It’s no Oktoberfest
Café Katzenjammer (German for ‘hangover’) delivered on its promise: my meal left me with regret and murmuring “I’m never doing that again.”
When we first were seated, the gentleman at a nearby table was asked how the food compared to food in his native Germany. He did not hesitate to say that it did not compare at all. The stunned waitress made a less-than-smooth recovery. I think she must have been new there.
The Eats
My expectations for my meal plummeted. It was a lucky warning, or my disappointment might have been even greater. The “authentic” German dishes came with huge portions, but everything, except the purple cabbage, was bland.
The Jager Schnitzel ($18.50) was dry and the sauce that covered it was thick, tasteless, brown gravy with some drowning sliced mushrooms. It came with spatzle flavoured with butter and parsley, and the saving grace: purple cabbage.
The Classic Sauerkraut (15.95) came with two sausages that were thick versions of European wiener that you can pick up at any Safeway. Perhaps that is also where they stopped for the sauerkraut. Certainly nothing to brag about.
The Drinks
We were hoping for a long beer menu with some hard-to-find German brews. Sadly, Warsteiner was the only beer available on tap — hardly an uncommon name. It was available by the pint, not in Oktoberfest-style litre steins. We settled for a pint ($4.95) and a Holsten Festbock, served out of the can for $6.50. A small selection of German wine was also available.
The Service
The two servers on shift were friendly, young girls. The service was perhaps overly casual and the training given to the staff seemed to be minimal. Our server did not know much about the bar menu. For a café, I’d let it slide. But a café that charges $16 to $19 for a meal should adjust its service standard to meet its prices.
The Atmosphere
Again, for a daytime café, the décor matched. The bright, yellow walls covered with a collage of framed retro-German theatre posters from the 1930s made for a happy spot for morning coffee. However, for an evening meal it was a little much. The clientele was a mix of adult couples and small groups of UBC students. On a Friday night at 8pm, the restaurant was only about half full.
Declining German population leading to declining options for German fare?
German was reported as the mother tongue of 5.4 percent of the Vancouver population, according to Statistics Canada in 2006. The German population in Vancouver was reported to have increased from post-war years and peaked in 1971. From that time on there has been a steady decline and dispersion from the city.
Digging up a multicultural profile from the Province of BC, I learned that Richmond used to be a hotbed of German culture. But the chances of getting a good schnitzel in South Vancouver have probably been over since the 90s. A few years into the 90s, the Goethe-Institut German cultural centre in Vancouver shut down too.
If Heinrich Zimmerman, the first German in BC, were alive today, I’m afraid he’d find just as much selection for good German food and grog as he did when he arrived with Captain Cook back in 1778.
Details
Café Katzenjammer
(604) 222-2275
4441 W10th Ave
Vancouver, BC
Open for dinner Tuesday to Sunday, Lunch Saturday to Sunday and Brunch on weekends.
