La Bottega Italiana

We first came accross this little Italian deli by chance- we were walking back from the Residence back to the Altstadt and decided to take some back streets when we stumbled across La Bottega Italiana (Sterngasse 7.....around the corner from Fruchtbar, near The Dom).  It has since become one of our favourite places to eat in Wurzburg.

This little deli is simple and no frills, the service  always friendly and efficient.  They have a great range of Italian meats and cheeses as well as fresh pasta and antipasti, making it a popular place for the locals. But what M and I always go for is the pasta....

There is a decent selection of options- you can choose your pasta type and sauce or one of the specials on offer.  The pasta is always cooked al dente, the sauces always fresh and not too salty (this can sometimes be the case here in Germany)!

M usually goes for the kurze nudeln mit spinat sosse, schinken und ein spiegelei (short pasta, spinach sauce, ham and a fried egg).  My favourites are the pasta tricolore (mozzarella, tomato and spinach) and pasta with champignon und aubergine sosse (mushroom and eggplant sauce). If you are lucky and it is not busy you can grab one of the few tables with a stool to sit on, otherwise prepare yourself for standing room only, especially on Saturday when this place gets pretty busy. Buon Apetito!

kurze nudeln mit spinat sosse, schinken und ein spiegelei

kurze nudeln mit champignon und aubergine sosse

Good Asian in Würzburg?

Finding good authentic Asian food has been one of our greatest challenges whilst living in Germany- as far as we are aware there are no "Chinatowns" in any of the big cities which can make it more difficult to find good places to eat. So far we have had good (but not great) Korean and Chinese in Frankfurt and really good (albiet slighly pretentious) Vietnamese in Berlin (http://www.monsieurvuong.de) and I am sure if we dug a little deeper we would find more great places to eat.  However, once you get out of the big cities it is even more challenging.

When M and I first came to Wü we tried out a few local "Asien" restaurants but were quickly disappointed.  Most places are the type that do all types of Asian cuisine i.e. Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai/Japanese, but none of them very well.  Just sloppy stirfries with the same generic sauces that seem to appear in every dish.

Semmelstrasse - pic of the store to follow!

So we soon realised that we were better off cooking at home.  Luckily there are a few shops here which stock more 'exotic' foods and one of them is the Asian food store in Semmelstrasse.   Here they have a really good variety of Chinese, Thai, Indian and Filipino (just to name a few) grocery items as well as fresh herbs and vegetables for really reasonable prices. If you can't find what you are looking for, just ask because they have so much stuff, its probably just hiding somewhere!






Just last night M and I were treated to an Indian feast by our friend S.C. (who originally hails from the south of India)- pretty much all the spices were purchased there and a few months ago, M and I prepared this amazing Red Cooked Pork. Even though this dish requires a few steps it is overall really easy and tastes just amazing.

Red Cooked Pork

But sometimes you just want someone else to do the cooking and luckily for us we recently discovered (again via our good friend M.S.) Bua Thai.  Finally authentic Thai food in Wü!!!!  We soon realised that we must not be the only people in Wü looking for authentic asian food as the place gets pretty busy, especially on weekends.  Now, I am no connoisseur of Thai food but what I love about this place is that the food tastes like Thai food!  No generic sauces and fresh and authentic ingredients (think tiny Thai eggplant and fresh Thai basil).  Plus you can order your food spicy, even Thai spicy if you dare!  Plus, get this....it is run by Thai people! But its not just the food that sets Bua Thai apart - the decor is modern and schick (without being pretentious) and the service is always friendly.  As such this little restaurant has become one of our regular haunts.