so. I like to mix my rice and curry sauce altogether when I eat, so they're more like one item instead of two. I know some people think it looks unappetizing, but try it before you knock it. 

Mix them up, then fill up one tablespoon of rice and vegetables and curry sauce to the brim, and dump the whole piping hot mess into your mouth. The burst of flavours is ..... well, you decide. 

I predict another blog or two on Erfurt takeaways. Not being able to sit in my favourite cafe or restaurant doesn't mean I can't order from them. After all, one must continue to support local businesses and keep the economy going as much as is possible. 

On a related note, I see a few people making snide comments that the current rules aim at stifling one's freedoms and are nothing more than methods of control. Those comments are exactly that, snide, and nothing more. 

My belief is that those rules - social distancing, face masks, reduced physical contact and all that jazz - are based on the science that these help the surge of Covid-19. After all, it doesn't take rocket science to understand that if you don't meet people, you run a lower risk of getting infected. 

Snide commenters are just that. Snide. And probably bereft of good food too. They should do more takeaways or Mitnehmen or tapaus, then maybe they'd be in much better moods.