So we went to a restaurant and orders a "thing" we roughly got translated to something "pork with pan fried potatoes". But we got meat i gelatin. The Menu said "tafelspitzsülze mit schnittlauchsoße".

The real question is how do we avoid this happens again because translating it with Google didn't help. I found it okay btw but not what I expected at all and SO looked at me weird 😂.

by saggy_1999

21 comments

  1. “Sülze” is aspic, a gelatin made from meat stock. What you ordered was prime boiled beef in aspic with a sauce made with chives.

    Did you maybe point to the wrong item on the menu?

  2. You have ordered Tafelspitzsülze mit Schnittlauchsoße, which Google translates into “Tafelspitz brawn with chive sauce” and DeepL translates into “Boiled beef jelly with chive sauce”, which are both the same thing.

    How exactly did you get “Pork with Potatoes”? With a lot of fantasy, I assume? Next time use the translation tools available. DeepL is better than Google Translate, so use that.

  4. The keyword is Sülze. That tells you about the gelatin part.

    In my experience deepl.com is superior to Google translate BTW.

    At restaurants though I tend to Google the exact name of the food in the original language and search for images. It gives much more information and is a more accurate representation than a translation of the words.

  7. What can help is looking up images and compare. This is what I usually do if not speaking the local language, or speaking it but not being familiar with dishes. (I travel quite a lot, also to countries I’m not familiar with as I have a lot of international business travel.)

    (Btw.: What you got is exactly what was on the menu: “Sülze” refers to “in savory (usually with vinegar) gelatin”, “Tafelspitz” is boiled beef or veil, and “Schnittlauchsauce” refers to a (usually cold, usually yoghurt- or mayonnaise-based) deli sauce with chives (“Schnittlauch” is chives).

  8. Wow, lol. Where IS this restaurant? Did you time travel? I only know that stuff from 70s’ cook books.

  10. Sülze! Can be terrible – but this one Looks good. I‘d eat it.

  11. You ordered a dish which is internationaly known as an aspic of meat and or vegetables [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspic) .

    In your case the Menu was telling you: Aspic of Tafelspitz [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafelspitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafelspitz) with a sauce with chive, which can be solely critizied for naming it a sauce, because the consistency in my opinion looks rather like a cream with chives which would be “Schnittlauchquark”, “Schnittlauchcreme” or “Schnittlauchyoghurt”.

    However the keywords in german menues you need to look at are

    * **Sülze** = the vocabulary you failed with. It is the old German word before influenced by international cuisine language but still is in use
    * **in Gelee** = from french cusine “gelée” for aspic
    * or **in Aspik**

  12. Make animal noises just to be sure next time. I must confess not sure what you could do for gelatin though….

  13. just looking at the picture, without any context, this looks like a fancy carrot cake from the top.

  16. How about typing the name of the dish into the searchbar? Klick on picture and you would see the dish?

  17. Forget the Sülze, the crime here is taking the best grill meat (Tafelspitz/Picanha) and **boiling** It.

  19. That must be a really good restaurant where you are. Not many chefs in Germany today know how to make a good Sülze. And it also shows that this place knows how to use all parts of an animal.

    It is like most “exotic” dishes that you are not used to: There is a high chance that you like it after you have tried it several times.

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