Alpine Restaurant [CLOSED]

I can finally cross off trying German cuisine on my list after visiting ALPINE in Carlisle with my two buddies! I walked out the restaurant with a fat belly and a lasting impression that Germans like to eat & drink BIG"!.

On arrival we were greeted by a friendly lady, I believe she was the wife of the owner (chef). My first thought of the interiors was wow..cluttered there was so many decors and so may excellence awards displayed on the walls as well as a picture of the lady herself posing with John Howard. There was german music playing in the background and we happen to be seated right under a Cuckoo clock which sounded every hour..*I think* I have to admit it gave me a fright the first time.

Not long after being seated I realise she was the only waitress serving..I knew it was going to be a long night as I've read reviews about the slow service, but that was forgiven as she was such a sweet lady and my outing was to catch up with my two buddies I haven't seen for awhile.

My two friends started off with good ol german beer, I LOVED the BIG mugs that came with the beer which was BIGger than the average size too.

The menu was filled with a huge selection of meals...all sounding so good! but after reading reviews of the big portions served, we decided to share one entree. We ordered the "Frikadelen" Pork veal and beef rissole served on toast with iceburg lettuce and fried onions $15.50. Presentation wise..it wasn't very good looking but it tasted delicious..reminded us of an open burger. The patty was flavoursome, well seasoned and the roasted capsicums were really good! they were perfectly roasted and soft. The dish was rather oily though, but it was GOOD oily, the kind of oily that made it taste good, not to the sickening point. I have to say, good thing we shared our entree coz this entree size was like a main.

Frikadelen

My friend also ordered a soup "Goulash" which he quite enjoyed, it looked rather thick though but very hardy.

Goulash

For mains, I ordered the "Schweinebraten", rolled roast pork belly in malt beer sauce $19.50. My first impression of it was WOW this is big followed by..where is my PORK? as it was drowned with the malt beer gravy, I did not get a hint of beer taste in my gravy, but apparently you're not meant to taste beer? so it just tasted like ordinary gravy, abit gluggy for my liking though. The pork on the other hand was very tender, perfectly cooked, though it seemed like it was more braised than grilled which I was expecting. The dish came with sauerkraut and roasted potatoes which just looked so golden and YUM! there was ALOT of potato though, I didn't manage to finish all of them.

Schweinebraten

My friend had the "Kassler" $19.50 a smoked loin of pork grilled served with sauerkraut and potatoes. This dish seem to be popular as I saw a newspaper article about it displayed on the walls. The dish looked just like mines..minus the gravy.  It looked delicious! and he enjoyed it, though after trying the pork it seemed abit dry but my friend thought it was fine.

Kassler

My other friend had the cheese schnitzel $35 and boy was it HUGE! chicken covered with cheese accompanied with skewers of tomato and more CHEESE. He managed to finish it all though he did repeatedly comment on how much cheese was on his dish...numerous times.

Cheese Schnitzel

Both my friends had no space for dessert BUT I DID!! So we shared two desserts. "Appelstrudel" $9.50 and "Rote Grutze" $9.50, a light dessert made from fresh raspberries and red currant served with cream or ice cream. One of the few Schleswig – Holstein Specialties.

Rote Grutze

Appelstrudel

The Rote Grutze was rather rich, despite it being described as "light" In simple words, it basically tasted like jam with ice cream. Abit too sour to finish the whole thing. We didn't finish it in the end even by sharing amongst the three of us.

The appelstrudel was delicious, it was warm and crispy on the outside. A perfect warm dessert to end the night. It wasn't like the famous Corica apple strudel but I reckon the fact that it was warm, made it alot better.

Overall, my dining experience lasted 2 hours! due to the slow service and well..we had alot to say to each other, price tag was $31 and I was very full and satisfied. I can now happily tick of "German" food off my list of cuisines to try ^^. I wouldn't mind coming back to try out the other specialties they offer.