Food with a German soul

Platter of sausages

Red snapper with riesling wine sauce BBQ ribs and neck with sauerkraut and mashed potato

It’s German cuisine cooked by a Swiss chef of Korean origins. TAN BEE HONG is both amused and bemused

MEETING Pascal Schnyder for the first time throws my mind into a state of confusion. I mean, here is this guy with unmistakable Oriental features saying, “Hi, I’m Pascal”, with a distinctively German accent. “Actually, I’m Swiss, not German,” he says, shaking my hand and not missing a syllable as he welcomes me to Weissbrau German Bistro. And he is, legally. Schnyder, of Korean descent, was adopted from young by Swiss parents. But he seems to have come full circle as he has married a Korean woman.

Even as a child, he remembers, he was interested in food. “At a holiday camp, we were asked to write down our favourite foods. I wrote beef tenderloin with wild rice and then saw that the other boys had written french fries and sausages,” he says, laughing.

Schnyder has spent many years in Asia — Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and now Malaysia. He is also owner of both Casa Pascal Restaurant and Poseidon in south Pattaya, Thailand. At Weissbrau, he heads the kitchen, serving Swiss-German cuisine with a wide range of items, from sausages and sauerkraut to European staples such as pork knuckles, goulash and schnitzel.

Weissbrau opens from 10am till late, so you can drop in and breakfast on sandwiches, burgers and sausages. Lunch is a big affair with set menus available. “But customers seem to prefer the a la carte,” says a happy Schnyder, who has just introduced a new menu. There is a list of gourmet sausages but I find it hard to have to choose, so I settle for a sausage platter (RM98), enough for six to eight people. There are eight bangers, including chilli sausage, sausage wrapped in bacon, veal bratwurst, smoked sausage with cheese, and sausage with herbs and spices. These come with mashed potato and brown gravy.

Single orders of sausages come with either sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), mashed potato or fries.

From sausages, we move on to the main courses listed under European Favourites. There’s a wide range, from fish and chicken to pork and beef.

My vote goes to the fish (choice of salmon or red snapper) in riesling wine sauce (RM38). The sauce has an absolutely delicate flavour that brings out the sweetness of the fish. It comes with sauteed vegetables that include carrot, mushroom and yummy black olives.

We always seem to order pork knuckle in a German bistro, so, for a change, we decided to go for weinerschnitzel (RM38) instead, attracted by the promise of “giant size”. Indeed, the breaded portion of pork loin is about A4-size but is beaten thin, so you needn’t worry about not being able to finish. It comes with sauerkraut and mashed potato. The barbecued pork rib and boneless neck (RM38) are a scrumptious offering. Lots of lovely smokey aroma that assail the senses. Full of flavour too and tasty enough to make me finish the otherwise bland spatzli (German pasta) on the side.

Pizza features on the menu as well. Instead of the very Italian tomato-based sauce, Schnyder uses Alsatian flammkuchen, a sour cream and onion sauce on thin crust dough. There are seven types of toppings — from mushroom and minced bacon to salmon and parma ham. I love the salmon and minced bacon, though the latter is a bit hard to eat as the meat keeps falling off the crust. The flammkuchen is a lovely change from the usual tomato base, and it is delicious. You can have two different toppings on one pizza too. Prices start from RM24.

For dessert, the chocolate mousse is simply divine. Silky smooth and chocolatey, every teaspoonful simply melts in the mouth. It’s so good I decide to pig out by not sharing. This alone is worth making the trip for.

And what does one drink with all these food? Beer washes it down best, especially Erdinger Weissbrau and Leffe Blonde, both available on tap. Soft drinks, hot drinks as well as wine and liquor are also available. Right now, the band Mad Sally — a group of five young guys — entertains in the evenings.

WEISSBRAU (non-halal) Level 3, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL Tel: 03-2142 0288