Zum Wilden Mann, Loerrach

Gasthaus zum Wilden Mann
Basler Strasse 172, L?rrach, Germany
Tel: +49 7621 3739

Date of Visit: Saturday 18 Oct 2003 (Nick Steven)

We use Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo which – like most things – is impossible to buy in Basel. So we now have a routine of going over to Germany whenever we run out.

On a cold autumn day we cycled over to Loerrach along the Wiese – I must remember to buy some gloves for on the bike. Having found our shampoo, we decided on a spot of lunch before further sampling the mists and mellow fruitfulness to be found in Lange Erlen.

Zum Wilden Mann is a typical “Gutburgerlich Gasthaus” on the outside and at midday it was very busy. The restuarant is situated on the main square in Loerrach and definitely looked a popular spot. This must bode well I thought. We walked inside and through to a conservatory at the back which was covered and had a “terrace heater” so was nice and cosy.

In spite of the place being busy, the waitress was at our table very quickly and took our order for a coffee and hot chocolate. We chose lunch – both going for flammekuchen and side salad. It was possible to pick one of the main-course salads and have it as a “beilage” sized portion.

The salads were nice – dressing not overpowering – and the flammekuchen that came was BIG. It was cut into slices and had been arranged on a plate. The dough was nice and thick and the topping generous. Other people in the room received meals which also seemed to be quite generous.

Other things on the menu were fairly simple stuff like salads, tarts, hot sandwiches etc.

The waitress serving us was very attentive and checked everything was okay now and again though not to the point of being annoying.

I decided to go for a dessert with the coffee – a slice of Linzentorte. The other option was Apfelstreudel. The Linzentorte was nice though a perhaps little heavy after the flammekuchen.

Price was pretty good: 2 lots of flammekuchen, with salad plus coffees, half a litre of red wine and a slice of Linzentorte came to 46 Euros.

One to go back to.

Added: Sunday, October 19, 2003
Reviewer: Nick Steven
Score:

Maharaja Indian Restaurant, Loerrach

Restaurant Maharaja
Rainstrasse 1
Loerrach
Germany
Tel: +49 7621 2866

Visit 5th September 2002

The Maharaja restaurant in Lorrach is a cool place to visit, but watch out! The food is very hot… but delicious.

Authentic Indian music plays in the background as you order from a menu slightly more expensive than the Ganges Indian restaurant in the same town.

The food was really good. The Vegetable Vindaloo was really hot, although the Chicken Madras was not. The Rogan Josh was hotter than the Madras, while the usually mild Biriani was almost as hot as the Vindaloo despite having been ordered as Medium. All agreed their food was really tasty – it was just the heat that took some getting used to.

The service was good too, the Russian waitress was eager to please. Just be careful not to order too hot a dish though…

Naan breads were rather thin but tasted OK. Poppadums were not quite cooked as you would like, but were pretty good overall, if expensive.

Total cost for seven including desert for two and about three beers each was Euros 206.70 (about CHF 300) or about CHF 43 each.

With the train costing just EUR 3 each way and EUR 5 return (Fr. 12.- return from SBB), a trip to Lorrach is well worth the effort! Just be cautious about how hot you order your food…

Added: Thursday, September 05, 2002
Reviewer: Curry Club
Score:

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5th March 2003

The Curry Club’s second visit to the Maharajah, and a very successful one. Only two people were unhappy with what they had got – the Rogan Josh was too pureed, and the Lamb Bhuna was too dry and so they each gave only 6 marks. Everyone else voted between 7 and 9, with no other complaints. If there were any things that could be improved it would be giving some poppadums out, serving larger portions of rice, and making the Naan bread thicker. The menu has so much choice deciding on what to eat is difficult.My Punjabi Chicken Curry and Aloo Gobi Massala were a nice change from my normal Biriani, but the Vindaloo was (again) rather mild – in fact it was just like eating gravy! The Madras was pretty hot though. The other food ordered included Chicken Tikka Massala, Kashmiri Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Biriani, and Tandoori Mix, and all of it was considered to be Very Nice or Very Good depending on who you asked. 12 people gave it an average mark of 7.67 out of 10. It was very affordable, very tasty, and very well worth visitng again. Try it out! But to avoid disappointment, don’t order Vindaloo!

