A Surreal Dinner at Restaurant Hasen

My KIT friends took me to dinner at Hotel Hasen's restaurant. I have written before that the restaurant is decorated with gangster movie posters. The dinner experience turned out to be something out of a Monty Python film. We were handed menus by our waiter. We studied them and made our choices. But Hussam wanted the Caesar salad he had ordered on our previous visit, which wasn't on the menu. Had they changed the menu? Quite possibly, given their emphasis on advanced cuisine. To answer the question, a waitress appeared and handed everyone a different menu. She explained (I think) that everyone at the table had order from the same menu---no menu mixing here. Of course, this discussion transpired in German, so my only clue were the quizzical looks and inflections.

I had ordered the steak from this placard. Our waitress explained that this steak could ordered without disrupting their system. So it was on both menus? Or neither? We naturally speculated on the underlying causes of this surreal situation. The best theory was that the restaurant interior and its patio were operated somehow by two different vendors. Since it was too cold to sit outside, the two operations had been folded into the same room but were still disjoint. I know that makes absolutely no sense, but can you come up with something better?

The steak was meaty, juicy, and tender. The fries, served in a Belgian-style cone, were wonderfully crunchy. But what a trip to get to this plate...

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