Bei Otto – Little Bavaria

Just as Santa’s grotto is a world unto itself, with everyone working industriously to produce wonderful treats, so too is the little Bavarian village that is Bei Otto.

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A Bangkok institution, this German restaurant has been a Sukhumvit resident for over a quarter of a century and is also a bar, bakery, delicatessen and grocery store. Bei Otto also has its own brand of cold cuts and makes its own sausages.

Styled in Germanic hunting lodge style, Bei Otto has a cozy feel with the ambience of a local village restaurant with big wooden planks of seating outside, a courtyard with fairy lights and inside, rural paintings, antlers on the walls and small family style photos full of history and good times. The main thing to remember before you go to Bei Otto is to make sure you are hungry. In fact, not just hungry but famished.

The menu at Bei Otto is meaty in every respect. This is not dining for dieters or small eaters but hearty types who eat with gusto. Banquette seating threads past the big central bar and on through the rooms. The space has character and the atmosphere follows on from that.

Homemade, warm Bavarian rolls arrive which are sweet, salty and delicious. The rye bread is as should be and the pumpernickel is ridiculously good. It is hard, even before the rest of the food arrives to hold back from running across to the bakery to stock up on loaves.

To keep the carbs rolling, potato pancakes with homemade applesauce arrives and is as pleasingly good as hoped for. The main course is the Bavarian Platter, at 480 thb for one person and 920 thb for two to three, this is something of a meat feast and the smaller size could fill two with some extra sides perhaps.

The pork knuckle is satisfyingly tasty. Grilled and fried homemade sausages include the bratwurst white sausage which is perhaps an acquired taste, the smoked ham sausage which is deliciously different and the Nurmberger sausage which is a thinner chipolata style and perfect with a dark German beer. The sauerkraut is imported and the mustard homemade.

The potato dumplings are arguably a little solid but work well with the meat. With more bread and deep fried crisps of onion this is great food at great value. The classic wiener schnitzel and chips at 580 thb was a little so-so compared with the platter.

The best thing about Bei Otto is that there is not a Thai dish in sight. It is a wonderful feeling to step inside Europe and feel that Bangkok is an ocean and a continent or two away. The thought of relaxing with another fine German dark beer seems so much more inviting than dodging hot woks on the sidewalk.

With new beer and grill nights about to start in the courtyard, hungry after-work sausage and beer folk can get out of the city and into the welcoming village of Bei Otto.

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