Amadeus

While I can't understand a single word that Austrian musician Falco said in the verses of his 1985 hit "Rock Me Amadeus", I do know that the words in the title and chorus of the song were exactly what I was hoping would happen for our adventures this week. (For those of you who have yet to be blessed with the opportunity to listen to this musical marvel, or haven't listened in a long time, here's a link to Falco's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVikZ8Oe_XA)

Yet another "downtown restaurant", Amadeus is situated on Princess street just a few blocks from the waterfront. It has been family owned and operated in Kingston since 1992. Using recipes passed down through generations, the restaurant offers authentic German and Austrian cuisine as well as a number of European favourites. The restaurant website (found here) provides a more complete picture of Amadeus' history, and upon reading, it is clear that family history is important to its owners and chefs - which translates to the potential for an authentic experience for restaurant patrons that can't be found elsewhere in Kingston. Oh - and if you're looking for a stein of beer, they have a wide variety of draughts to compliment your meal, too, which is wunderbar.

In no time, we were having a great time at Amadeus. The restaurant actually spans much further back than you can tell from the street, and with a large group this week (9 of us in total, 8 who participated in the blog ratings), we were taken to what I will refer to as "the back room" (which isn't at all gloomy or awful like it sounds) where we met Kim, our server. There was another very large group in the back room, and when we passed through the front the restaurant seemed to have a good number of tables full.  Because we were in the back room, though, it was hard to know exactly what kind of business they had for the night. 

Kim was a great server - very attentive and making sure that we had drinks and complementary bread in very little time. She was also very knowledgeable when it came to the menu - which I can't imagine being myself... So many schnitzels! And speaking of schnitzel... you wouldn't believe the number of jokes that could come from one simple word! That said, we may have been an immature group of people out for schnitzel, but... laughing is good for the soul; and as Chili Davis said, "growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional". We may have been affected by the accordion music in the background, after all... yes... that is always the source of immaturity, isn't it? (sorry to all of the accordion players out there - no offence intended... I couldn't do what you do, that's for sure... check out this guy!: Extreme Accordion Skills). But I digress... Although I would be remiss not to mention the other word that got me giggling during our visit: spatzel. Yes. I (admittedly) continue to be immature - but how could you not laugh when someone says "Oh darn... I got some spatzel on my crotch" or "You know how much he loves his thick schnitzel". 

Moving on. Hopefully you're still with me.

Here's what we ordered.  You will notice some new names - welcome to Benoit and Blair - and a very warm welcome back from sunny California to Samer!

Carrie: I was told by my friend, Will, that if I went to Amadeus and didn't get a schnitzel of some kind, then my trip shouldn't count for the blog. So twist my rubber arm, and schnitzel it was. Tiroler Schnitzel: breaded pork schnitzel stuffed with mushrooms and swiss cheese and topped with tomato sauce; served with herbal potatoes, vegetables and a starter caesar salad. I also chose to have Chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Why not, right?

Tonia: Milander Schnitzel: chicken schnitzel topped with tomato sauce and Swiss cheese; served with herbal potatoes and vegetables. Tonia also had the soup of the day (cream of cauliflower and broccoli) to start.

Kendra: Jager Schnitzel: pork loin schnitzel topped with fresh mushroom sauce, served with spatzle and vegetables. Kendra tried 2 different beers during our visit as well... I just wish I had written down which ones.

Jordan: garden salad to start; Hollandia Schnitzel: pork loin schnitzel topped with ham and Swiss cheese followed by a homemade cream sauce; served with spatzle and vegetables. Jordan said that for him, ordering this was easy because it was like "something from his homeland"  ("You ain't Dutch, you ain't much"). 

Samer: garden salad to start; Fillet of sole Viennese: lightly breaded fillet of sole served with herbed potatoes and vegetables.

Todd: Soup of the day to start (cream of broccoli and cauliflower); Rouladen: beef rolls stuffed with onion, mustard, bacon and dill pickle; served with spatzle and red cabbage.

