Dining A La Jar at Lila Sosse

One of the interesting, yet enjoyable dining experiences I had on my most recent trip to Dresden was the opportunity to experience German tapas, aka German comfort food, served in Weck jars at restaurant, Lila Sosse, located in the funkier, more artsy part of the city (Antonstadt).

The entire concept and menu at Lila Sosse centers around offering food in jars.  (It was the jars that drew me in)  I like Weck jars and I know the dessert in jar trend is pretty hot these days, so I thought to myself, how bad could German food in jars be?

Like any other restaurant (the type that serve food on plates) Lila Sosse’s menu is broken down into the usual appetizers like soup or salad, hot and cold items as well as a list of desserts. Their menu boasted dishes such as roast beef with celery and carrots (in a jar), beef cheeks with potato, rosemary and beans (in a jar), cold dark beer beef with horseradish (in a jar) and a wild herb salad with strawberries, mozzarella and apple balsamic vinegar (in a jar).

Unfortunately we arrived at the restaurant a bit too early for a full meal so we each ordered one jar as a late afternoon snack.  Our order consisted of the goat cheese and beet salad jar and a panna cotta jar.  

I was satisfied with my salad jar and had a fun time looking at the stacks of jars being carried out of the kitchen to other diners sitting on the patio and dining inside.

To be quite honest with you, I don’t know how many jars I could eat for a full meal as this one jar was filling on its own.  Nonetheless, it looked liked tables were ordering several jars to share (it is tapas after all).

If German cuisine is not your thing, I think trying out this restaurant purely out of curiosity might be fun (and the food is decent).   Who knows, Lila Sosse could be on to something in Dresden and you might see more jar-dished restaurants popping up globally, or has this trend already gotten started?  What do you think about the idea?  Leave me a comment below.  Have you dined a la jar?

Here are some other people who seem to be catching on to the dining a la jar movement!

1. The Grid TO: Canned Eats

2. The Kitchn: Have Jar, Will Travel

3. LunchitPunchit: Food in Mason Jars

4. Chicago Tribune: Food in jars clearly pays homage to the past

Bean & Beluga

Dresden never struck me as a city I would go to dine.  Of course every city has their fair share of fine dining establishments and interesting restaurant concepts, but the dining scene in Dresden (in my opinion) is polarized between touristy-chain restaurants, and traditional German beer halls.  Oh, I forgot- you can also find great  curry wurst joints in Dresden that are a local treat, but theses are in a category of their own.  The point is, I would not purposely drive to Dresden to dine.  It is simply not one of the great dining cities of Europe.  However, that does not mean that it is impossible to find a gem from time to time.   This past time, was one of those times where I stand corrected by restaurant and take-away deli, Bean & Beluga by chef Stefan Hermann.

I don’t remember how exactly I found Bean & Beluga.  All I knew was that it was located on “the other side” of the river, in a hilly, villa area on the north side of the Elbe river.  I wanted to check this area out because I remember driving through it once (by mistake) and recalling how beautiful it was with the houses and trees and views over the river.

We arrived at noon to an empty restaurant (not always the best sign) and after a quick look at the menu, decided it was too upscale for a lunch and decided to leave after our effort to find the place.  What we really wanted was a sandwich and a salad, something fast as we were going biking later on.  The waiter who greeted us picked up on our dissatisfaction and assured us that we could order a chicken club sandwich off menu and the kitchen would be happy to accommodate us.  I was blown away.  I think we both were by his excellent customer service and reassuring response, so we sat back down out of curiosity.

Not too long after sampling their bread platter with olive oil and specialty flavoured salts, we received two delicious chicken club sandwiches with a juicy chicken breast served on fresh olive bread, homemade that day.  We found out the restaurant makes all their own bread and desserts daily and would return just to sample another slice.  It was to die for.

Stuffed from our sandwich, we let the waiter talk us into tea, espresso and a plate of cookies to accompany our drinks.  I think the waiter phrased the up-sell something to the effect of “who wouldn’t want fresh chocolate chip cookies to go with tea (Kusmi) and coffee?”  It’s true? How can you debate with that question?  Who wouldn’t want chocolate chip cookies, baked today, with tea?  We got the cookies and they were good.