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5th August 2003

The Maharaja restaurant in Loerrach is a cool place to visit, but watch out! The food is very hot… but delicious.Authentic Indian music plays in the background as you order from a menu slightly more expensive than the Ganges Indian restaurant in the same town, but a lot cheaper than in Basel.The food was really good. The Vegetable Vindaloo was really hot, although the Chicken Madras was not. The Rogan Josh was hotter than the Madras, while the usually mild Biriani was almost as hot as the Vindaloo despite having been ordered as Medium. All agreed their food was really tasty – it was just the heat that took some getting used to.

The service was good too, the Russian waitress was eager to please. Just be careful not to order too hot a dish though…

Naan breads were rather thin but tasted OK. Poppadums were not quite cooked as you would like, but were pretty good overall, if expensive.

Total cost for seven including desert for two and about three beers each was Euros 206.70 (about CHF 300) or about CHF 43 each.

With the train costing just EUR 3 each way and EUR 5 return, a trip to Lorrach is well worth the effort! Just be cautious about how hot you order your food…

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5th August 2003

Another successful evening with great food, great prices, and a great group of people. OK, two people caught the wrong train and ended up “somewhere in Germany” and two others missed the early train, but it was 37C so these things are allowed!Average mark of 8.28 – this restaurant is showing consistently high quality. 9’s were awarded for the Bhuna Ghost (Fr.19.50), the Chicken Tikka Tandoori (Fr.22.60), and for the Tandoori Mixed Grill (Fr.24.90). Lowest mark was 7 for the too tomatoey Chicken Makhani (Fr.22.60). I gave 8 for the Chicken Jalfrezi (Fr.21.90) with Aloo Gobi Saag (Fr.10.30) – still less than Swiss prices just for the main course!The Naans were a little too crispy for me, but the Poppadams at Fr.1.20 each were excellent. Viv said her Onion Bhaji starter was the best she had ever eaten anywhere and gave a mark of 10 just for this! Overall, the food was really good. This restaurant maintains its rank as the joint top curry house for food in the Basel area with the Bajwa Palace in Basel. For value, it is unsurpassed.

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2nd December, 2003

Again we saw the curry club again crossing over the border from Switzerland, although as I got on the train at the SBB (only 9 mins to Bad. Bhf instead of 20 on the tram) I didn’t even see a border control anywhere.Service was again efficient and good. The food was, as always, hotter than you would expect, or cooler, but not as it is made in the UK. Heiko from Dasau in the Eastern part of Germany wanted his EUR 16.40 Chilli Chicken “sehr scharf” and complained it wasn’t hot enough. I tried the EUR 15.10 Chicken Tikka Masala (invented in Glasgow!) which had a tomato sauce the consistency of Campbells Condensed Soup. The spicy heat came from the ginger rather than chillis, which was nicer and although unbearable at first, it soon mellowed. The Samosas (EUR 3.10) for starters were really excellent. Other dishes ordered were Chicken Jalfrezi (EUR 14.60), Lamb Korma (EUR 15.10), Chicken Tandoori (EUR 15.10) and a Fish Tikka (EUR 16.40).Plain Naans were EUR 2.10 and EUR 3.30 with raisins. Beer was OK, cheaper than UK Indian restaurants but beware – a large Pils is only 4dl, not the 5dl you may be used to – but it was only EUR 2.50. Hefe Weizenbier was EUR 2.80 – that’s half the price of the Loewenzorn!For Prices in Swiss Francs, multiply by 1.5 to get the approximate value. Or do as Paul did and get into trouble on the train again – last time he forgot to change trains and rather than “Lost in France” as Bonny Tyler sang, got lost in Germany. This time the conductress gave him a good talking to for having the wrong kind of ticket! Marco didn’t help much as he was gesticulating with various hand signals about the authoritative manner of the poor German girl who did not need a bunch of mad Swinglish on her last journey of the night… she must already have had to deal with Pat and Martin on the earlier shuttle!

