Eurotrip 2019 - Alsatian Food
Alsace is wine country - the tiny towns we stayed in were amongst vineyards, so it’s no surprise that the first thing we ingested during our stay there was some Riesling. We sat in the plaza after walking through town, at the Salon de Thé near the Hotel de Ville in Ribeauvillé. It was served in cute little glasses with green stems, which I think is traditional for the region.
During our walk around town we also picked up some strawberry rose jelly, a freshly baked baguette (it was hot when the sales lady handed it to me!), and some prosciutto from the market. Our Airbnb host also left us a small bottle of - you guessed it - Riesling, and we enjoyed our snacks and wine before we headed out to dinner.
The first evening we had dinner at Aux 3 Châteaux. I got veal and Nathaniel got duck, and both our meals came with delicious frites! We split a bottle of wine with dinner (yes, more Riesling). We picked this restaurant while we did our initial exploring. It’s near the “top” of the town, by the trail up to the nearby castle. We got to sit outside as it cooled down and the sun set. 10/10 would recommend.
The next morning, I walked into town to grab coffee and croissants. Luckily there was a spot super close, Schaal & Co. Unfortunately the man in front of me bought all six of the pains du chocolate, so I had to get a plain croissant. Also unfortunately (or fortunately?) they didn’t give to-go cups! The woman working there said it was because it’s not ecological, so I ran back to our Airbnb with the croissants and grabbed a mug and went back! I’m all about being eco-friendly and I’m happy to support small businesses who are taking steps to help the planet! The mug was gigantic, and the person who made my coffee thought it was weird, but it was all the Airbnb had 😂
We headed into Riquewihr to explore, and once we were hungry enough, we stopped for flatbread at La Diligence. And more wine, of course. We also stopped in Domaine Hugel to taste and buy some wine. We tasted four different Rieslings, and ended up buying two bottles - one slightly fancier.
We visited a nougat shop (across from La Diligence - can’t seem to find it on Google maps specifically). It was full of happy bees, who couldn’t be bothered at all since they got all the sugar they could ever want. There were tons of flavors and they just slice you off a chunk and sell it by weight. We ended up getting some salted caramel nougat, which was SO GOOD. We should have gotten more. We also got some free gingerbread, which was cakey, rather than a cookie, and much drier and heavier than we expected. It was yummy, but it’s the kind of thing you need to have a huge glass of milk with.
And did you really go to France if you didn’t get macarons? We grabbed a packet from a macaron shop in Riquewihr - which we had to go back to because the macaron shop in Ribeauville was closed on Mondays. Luckily the two towns are super close 😉
That evening, rather than going out again, Nathaniel wanted to cook. We got some pork at the local butcher shop (the sign reads Boucherie Traiteur Charcuterie, and is very close to here), veggies and other ingredients at the local market, some more fresh bread, and a huge meringue because I kept seeing them around the towns and couldn’t resist any longer. We also got a cheap 3-pack of local wines in the cutest box. Dinner was delicious - I’m lucky Nathaniel likes to cook! The best part about it was the long macaroni noodles we found! They’re more difficult to slurp up than spaghetti because they’re like straws, but I really loved them!
Even though we didn’t eat out as much here as other cities, I loved our meals here, especially the home-cooked one. I love the idea of just walking downstairs to your local market and buying fresh food for a meal. I felt so European! Brb - gotta hit the grocery store and make Nathaniel cook for me again! 😋