Bean & Beluga also has a deli at the front of its building that has a lovely selection of take-away food *yet no sandwiches* jams in Weck jars, olive oils, spices, wines, balsamic vinegars and candies.  Adorable!

The other standout part about Bean & Beluga is the washrooms.  I’m not one to comment on washrooms, but this one was on a level.  It was the rock star of washrooms with pink lights, and stag heads and electronic sinks.  By electronic sink, I mean you push a button on the sink to make the water hotter or cooler as well as to turn it on and off.   I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.  What a pleasant surprise. I am happy we were talked into staying and didn’t leave.  Next time, I would like to try their dinner.  As we were feasting on our sandwiches the lunch crowd filled up the room and I saw some impressive looking dishes come out of the kitchen, including a couple who were sharing an entire bottle of champagne at noon!  Gotta love the European lifestyle.

Love This: Tokyo Jane

I am so annoyed with my camera right now.  I went to Dresden for the day on Saturday, took all these fabulous pictures of things I wanted to share with you, (did no biking as a result) and was all ready to blog about my experience.   What do I get as I go to download the files? A memory card error stating that the card is empty.  Where did my pictures go?  I know they are not lost for good as I can see some of them but for some reason they are housed elsewhere.  Urgghhhhh.

Once I get this problem remedied, I will blog about the incredible, an rather unexpected lunch I had at Bean & Beluga in Dresden as well as a new restaurant concept where your meal – essentially German tapas-  is served to you in Weck jars.  More on those spots later this week.

For now- I also discovered a cool bracelet/bangle jewelry line from Copenhagen (Nørrebro district), Denmark called Tokyo Jane.  Their bracelets and bangles are a mix of metal and leather, some have patterns, some have bling, some are colourful, and some are neutral.  The Tokyo Jane bracelets can be worn on their own or stacked all together depending on how much of a wrist statement you would like to make.  You can also see more from Tokyo Jane on their blog.  I am thinking about these as potential bridesmaid gifts…. What do you think?

I treated myself to a leather bracelet that looks like the sixth from the left (in picture below) but instead of gold the links mine is silver and instead of felt, my bracelet is made of a smooth taupe-y leather.  I love it! I think it is their 1015 bracelet.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Dipped Wooden Bowls

How beautiful are these dipped wooden bowls I found on Etsy from seller, Wind + Willow Home?  I love these!

I am off to Dresden tomorrow to do some biking along the Elbe river, weather permitting.

Until Monday- Happy weekend.

Photo Source: Wind + Willow Home

Riga the hip

Lots of fun things going on in my neighbourhood.  Firstly, two wonderful small businesses just opened, which I promise to blog about in June: Veltin, a wine bar specializing in wines of the countries who were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and a bubble tea shop called Tea 2 Go (I think that’s the name) that I just checked out this afternoon for a small taste test- yes it’s good.

There is also a movie being filmed the next block over so the street is rammed with camera crews, lights, trucks, special roped off areas and actors.  Fun to watch.

My post today is on Riga (the city in Latvia) and how I almost booked a last minute flight, prompted by a 50% off seat sale for next weekend.  Riga has been floating around my travel radar since I landed in Prague last year.  The initial hook was an article I read about the city’s Jewish baked goods and particular style of rye bread which I am dying to go try.  The second hook is its seemingly blossomed design scene.  In a panicked consideration whether to book the 50% off flight or not (the decision ended up being not- but I will get there), I did some quick research on hotels.  Low and behold, there are some impressive looking boutique hotels that have opened or were renovated/reconstructed in the past five years not to mention interesting design stores and restaurants- I’m sold.

One hotel in particular which caught my attention was, Hotel Bergs, located in an area called Berg Bazars.

Photo Sources: 1-3

Hotel Neiburgs also looks great.  The hotel is housed in an Art Nouveau building in old town and is owned and operated by members of the Neiburgs family who were involved in the construction of the building 1903.

Photo Sources: 1-3

Then there is the very cool concept store, Riija where customers can experience the Latvian design and craftsmanship under one roof.  It looks like country, minimalist chic to me.

Photo Sources: 1-3

And of course the hip eatry, Cydonia Gastropub (cydonia is Latin for quince) that recently opened.

Photo Sources: 1, 2

While my trip to Riga won’t be happening this month, I will visit the city sometime this year (I hope) and happily report back to you, my design inspired travel readers/followers of this blog!