The Joint
Altmarkt 4
01067 Dresden
Phone: +49 351 – 4818130
Fax: +49 351 – 4818132
http://www.altmarktkeller-dresden.de
Cliff
I am pretty much a sucker for baby sheep. I can’t turn ’em down. And when they’re not done by capable Mediterranean or Middle Eastern hands, I forget that there are other ways to prepare lamb. I ordered from the Easter week menu, so that explains the lamb, I guess. It was fine — hot and properly cooked and stuff…just…not…exciting.
I had better luck with my Krušovice black beer and the beer/onion soup that was recommended to accompany it. Both were quite good. The beer tasted like a nice cool slice of liquid pumpernickel and the onion soup was flavorful without being overly salty (not an easy feat with onion soup!). The fresh chopped parsely strewn on top made for a nice flavor contrast to the onion/beer. Biggest surprise of the meal for me: the lovely broccoli florets with almond slivers. Nice!
Like Sarah, I was pleased with the promptness of the service, but when we were done eating, I was ready to get the heck outta there — it was starting to get loud.
Sarah
This was another suggestion compliments of our travel guide. I think it was quite a bit better than the last recommendation . It’s unfortunately set up right in front of a giant construction project, but that probably only matters when the weather is appropriate for eating al fresco , as the main restaurant lies beneath street level. The long dining room has a slightly upscale-beerhall look (which was encouraging – I was afraid we might be underdressed, but we fit in pretty well) and at least a couple of smaller rooms off to the side. There’s lots of peach-painted arches and dark wood floors and bar fixtures. Generally, a very inviting, comfortable looking place.
I had a glass of uninspired and too-warm Gewürtztraminer and started with the Terrine Böhmische Wurstsuppe (terrine of bohemian sausage soup) which was great! It was a tangy, tomato broth with a little paprika with bits of chopped green and red pepper and lots of chopped beef roast. The large bowl was topped off with a dollop of sour cream. I was extremely pleased with this – considering that I didn’t really know what to expect given the vague description in the menu. My entrée was the Braumeisterschnitzel, which was a cordon bleu treatment for a regular pork schnitzel (ham and cheese inside the breading) with lightly steamed carrots and fried potatoes. It was good, but I’ve gotten extra picky regarding schnitzel, and for my tastes, the breading wasn’t seasoned enough and the ham-cheese-schnitzel flavor combination didn’t pack enough contrast into a bite. That’s not to say there wasn’t enough (there was more than enough!), just that they might have been using ham and cheese that weren’t particularly good on their own, so they couldn’t stand up to everything else going on in the dish. The carrots, conversely, were excellent – steamed enough to get rid of the rawness, but retaining some crunch. The potatoes were very good, too, with long strips of carmelized onions.
The service was very prompt and polite, given the size of the venue and how full it was. And the prices are pretty reasonable for how much you get – we got out for under 50€. I would go back.