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6th July, 2004

The Curry Club likes this place! 15 of us turned up to sample yet again the bargain prices and interesting cuisine in a smoke free seperate room with a rather pleasant decor. The onion Bhajis were not up to their usual standard, but were very tasty nonetheless. I had a very tasty Chicken Jalfrezi with a lovely gingery tomato and garlic flavour that was hot enough, but not chili hot. That was reserved for the side dish of Broccoli and Potato in curry sauce, a truly delicious mixture with plenty of fire that complemented the medium spiced Jalfrezi. Poppadoms were varied and tasty, and the Naans very good.Other comments included Masala not very tasty (Jutta); Tender Chicken (Catherine); disappointing Tandoori but good sauces in curries (Jim and Sonia); cheap, nice, but too salty (Pat); Chili Chicken OK, Madras excellent, beer great (Paul); spicy Madras more spicy than my vindaloo (Graham); good food and prices, service also good considering how many of us there were (David); Samosa and Chicken Jalfrezi OK (Narendra); very good food, nice price, nice room (Regula); Madras spicy as requested (Kerry).Overall the prices were excellent. Where else can you get a substantial starter, poppadoms and pickles, main course plus vegetarian side dish (the same size), two large Weizenbiers, a Pils and a Naan bread for less than Euro 34.- and still enjoy the quality and flavour so much? Amazing how they do it. But I’m glad they do!To finish off after a night out here where better than the very close Kantine Braurereibar with a very pleasant beer garden to sit out in. With beer less than Eur 3.- per grosses 5dl (that’s a pint if you haven’t yet cottoned on to European measures yet). And it’s good….

Ganges Ayurvedisches and Indisches Rest., Loerrach

Bahnhofsplatz 8
D-79539 Loerrach
Tel: 0049 76 169 811

Mark: 8/10

Reviewed 17th March 2006 (Basel Curry Club)

It was a cold, wintery day in March, with the snow from the record snowfall still laying on the ground and a bitter Bise wind from Siberia freeze drying anything that wasn’t already frozen in Fasnacht week just passed when the curry club meandered their way to one of Loerrach’s two Indian Restaurants in March 2006. Was it any coincidence that all those who turned up came by car? Who knows…

What we can confirm is that the quality of food at the Ganges has improved markedly since our last visit there. The service was also excellent. And the prices were amazing – a Maisels Weizen Bier was just €2.80 for 5 dl, a refreshing change from Basel.

If you haven’t visited the Ganges, it is easy to get to as it is right outside the main railway station in Loerrach. The building it is in is quite trendy, and in the summer they use part of the main square as a restaurant to sit out in. Hmm, that sounds good – curry outdoors in the summer with cheap beer and a train to go home in!

We all had a starter. Vegetable Pakora was €4.50 and very tasty. The Royal Plate (€12.00) was filled – and I mean really deeply filled – with a variety of tandooried and deep fried produce and was worth the money. For two. The rice was free, as were the poppadoms.

Main meals chosen today included Madras Chicken, Rogan Josh, Tandoori Chicken, and Chicken Tikka Massala. I asked if the chef could cook my CTM without any chili, but with extra ginger which he did without a problem. The heat remained, but without the pain of chili. And it was still fairly spicy and very interesting to the taste for all his non-standard messing to fit in with my particularly unique request. A sign of good service I thought.

The beautiful basmati rice was really fine and tasty, and came free of charge. Naans were a little crispy for my liking, but OK. The kashmiri Naan looked nice and was apparently very tasty, but it was out of my reach so I can’t tell you from personal experience. The menu said it had fruit and hazelnuts in though, just to give you an idea…

When we paid we brole the tradition of a lifetime and split the bill equally across the board, as freinds do. It was that kind of an evening, more a night out with friends than a formal club meeting, and that’s just how we like it.

The style and ambience of the room was really quite pleasant, and the place seemed a lot busier than when the curry club last visited which goes along with our improved opinion of the place: it’s clearly improving its popularity in Loerrach. Much work has gone into getting the menu up to scratch, and the dishes up to the menu. All in all, a very successful Curry Club, once again. Thanks to all who attended for making the evening such good fun. Next month we’ll be back in Basel, details will be sent out via the Curry Club information list.

Comments from members present included:

Norbert – “great Chicken Tandoori!”
Nigel (not me) – “good Rogan Josh, not spectacular though”
Niamh – “great daal – I want the recipe!”
Wiebke – “Mmmhhh…!”
Richard – “Pleasant and easy to enjoy”
Nigel – “Nice daal; special requests no problem”

Added: Friday, March 17, 2006
Reviewer: Basel Curry Club
Score: