I’ve tried turkey at last!
My former colleagues took me to this restaurant that is said to be one of the best in Lexington one Friday night. We were discussing where to have dinner for a sort of farewell for me, and I told them I wanted to try something new. They brought me to Marikka’s, a German restaurant that serves authentic German cuisine.
It was the perfect choice, first, because I hadn’t eaten there. I eat out a lot whenever I am in Lexington (thanks to Jen who started that tradition for me) but I hadn’t gone there before. I also hadn’t tried any German food other than pretzels, which is pathetic because I realize now that German food is so good.
When we got to Marikka’s, I couldn’t read the food in the menu because they were all written in longish German names that were hard to pronounce, but I got some help from a colleague who had eaten there a lot of times. This was what I got:
That’s breaded turkey on my plate, plus mashed potatoes and a vegetable I forgot the name of grüne bohnen, or green vegetables. It was my first time to try turkey, and I loved it! It tasted like chicken, actually, but it’s a lot better.
Because I was so curious about German palate, my colleagues allowed me to try the food on their plates. The red thing you see above is rotkraut or sour red cabbage (yes, red cabbage!). It looks like corned beef, no?
The uncooked red cabbage looks very pretty. Had I known I would have brought one home to decorate my room. 
I didn’t like the red cabbage dish very much, though. I am not fond of sour food, except for sinigang and green mangoes. I wonder if red cabbage is naturally sour, or was it only because the dish was prepared that way?
Those are authentic German sausages on this plate, served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, another kind of sour cabbage. I didn’t try it because I am not fond of sour food. It looked like grated coconut to me, so unlike our green and crispy cabbages.
They also had a special kind of beer, but I didn’t try it. I thought the Germans invented beer, because didn’t Oktoberfest celebrations start in Bavaria? But I was wrong. I was told that people started drinking beer even during ancient times, back in ancient Egpyt and Mesopotamia. Oo nga naman. That’s in the Bible. 
Comments
The green vegetable on you plate is called… green beans! (^_^) Grüne bohnen in German.
The red cabbage (rotkraut) is sour b/c it’s prepared with wine vinegar. The sauerkraut (other yellowish cabbage in the bottom pic) is sour b/c it’s pickled and the pickling bacteria make it sour.
FYI the Germans did invent lager beer, the light-colored fizzy type that’s the most popular today. But as you say beer itself was invented by the ancient Sumerians; they made it from bread, and it even had its own god, Ninkasi.
thanks. i’ve edited the entry to add the names.
btw, is the red cabbage naturally red, or did it become red because of the wine vinegar?
Very naturally red.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Red_cabbage.jpg
mukhang masasarap ha
@nakajoe
and the yellow cabbage is naturally yellow?
thanks for the link!
@melai
masasarap talaga.
Sauerkraut is normally made out of ordinary green cabbage (these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cabbage.jpg ). During the pickling process the green color tends to leach out of the outer leaves, and the inner leaves are more whitish anyway, given that they’re out of the sun and lose their chlorophyll.
The end color after the lactofermentation that’s responsibile for the pickling process (and the sourness) ends up yellow.
One of the best restaurants I’ve been to ever; don’t get much tastier than that, huh?
i see. our cabbage at home is similar to that in the photo.
i can’t really say it’s the best. i love #1 China Buffet, too.
wow. so Deeelightful. ansarap na lang.
Aww, #1 China? Panda Cuisine is much better for Chinese food! (-_^)
@kirk
yessssssssss
@nakajoe
well, it’s better than happy dragon, and those are the only two i’ve tried. i’m asian, so it is but natural that i crave for rice. where is panda cuisine, by the way? how come i didn’t hear of it?
@stox
Yeah, I’m with you on the rice actually. Not that I have any real heritage reason or anything. And #1 China *is* better than Happy Dragon.
Panda is over sort of close to Fayette Mall; we were planning on going there for lunch that one time, but never did make it. They do have a (not very good IMO) website, http://www.pandaky.com. Far and away the best Chinese food in Lexington–next time you’re here I’ll be sure to take you.
ako, I wanna try a lame duck. I wanna shot at W.Bush.
I had a German officemate before who baked us a German cake. It was so good.
@nakajoe
the best in lexington?? then i missed a lot! robert always took us to either #1 China Buffet and Happy Dragon. maybe he didn’t know about Panda Cuisine. or maybe it’s new?
@TK
i’ve tried a duck! at the chinatown in new york. W.Bush? what do you mean?
@evi
it haven’t tried a german pastry. it must be really good! i hope someday i can try.
nandiri ako sa sour red cabbage haha,parang internal organs…:P
the turkey looks yummy!
masarap talaga ang turkey bakla. i wish i had tried roasted turkey, though, yung pang-thanksgiving. hehe.
lame duck president na si Bush. he is now practically irrelevant since all eyes are on Obama or McCain (The one who will clean up after him. )
@TK,
ah, okay. sorry i didn’t get the political undertone right away.
well, i am rooting for obama. you?
ditto.
great minds think alike? hehe.
Ehm, I’m not sure about Panda Cuisine being the best in Lexington. Perhaps these guys never went to PF Chang’s? Not that I would say PF Chang’s IS the best but, man, you gotta try them one time because their stuff is very tasty. Kind of not so nice on the pocket nga lang.
Is nakajoe the Joe we know from the Japanese team? I’m just curious.
OMG, okay so I’m flooding your comment box but I just had to say that I’m liking turkey, too. Not the real turkey meat ‘cos I’ve never had it. Matt has sworn off pork for a couple of years now so he doesn’t have pork at home. And you know how much I like breakfast food so in lieu of pork bacon, he would get turkey bacon. It is tasty.
hahahaha. have you eaten at Panda Cuisine? maybe i’ll try that and the PF Chang’s you mentioned the next time i go there.
well, bacon is always tasty. so kung turkey + bacon = ay ang sarap na lang siguro!!
@Jen
Yeah, I’m Joe from the JA team, working in Oracle database analysis now. The name I used in Japan was Nakamura Joe, so I shortened that for my net handle.
Been to PF Chang’s, gotta say I like Panda better. Just a difference in personal taste probably, I never cared much for turkey bacon actually. (^_^)Y
what does nakamura mean? and why did you have to change your name in japan?
@stox
Well, the characters individually mean “middle” and “village.” But it’s just a family name.
I didn’t *have* to, but trying to get my real last name across on the phone was next to impossible–Dickens kept getting turned into Chickens or Lickens or something, the “di” syllable isn’t easy to explain. It was much easier to just use a Japanese name. I don’t really care what people call me anyway, as long as I know who they’re indicating.
hahahahaha. joe chickens? that’s a winner. lol.