Benoit: Since he had to leave early for hockey, Benoit had a dinner-size portion of the soup of the day.

Blair: Veal Cordon Bleu: breaded veal cutlet stuffed with black forest ham and Swiss cheese; served with herbal potatoes and vegetables.

The food was well timed. We had enough time to let starters settle and continue to chat between courses, but were never left wondering where the food was. Kim and another waitress continued to be attentive through the evening - topping up our beverages and checking in on food taste. Time between courses also gave me time to check out the decor of the restaurant... which was simple, but there were fun accents from light fixtures to wall hangings, and coasters to steins. While the wall-length booth that we were in was hard to get into and out of, it was cozy once seated, and we happily sat and enjoyed for quite some time. Like many other 40 in 40 nights, we stayed late and shared a lot of laughs (and not just about schnitzel!).

And what did we think of the food? Generally, everyone was happy - I didn't hear any major grumbles... but here's the run-down and ratings:

Carrie: 3 forks. The caesar salad was really good - it had a little "kick" to it that I can't explain well (not spicy, but tangy maybe?) but it really was delicious. The lettuce was fresh and the bacon bits tasted like real bacon chunks - not those simulated bits that you often get at restaurants. The schnitzel dish, though... it was quite bland. I really don't know if that's how it is supposed to be since I haven't ever had schnitzel, but I definitely would have preferred more flavour in the schnitzel and the potatoes. Now, that said, it definitely didn't stop me from eating the plate full (and I mean plate full - the serving size was quite large). The other small disappointment - vegetables on this particular night just meant carrots. And while I'm certainly a fan of carrots, I think that if the menu says "vegetables", there should be more than 5 carrot slices. On the up side, I'm not sure how they were cooked, but they were delicious... As was the chocolate mousse cake - which I easily finished up in spite of my full belly :)

Tonia: 3.5 forks. The soup was really good; the main course was okay to good... Tonia also felt that her dish wasn't as flavourful as she would have liked, but she still enjoyed it - it just didn't "knock her socks off".

Kendra: 5 forks. Kendra was so excited about spatzle from the moment we arrived (not surprising, given how much she loves doughy foods) and was sure to make her order based on the inclusion of spatzle. In the end, she really enjoyed the whole dish - especially the flavour of the gravy.

Jordan: 3.5 forks. Jordan was really impressed by the starter garden salad. There was a variety of greens, potato salad and carrot salad in one bowl with a hint of dill flavour. Jordan also found the size of his main dish to be a large portion and the flavours to be cheesy but bland.  Still the question remained - is this the style of food?

Samer: 4 forks. Samer very much enjoyed the potatoes - saying that they were "amazing".  The portions in Samer's opinion were "incredibly large", and the fish was a little too breaded, but the dish still warranted a good score.

Todd: 4 forks. "The meaty roll was delicious with no sour after taste." (Yup... that's the exact quote. Verbatim.)

Benoit: 3.5 forks. Benoit was a little disappointed with the size of the meal-sized soup. He felt that it was small for the cost - especially when compared to the size of the starter soup. He considered the soup a little heavy with little flavour.

Blair: 4.75 forks. Blair doesn't live in Kingston, but stated that if he was back in town again, he would definitely come back to Amadeus. He especially loves the beer offerings, saying "I like to drink beer while I eat, so it works". Overall, he thought his dish was delicious and he really liked the portion size.

Overall score: 3.9 forks. So - all in all, not too bad a score. Everyone said that they would be willing to go back again - which in itself is a very good indicator to how enjoyable a dining experience is; and I certainly saw a number of things on the menu I'd be interested to try. 

Next week, we will be meeting at Atomica Gourmet Pizza and Wine Bar - where they are hosting their "Snowdelicious" Special. Until then, I will be enjoying multiple viewings of Falco on youtube... 

"Amadeus, Amadeus... Amadeus.

Amadeus, Amadeus... Amadeus.

Amadeus, Amadeus... Oh oh oh Amadeus.

Ooh! Rock me Amadeus!"