A Little bit of
Germany
I was
recommended Café Brecht by an English friend also living in Amsterdam. She is
an artsy person, in fact she studied Art in the same University city as I did
but we didn't know each other until moving here. I expected something quirky
with lots of character because I know the kind of places Steph likes and also
from taking a look at the café’s website. As always, you cannot judge a book by
its cover (and that is what a flyer/website/business card is to an
establishment) yet the home page description got me excited and I couldn’t wait
to step into the ‘Berlin style living-room cafe’ with ‘no forced trendiness yet
timeless romance’. It sounded like we
would quite possibly be stepping back in time as well as crossing the German
border- any historian’s dream. I am bit of a German lover too. I haven't really visited much of the country, yet I have several close friends from there and it was a place I really wanted to try out... There are hundreds of tapas bars, Asian restaurants, French cheeses and wines, but I have never seen anything relating so specifically to the German culture apart from bierkeller! Kind of had to see what all of the fuss was about.
Finding the
place was a bit of mission. Not because of the distance, it is actually only a
3 minute cycle from my house, but as a result of the inebriated state I was in
when I walked past it at 3am. The following afternoon consisted of an unsuccessful wild goose
chase trying to find it again. That night it was rowdy, buzzing and the vision
of ‘timeless romance’ faded quickly away and was replaced with a carefree party
spirit. Either is fine by me. The café became a mirage, a shifting image of a
lost Germany that was literally impossible to pin down. Anyhow, reverting to
the modern world I Google-mapped it and hey presto we arrived one Friday
afternoon.
The inside
was most certainly living-room style and the randomly picked Grandma sofas, cute
coffee tables, long-backed chairs, swanky lamps and countless little touches
completely reflected the owners adoration of everything old and German. We were
sat next to a bookshelf full of German books and old maps; it was rather
precarious almost toppling over onto our knees. I like bookshelves which look
like people actually read the books on them! The ambiance was entire,
everything in Café Brecht echoed its purpose. Even the brick work was coming
off the walls in some places: Germany in economic crisis, post-WWII bombing, or they just couldn't be bothered to patch it up, I’m not sure, but I liked it!!
The
menu as well as the walls were covered in quotes from Brecht’s plays, ‘so wie
es ist, bleibt es nicht’ (it is as it is, it will not stay) and the owners’
love of Goethe and Man as well as Brecht was apparent. They say that ‘In Brecht we want to highlight Germany in a positive way because we believe the time is right for it. Regularly in Brecht there's something going on that in one way or another, has something to do with Europe and Germany'. If I was going to open up an English café in Amsterdam I would want it to be filled with the same love and passion as was ebbing in and out, up and down this place. I felt like we
were on the set of a 1930’s style theatre production; Liza Minnelli could have
strolled in at any time singing mein lieber herr or maybe even Daniel Brühl
could have joined our table… just because he is German and HOT!!
My expectations were satisfied, this was a little bit of Germany in the middle of The Netherlands.
Getting back
to what we actually ate there: the drinks menu was packed full of beer, beer and more
beer- must have been why everyone was so drunk there the other night, another German typicality achieved. As it was
a lunchtime visit I just had an apfelschorle. The food, however, was
essentially non-German. Rather strange considering so much work had been put
into creating an almost eccentric Germanic atmosphere. Instead they offered
Italian flat bread, piadina's, with a selection of refreshing Mediterranean fillings. I had
a healthy dollop of pesto, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves amongst roasted
red peppers and courgettes. Nom.
It was such
a nice change to the never ending cycle of Dutch Broodjes and toasties. I know
that in Britain we typically eat a sandwich for lunch, but I am beginning to get pretty
bored of the bready attitude here. There are of course some really interesting
variations of the sandwich (The bar next to Café Krull in de pijp is amazing!!) but when venturing out for a
spot of lunch I want to be slightly more excited by what a place has to offer…
moan over, I still love Holland.
Whilst
waiting for the food to arrive, I spotted a huge pile of board games sitting on
the piano in the corner. I absolutely adore places that accommodate this semi-pretentious, geeky yet funky fun pastime. The bars and cafes at Hyde park corner in
Leeds used to be like that, we would drop by for some nachos and play cards at
the same time- how cool and hip we were ;) Café Brecht was getting to be a very
nostalgic trip indeed! In the end we decided on scrabble to feel intellectual.
This was the result:
All in all
it was a very lovely lunch. There were no chairs outside which was a bit of a
shame for taking profit of long sunny afternoons, and I can’t comment on the
evening side of the café apart from they certainly seemed to be rockin’ away
when I wandered past it in the early hours! It would be awesome to check out the events too, which include poetry, drama or concerts according to their website. If you want a German-Europeanesque
experience you should certainly get on down to Weteringschans 57 and find yourself in this unique front room!
Curious and cute, just another fine example of the little
treasures tucked away in Amsterdam.
Jo*
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