Restaurant Review: China Restaurant Jasmin, Sembach

China Restaurant Jasmin
Address: Kaiserstrasse 20, Sembach
Phone: 06303-2794
PDF of menu available here
Small parking lot next to the restaurant
Dine-in, take-out, and party rooms available

Last year, a friend and I biked to Sembach for the town's kerwe celebration. We noticed a Chinese restaurant that was closed up but was still set up inside as if waiting for the next meal. I believe it had been closed for quite some time at that point.

I recently heard that the restaurant re-opened so a group of us tried it for lunch. The menu is rather extensive with Chinese and Vietnamese dishes. Soups, including the familiar egg drop soup, are in the 3 euro range, as are salads and appetizers. The extensive menu continues with duck, beef, chicken, seafood, pork, and even vegetarian offerings on the portion of the menu with Chinese dishes. The Vietnamese portion of the menu is smaller but also offers vegetarian, meat, and seafood options. Main dishes run from 6-13 euros. There is a daily lunch special that includes a main dish and either peking soup or mini egg rolls in the 7 euro range. There were some desserts, as well, and some day I'd like to try the fried ice cream.

The menu was so big that we had a difficult time deciding what to eat. I was immediately drawn to the Vietnamese portion of the menu and chose "Bun Cha Gio," which is rice noodles with lettuce, carrots, soy bean sprouts, mint, peanuts, and lime dressing. When it arrived, I did a double take at the huge bowl of noodles. It came with a side of sweet and sour sauce that was surprisingly salty, which would later become the theme of the meal for some of our diners. The bowl was presented in layers: the bottom layer was lettuce and carrots; the middle layer was the rice noodles; and the top layer included peanuts, cilantro, and these delicious fried spring rolls cut into bites. On the menu it was noted that there would be mint, but I didn't notice any. I don't know if they were out of mint and used cilantro instead or if they meant to write cilantro instead on the menu. To be honest, I liked the cilantro in this dish and probably would prefer it over mint. I thought that the spring rolls on top were especially delicious. They were quite crispy. I enjoyed my dish and would order it again.

Bun Cha Gio

My friend C. ordered "Mi Xao Don," a Vietnamese dish which is crispy baked noodles with chicken, beef, shrimp, and vegetables. It was a huge plate of food, for sure! She enjoyed it as well and would order it again. I tried one of the noodles and enjoyed its very crisp texture. It's not as crisp as a chow mein noodle, but it is a stiff noodle that does soften a bit as it absorbs the sauce.

The guys ordered from the Chinese side of the menu. Those dishes were exceptionally salty! They let me try the sauce on their dish and I felt as if my mouth had been coated in salt.

E ordered what I believe was the "Eight Treasures" dish, with cashews, chicken, beef, shrimp, and vegetables served in a spicy sauce with rice on the side. It wasn't super spicy by our reckoning, but did have a bit of spice to it. I was shocked at how salty the sauce was. E asked me to share his take on the proportions of meat: mostly vegetables, 80% beef, 1 chicken piece, and 3 shrimp. I'm a bit amused by him sharing that as he starts with percentages then moves onto pieces.

Eight Treasures

The other two guys ordered dishes with meat and vegetables in a soy sauce. They also remarked how salty the dishes were. As J said, his tofu and vegetable dish was "crazy salty."

A. had ordered an egg drop soup. When he received it, he was surprised. It looked as if the cook had fried up a clump of eggs and dumped it into the soup instead of trails of eggs cooked swirled into the soup. It also had fresh mushrooms. He didn't care for the soup, but I think it was more of a texture issue for him.

J. ordered some jasmine tea and we were impressed to see that was made from fresh herbs. We did have a giggle because he kept complaining about having to try not to swallow the herbs, only to find out that he needed to remove the filter with the herbs before drinking!

Remove the filter/infuser (on left) before drinking!

The waitstaff were very pleasant and attentive, too. During our visit, we spoke German and English with them. The restaurant itself looks fresh and well-maintained with Chinese decor. It definitely doesn't look like a place that's been shuttered for quite some time!

So, in reviewing our experience, I'd say that it no one was unhappy with his food. Those with the Chinese meals felt that the food was quite salty but beyond that enjoyed their dishes well enough. The ones who had ordered the Vietnamese dishes liked them quite a bit and would order them again. As one of the few restaurants even near Sembach that is open for lunch, it's worth a try.

Plus, who can resist this smiling face?

Vending machine Wurst!

I was traveling through Sembach and saw this at the Esso station:

It's sausage from a vending machine! I'm not sure if I find it to be ingenious or a bit disconcerting. After all, are they served cold or warm? How fresh could they be? I'm kicking myself for not looking more closely!

Restaurant Review: Portofino, Sembach, Germany

Portofino
Hauptstrasse 36, Sembach
http://www.portofino-sembach.de/
Open daily from 6:00, closed Tuesdays

An acquaintance and I met for a nice dinner in Sembach. Considering Sembach only has about two restaurants, we lucked out that Portofino was a pleasant experience.

We were the only two diners present. The dining room, while small, was charming and clean with simple but elegant modern decor. There is an outdoor seating area with patio tables and umbrellas in the parking lot, too.

The menu offered starters, soups, salads, pasta dishes, a handful of meat dishes, pizza, and some desserts. The menu wasn't huge despite the previous list, but there was a good assortment of Italian dishes.

I ordered the Tagliatelle Swizzera, which had thicker, long noodles in a rich and creamy parmesan sauce with a few rogue fresh mushrooms. It was tasty (what dish with heavy cream wouldn't be?) with a flavorful sauce and a large portion. My dining partner had a salad and a pizza and reported that they tasted good as well. I felt that the food was tasty and a good value; my large plate of pasta was less than 6 euros.

Service was okay. Parking is almost non-existent; there are maybe about two spots in front of the building, but I personally wouldn't want to park there as it would be necessary to wedge one's car into the spot. Half a block down from the restaurant is a parking lot with 2 hour parking or street side parking can be found in the vicinity.

When I am in in the area and am in the mood for Italian food, I will visit again. Prices and food are good at Portofino.

Sembacher Kerwe, August 2013

I recently read an interesting article on Germany Ja! about the Kerwe, a festival that German towns host to celebrate the past year they've had and to look forward to the upcoming year. That's rather sweet, isn't it?

Luckily enough for me, I was able to attend one in person since the Sembacher Kerwe happened this past weekend. My friend accompanied me and we rode our bikes. Reading the Germany Ja! article is almost a necessary; the Kerwe would not have really made much sense without the background information. I mean, we would have had a good time regardless, but the giant fluffy pole and the guy reading rhyming verse from a notebook made more sense thanks to the article. Go on; go read the article, and then come back to our adventures here and it'll all make more sense :)

On our bikes, we huffed and puffed and moaned and groaned all the way to Sembach, up and down hills. Okay, I have to be honest: I was the only one huffing and puffing. My friend made the ride look easy. That makes me realize I need to train more, for sure! This weekend warrior thing just isn't cutting it for me.

The Sembach Kerwe was small but a good time. When we got there, a band was playing in the community center so we ducked in for a drink and to listen. Not too many people were around, but later it seemed that the whole town came out!

Quenching our thirst before the parade started, we then went out on an adventure around town, which of course included looking for roadside candy machines. After that, it was soon time for the parade. It was super cute! It was about 2 blocks long and I swear, almost the whole town came out. The parade took maybe about 5 minutes and local groups and politicians walked or drove through.

We also saw the Kerwestrauß, or the Kerwe bouquet, accompanied by two bored teenagers who were probably the "king and queen" of the Kerwe or something along those lines.

A brass band came along and following that a group of ladies dressed up like bowling pins walked by. I would love to know the story behind that!

My favorite were women who were dressed like cooks. They were giving out kitchen sponges, and boy did I ever covet one. I mean, who gets a kitchen sponge at a parade? That's so much more useful than candy is. It didn't work on the first walk through but as the parade looped back to the community center, I stepped into the path of one of the ladies who was handing them out and said "bitte" (please). Success! Well, it was mostly a success; it wasn't a sponge, but a pan scrubber.

I also noticed that in their little wagon full of kitchen utensil props, their pot didn't just have kitchen stuff in it; they also placed many bottles of wine in there! I saw some of them drinking wine as they went. Too funny!

My second favorite (well, maybe tied for first place) was a tractor-pulled wagon decorated with tree branches (? not sure why) and filled with older gentlemen who first started handing out shots of liquor (and sampling some for themselves) and then later started playing horns.

I've been to several parades now and it seems that drinking by the participants is rather common. However, it's still a very family-friendly event. I think this is the first parade where I've seen parade marchers giving adults in the crowd liquor, though!

We followed the parade procession back to the community hall, which filled with the festival goers. Local ladies were selling cake so we each bought a piece and listened to a guy read rhyming verses from a notebook, accompanied by music. This must be the part where he talks about things that happened in town over the year. I really didn't catch much of it at all, nor did my friend, so after enjoying our cake, we departed. It was a fun trip and a great way to see a town-wide party that is very local and special.

Roadside Candy Machines: Sembach

A friend and I stopped in Sembach for the Kerwe, and of course I had to take pictures of all the roadside candy machines. It was rather surprising to see so many candy machines in a town that only has about 1,200 residents and isn't a tourist place, either. I wonder how the market is? Are the sales high on the candy machines?

Next to Portofino Restaurant: Hauptstraße 36

Front view

Details. Boy, did this machine disappoint me!

I have never before bought anything from one of the roadside candy (toy) machines in Germany. This toy machine seemed promising; I thought that there were some pretty rad toys in this one. I was hoping for the mini Swiss Army knife or the car. Imagine my surprise and unhappiness when I got a white piece of rope that at first glance looked like a noose! I was all like, what the heck! Then I realized that it looked like a bracelet, but with something hanging off it. I put it on and that's when I realized it was sort of a rosary; there are knots tied into it and the end trailing off was a cross. To say the least, I was super disappointed and felt that the machine was doing some false advertising when instead it seems to sell religious items. Maybe it's a conspiracy and I can get Dan Brown to write about a secret society that lures kids (ahem, unsuspecting adults, too!) in with super cool toys on the display and instead gives rosary ropes.

Here's a big one! Down the road, on Hauptstrasse too.

Even more options!

You too can own a plastic animal with a prolapsed hind end (Squeeze-Animal, as the machine calls them).

I don't know if I'll ever buy another toy from one of these machines again but now I'm super curious about them; I especially want to know if the actual contents of the machines are nothing like what's actually inside.