The Joint
Bautznerstr. 79
Tel.: +49 (0)351 / 80 80 80
http://www.pfunds.de/
Cliff
This place was recommended to us by our travel guide (not Frommer’s, but rather one that we picked up at a local bookstore in Regensburg). Given my recent cheese fixation , I was immediately drawn to the idea of visiting the prettiest dairy in the world (their website has the details).
It’s not in the Altstadt, where we’ve been spending most of our time here in Dresden, but rather somewhat removed from the old downtown area out in Neustadt. But that didn’t stop me (armed with our Familientageskarte from DVB, the local transit authority). The Neustadt had none of the Altstadt charm – but it’s realer — we passed grocery stores and resale shops and all the normal city stuff you won’t find near the Frauenkirche.
After looking around inside (we would have snapped lots of pictures of their beautiful tile work, but it was verboten ), we went upstairs to their little restaurant. I had a glass of fresh purple milk (flavored with black current juice) and split an A.O.C. Käseplatte (cheese platter) with Sarah. Highlights for me were the caraway camembert (I think that’s what it was; might have been a brie for all I know) and fig mustard. The whole place was kinda kitschy, but that was pretty darn good cheese and milk.
I think finally we can bring the cheese chapter to a close.
Sarah
The place is certainly pretty and unique. It’s covered in Meissen porcelain tiles in shades of yellow, cream and blue – not what you would expect for a dairy shop, until you examine the tiles to find scenes of cows and milkmaids in rolling meadows. In addition to dairy goods, like chocolates and cheeses, the shop sells lots of tiles and old fashioned tin signs. Unfortunately, the Molkerei isn’t exactly off the beaten path. In fact, it’s a popular enough stop that it’s a marked unloading zone for tour busses. I would have liked to have bought something from the shop, but it was crowded enough to make turning around (let alone browsing) difficult.
We went upstairs to the café/restaurant where I had a nice latte macchiato and split the A.O.C. cheese platter with Cliff as an early lunch. I guess the tour bus dwellers were on a schedule, because none of them came up there. Because it was so empty, the service couldn’t help but be attentive, but I was quite charmed when the waitress asked if she could explain what was going on with the cheeses included in our order. I especially got a kick out of the combination of the saltier cheeses (Parmesan and manchego) with the sweet fig mustard.