A hearty serving of fried potato pancakes with homemade applesauce hit the spot for lunch on a recent weekday at Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
A hearty serving of fried potato pancakes with homemade applesauce hit the spot for lunch on a recent weekday at Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
A plate of handmade chocolates from Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany, can satisfy any sweet tooth. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Chocolate Santa Clauses wait to be eaten at Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany. German master pastry chef Martin Krummel hand-makes the cafe's chocolates. The cafe also specializes in pastries and cakes and serves breakfast throughout the day as well as daily lunch specials. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
More than 30 varieties of hand-made chocolates beckon at Café Krummel. (Jennifer H. Svan)
A customer picks up some baked goods at Café Krummel. One of the cafe's more popular cakes is called Byzantiner. The cake is make with an almond paste and chocolate mousse. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
The contents inside the display case at Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany, are all made from fresh ingredients in the cafe's nearby "laboratory." (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
As pretty as they are tempting: Some of the many variety of sweets offered at Café Krummel in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The cafe, operated by German master pastry chef Martin Krummel and his wife, Elisabeth, specializes in pastries, cakes and chocolates. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Cafe Krummel is not the kind of place you stumble upon while shopping in Kaiserslautern.
It’s a bit off the beaten path, on a drab narrow street with a funny name, inside a small store front a few blocks from the downtown pedestrian zone.
Perhaps it’s the smell wafting out onto Gasstrasse of freshly baked croissants and cakes oozing with butter and cream that draws them in.
Or it could be the reputation one family has built across three generations of expert bakers.
On a recent Thursday at about midday, a steady flow of customers breezed into the cafe. Some sat at one of the small tables off to the side for a meal or cup of coffee; others queued at the glass display case, the savory contents of which beckon like a drug to anyone with an insatiable sweet tooth.
Owner Martin Krummel, who has baking in his blood and crumbs for a name, says the majority of customers come back again and again because they know what they want.
I might have been the only one in the cafe at that moment who felt like I had discovered something new. On a recommendation, I ended up at Cafe Krummel. And I can say unequivocally that I’ll be back.
The cafe’s focus is pastries, cake and chocolate.
Krummel is a third-generation German master pastry chef. His family has run the cafe in Kaiserslautern since 1926. At 18, Krummel left Kaiserslautern to sharpen his baking chops abroad, living and cooking in Switzerland and France before returning with his French wife, Elisabeth, and the couple’s two children in 2008. Krummel’s history explains why one finds many French specialties at the cafe, including eclairs and brioche on the weekends, starting on Friday afternoons; pastries made with mousse and croissants of several varieties.
“The small things which make life nice,” Krummel says.
I could have just ordered platefuls of baked goods but since these reviews aim to include meals, I started with lunch. The food menu is small, with a few staples and daily lunch specials.
Breakfast items are available all day and can be ordered a la carte, such as scrambled eggs with ham for 3 euros (about $3.78). Or for hungrier appetites, there’s a hearty spread suggested for two: croissants, rolls, boiled eggs, cold cuts and cheese, honey butter, marmalade, orange juice and a pot of coffee or tea for 24 euros (about $29.75).
I chose the day’s special. For starters, I had a soup of barley and potato in a thick brown sauce — perfect on a dreary, cold day. Next up were three generously sized potato pancakes with a side of applesauce. While the potato pancakes were tasty, the applesauce was divine. It was the first applesauce I’ve had that tasted like my grandmother’s. Josephine Gallagher was legendary in our family for her sweet, cinnamon-infused applesauce that made Mott’s taste like pickle juice. Elisabeth Krummel said they use several varieties of apples from their garden to make the cafe’s applesauce. My meal, including a cappuccino, cost only 9.60 euros.
Not wanting to miss the best part of Cafe Krummel, I doggie-bagged two of the pancakes. From a display of chocolates that included more than 30 varieties, Martin Krummel handpicked eight chocolates for me to sample. Krummel makes his own chocolates and likes to experiment with flavors. The more unusual varieties I tried were filled with a lemongrass, jasmine, or anise and honey ganache. My favorites included the dark chocolate with raspberry ganache, the cinnamon chocolate and one with a cappuccino-flavored center.
I only had to close my eyes and it was if I were in heaven.
svan.jennifer@stripes.com
Cafe KrummelAddress: Gasstrasse 37, Kaiserslautern 67655.
Times: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Fridays; 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m Sundays; closed Tuesdays.
Costs: A la carte breakfast items from about 2 euros; daily specials from about 5 euros to 7 euros.
Attire: Casual.
Menu: German only, but the wait staff speaks some English. Pastries, rolls, chocolates and cakes can be ordered from the glass display case.
Information: Telephone: (+49) (0)631-92492. Reservations are suggested for Sundays, usually the cafe’s busiest day.
