The tartufo classico and apple strudel as served at Degenhardt in Wiesbaden, Germany. The tartufo consisted of a frozen zabaione center surrounded by chocolate cream and cacao powder. The warm strudel came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a smattering of fruit. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
It was the architecture rather than the food that first piqued my interest in Degenhardt, an eatery in Wiesbaden, Germany. When I first saw it on a wintry afternoon, I didn’t even realize that it’s a restaurant.
The building has a 1950s facade with large windows that run almost the length and height of the whole ground floor. The name of the place is written on a pink neon sign in cursive.
Unsure what kind of business it was, I peeked through a tall window and saw people enjoying food and drink inside.
Diners at Degenhardt in Wiesbaden, Germany, sit outside under umbrellas. Note the 1950s facade with the restaurant name written in cursive. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Once one of Wiesbaden’s most popular and oldest hair salons, it is now a well-visited restaurant and bar that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My wife and I had just eaten lunch in downtown Wiesbaden, so Degenhardt was added to a long list of restaurants we wanted to try.
We got the chance on a recent warm summer evening. Numerous tables were set outside along Luisenplatz, a leafy square, and most were taken.
We found one that was free and studied the menu. The choice is not huge, with nine breakfast selections, 15 entree plates and a dessert.
The schmankerl salad, foreground, and the chicken-chorizo pan at Degenhardt, a restaurant in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
It is supplemented by a daily menu that adds maybe another half-dozen main dishes and a pair of desserts.
Except for the schnitzel dishes, the cuisine served at Degenhardt is hard to categorize. Calling it a kind of fusion probably describes it best.
Friends at another table were sharing two kinds of flammkuchen, a pizza-like dish popular in Germany and France. We also saw two ladies enjoying delicious-looking fried feta cheese with a tomato salad.
The schmankerl salad at Degenhardt in Wiesbaden, Germany. Schmankerl, a word often used in Bavaria, translates to delicacy or treat. And with shrimp, Parma ham and Parmesan cheese shavings, the salad was indeed a treat. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
I went with the schmankerl salad. The word schmankerl, which is often used in Bavaria, translates to delicacy or treat. My wife chose the chicken-chorizo pan. We ordered a bottle of water and we each had a glass of wine off a summer wine menu.
Other dinner choices we could have considered were the curry chicken with pineapple, peanuts and rice — which has a vegan version, too — or pasta with eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, burrata cheese and pepper flakes tossed in cream and cognac.
Degenhardt’s Wiener schnitzel is made how it is supposed to be, with veal.
The chicken-chorizo pan at Degenhardt was delicious. The mix of tender chicken breast and spicy chorizo with olives, peppers and potatoes offered an explosion of tastes. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
My wife’s chicken-chorizo pan was delicious. The mix of tender, grilled chicken breast and spicy chorizo with olives, peppers and potatoes was an explosion of tastes. It was so good that I almost wished that I had ordered it. But my schmankerl salad lived up to its name, which is to say it really was a treat: a heap of various lettuces served with shrimp, Parma ham, Parmesan cheese shavings and cucumber slices, garnished with strawberries and two slices of garlic bread. About halfway through, I noticed that the Parmesan had been left out. After our server was made aware of the faux pas, she brought me a plate of cheese shavings, which I spread over the remainder of my salad.
Our dinner companion at Degenhardt was this wasp, which enjoyed a piece of chicken breast that my wife kindly sacrificed to keep the peace. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Our entertainment for the night was a wasp, which was enthralled with the chicken. My wife sacrificed a little piece of fowl, and we watched the wasp shear off a piece, roll it into a ball with its legs and fly off, only to return for more helpings.
Tartufo classico and apple strudel were the desserts on the menu, and we took one of each. Both provided a very satisfying end to our dinner.
Degenhardt's apple strudel is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and assorted fruit, a delicious and refreshing combination. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The former is a frozen zabaione center surrounded by chocolate cream and cacao powder. The warm strudel came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a smattering of fruit.
Before leaving, we checked out the interior. Simple wood tables, chairs with curved backs and an unadorned, straight bar evoked the Art Nouveau era and were inviting us for another visit.
Perhaps for breakfast, but without our buzzing dinner companion.
Inside Degenhardt looking out. The tables outside at the restaurant in Wiesbaden, Germany, were full on a warm summer evening. The building, for many years, housed a popular beauty salon. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
On the QT
Address: Luisenplatz 4, Wiesbaden, Germany
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday to Friday; 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Prices: Breakfasts are from 10 euros for a fruit salad to 33 euros for a breakfast for two with a glass of Prosecco. Lunch and dinner cost from 12 euros for spaghetti to 26 euros for Wiener schnitzel. Flammkuchen, served after 5 p.m., costs 12 euros. Beer starts at 4 euros, wines at 6.90 euros. Soft drinks are 4 euros, while fruit juices cost 3.50 euros.
Information: Online: gastwerk-degenhardt.de
