JAKARTA EATS: Die Stube German Restaurant

When I first went for dinner at Die Stube with my friend and resident Jakarta guide, Imman, I had a loudly resounding thought in my brain. WHY THE HECK HAVE I ONLY FOUND OUT ABOUT DIE STUBE AFTER 3 FREAKING YEARS IN JAKARTA?!? #WTH indeed!

The amazing pork-fest we had in a recent lunch after the jump. Forgive the quality, all photos taken with an iPhone 4s.

Of course we had to start with beer. The first time I was here we splurged on Erdinger, but since it’s a bit expensive, TD had a Bintang and I had a San Mig Light. (Filipino beer YO!) They were served ice cold. Perfect!

The grilled pork chops came with red cabbage and roasted potatoes and a special sauce that definitely added oomph to the already amazing chops! I can’t highlight enough how spectacular even the side dishes are.

I also had a bit of TD’s beef goulash, which was good and satisfied his recent craving for goulash. Though I wasn’t interested, I had spoonful and had to admit, it was a delicious hearty soup. I had another bit or 3! =P

The pork Schnitzel was already yummy on it’s own, but was brought to even more delicious heights with it’s special sauce. It came with a salad. But nobody was in the mood for anything that looked “healthy” so it went untouched. But it didn’t help that it was swimming in mayo. (not so healthy after all) So if you do order this dish, make sure to tell them to have the salad dressing on the side.

Good affordable sausages are hard to find in Jakarta. The Bonanza Huge Sausage Selection (we asked for everything to be roasted, not boiled) with sides of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes was a great deal! We also ordered a side of creamy spinach – super yummy and a perfect accompaniment to all the other flavors.

The only thing that dulled the experience of such a wonderful meal was how long we waited for the Apple strudel. They said it would take 15-20 minutes. So 30 minutes after we followed up and the waitress said it was coming. Though honestly I think they forgot and just started preparing it when we reminded them. Because it came another full 20 minutes after. The entire restaurant was deserted and it was already past 2pm. One of my pet peeves in Jakarta is that service people will just nod and say yes, instead of admitting that it was forgotten. If they had, then we could have cancelled the dessert and we wouldn’t have wasted our time waiting for it (we were terribly late for our next appointment). A little professionalism would have helped on their end. We consoled ourselves by concentrating on how yummy the ice cream was despite the okay tasting strudel. Definitely not worth the 40 minute wait, but definitely would have been okay for a 15 minute one.

The ambiance of Die Stube is of a dimply lit pub. When we came in we felt like we were in a European country because of all the bulehs (caucasians) I think we were the only Asians aside from the local staff. I like the hominess and that during lunch it’s not smoky in the non-smoking area. There were many families with their kids.

I also like that the German chef came over to see how we were doing and that the German owner was also very apologetic about the strudel.

TIPS:

Order dessert ahead of time

If you plan to go I highly recommend calling 3 hours ahead of time and ordering a roasted pork knuckle (CRISPY PATA!!!). It needs to be pre-ordered at least 3 hours before but well worth the bother.

You can also order an entire roasted pig for IDR 1.1Million, but you need to order about a week ahead, if I recall correctly. I haven’t tried it but based on how yummy everything pork and roasted is on their menu, I would’t hesitate to recommend it!