Speisekammer in Alameda serves “classic” German dishes as they were popular especially 30-40 years ago in Germany and are still associated for many tourists as typical German dishes. Even though German cuisine has quite changed over the last half century with many people from Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Greece moving to Germany it is from time to time nice to have those dishes in a restaurant. Overall Speisekammer had some very good entrees whereas appetizers and desserts were more of a mixed bag.
Reibekuchen - potato pancakes with apple compote - unfortunately quite bad start to our dinner. Clearly not made fresh as they were served cold and way to crispy. A good Reibekuchen should have a crispy outer layer and a soft “filling” - this rendition was just a cold, hard, sad version
Shaved Brussel Sprouts Salad with pine nuts, grapes, parmesan and sherry vinaigrette- very good version with a nice balance from the grapes and vinaigrette
Sauerbraten - marinated (in red wine and spices) and braised tri-tip with red cabbage and spaetzle - excellent dish with a great balance between sour and savory of the meat. The red cabbage and spaetzle were also great.
Bratwurst gegrillt - rustic pork sausages with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes - very good sausages with some nice spices. Sauerkraut could have been a little bit less sour.
Apple Strudel with vanilla ice cream - Similar to the reibekuchen, the strudel would have been much better if not served cold which really muted the flavors.
We rarely send food back (it must be nearly inedible). The Reibekuchen were not warm but more importantly they were made in a style which most people wouldn’t recognize as Reibekuchen (too thinly cut potatoes etc). Next time we know not too order them
Another visit to Speisekammer on a slow Sunday night gave a few good dishes with one interesting/questionable version of frikadellen. Service was OK but the kitchen was clearly bored and wanted to get the dishes out fast. Even though we always order in “waves” to have some control over the pacing and longer breaks between courses the entrees literally came to the table within two minutes of ordering. Overall still an enjoyable dinner and we will be back but it is also time to visit some other German restaurants in the Bay Area
Reibekuchen - Crispy potato pancakes with apple compote
Still not our preferred version as Speisekammer is shredding in the potatoes too thinly which makes the reibekuchen too crispy but at least this time they were hot and freshly made
Aufschnittplatte - German cold cut platter with mortadella, soppressata, coppa, salami, summer sausage and herbed goat cheese
Good cold cut platter with quite a large amount of different cold cuts for the price. It would be nice if they could add/exchange some of them with more “classical” German cold cuts like headcheese, bierschinken or blood-tongue sausage which are all locally available in excellent quality.
Rinderroullade - Beef rouladen with bacon in a dark burgundy sauce with spaetzle and red cabbage
Very nice rouladen which were very tender but still had some “bite”. Excellent spaetzle and red cabbage which had the right amount of vinegar
Frikadellen - Pork meatballs in a mustard cream sauce with spaetzle and pickled carrot salad
Frikadellen in Germany are kind of like hamburger patties made from pork and/or beef often with some shredded milk-soaked rolls and different spices incorporated and seared to have a nice crust. What was served here had nothing to do with frikadellen but were Königsberger Kloepse which is a German version of Swedish meatballs with a bit more capers and other addition. It was a very good version of the kloepse with really good pickled salad which added a good counterpoint but had nothing to do with frikadellen dish we were expecting.
