Hotel Gasthof Hasen | The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

Try saying that three times fast… “Hotel Hasen in Herrenberg“. Meh, it’s probably not that hard to do. I like alliteration, though.

When Bill and I lived in Germany the first time, we settled in a town a bit south of the pleasant city of Herrenberg. Consequently, we’d often drive down the main drag in Herrenberg and notice the large four star hotel on the hill. I kept thinking I’d like to stop in for dinner sometime, but we never managed to do it during our first Germany tour together.

Fast forward five years after we PCS’d. It was October 2014. We had just visited Colmar, France, and had some time to kill before it was time to pick up our dogs from the dog pension. We stopped at the Hotel Hasen for lunch. I remember being impressed by the food and service. We now live in a town a bit west of Herrenberg, probably about the same distance away as we did during out first tour. We still spend a lot of time in Herrenberg. Last night, I asked Bill if he’d like to go back to the restaurant at Hotel Hasen and have dinner. He agreed.

The front of the hotel. There is limited parking out front and more in the back. There is also a city parking area next to the hotel’s parking.

During the warmer months, Hotel Hasen has a biergarten. We decided to eat out there last night. They were doing a brisk business, with most of the tables occupied and a few people enjoying drinks on the outdoor patio furniture near the inside bar. An elegant older lady in plain clothes invited us to sit at a table near the wait station, where I could easily observe beer and wine being poured and dishes coming from the kitchen. They were pumping them out at an impressive pace last night.

Bill checks out the menu. His was in French. Mine was in German. Apparently, they also had English menus.

We settled on hefeweizens.

The food at the Hasen Hotel is very German and a bit heavy. They have salads and vegetarian dishes, but a lot of the food is big on meat, spaetzle, potatoes, and rice. I happen to like that well enough, though I wasn’t wanting anything super filling last night, since it was a warm outside. Many of the dishes on the menu are available in a smaller size and a slightly lower price.

I settled on zander filet, which was fried (but could have also been baked). It came with a light white wine cream sauce and an interested vegetable garnish. There was a thin slice of rutabaga topped with a layer of mashed potatoes, with cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, and carrots arranged somewhat artfully around the rutabaga and potatoes. My dish also came with a large bowl of “dry rice”.

Bill had deer goulash, which he pronounced very good. It came with baked apples and spaetzle. He couldn’t finish the whole thing.

Dry rice… yes, it was cooked, but there was nothing else to it.

I had another beer after dinner and Bill had a double espresso. There were some excellent looking desserts passing us that I probably would have enjoyed. However, our waitress, though very professional, seemed a bit over it and I decided I didn’t need the calories. The bill came to about 53 euros.

The word “Hasen” means rabbit in German. The Hotel Hasen does indeed have a couple of rabbit ambassadors living on the grounds. We ventured over to see them after we finished dinner. They live in a little hutch next to what looks like a play area for little kids. The play area appeared to need some cleaning up; the equipment looked like it was covered in dirt caused by rain. It was otherwise in good repair.

Hotel Hasen’s bunnies!

Don’t feed the rabbits!

Overall, we enjoyed a pleasant evening at Hotel Hasen’s biergarten. It was a nice night to go out to dinner. I think we could go back when the weather is a little cooler. On the other hand, there are other restaurants in Herrenberg I haven’t tried yet. So who knows?

We got up this morning at about 7:45. Actually, I woke up at about 3:00am and it took a long time to get back to sleep. But once I did, I managed to sleep until 7:45. We had another breakfast and this time, I avoided the raw eggs. I could have boiled one if I wanted to, but I’m not that good at the art of egg boiling. Now that I think of it, though, it’s probably smart to let people do it themselves. Everybody has a different opinion of when an egg is sufficiently cooked.

Our total bill for two nights, dinner (including two bottles of wine, two entrees, two desserts, and sparkling mineral water), two breakfasts for two, and a jar of honey, came to about $350. Not bad at all, for what we got. For those who have kids, this hotel does have a nice garden area and it looked like there were even outdoor toys for little kids. It was raining a lot, though, so we didn’t check it out. The hotel is ten minutes from Colmar and has tight parking, but I think we got a great deal. Plus, the staff was really nice. If we go back, we’ll bring extra pillows.

It was pouring rain when we left, so we decided to take the shorter way back home, using the autobahns. I must say, in some ways, that drive was as pretty as the drive out was. We went through Freiburg, which appears to be a great town. But before we got to Freiburg, we got stuck at the border. They were doing construction in the rain, so getting across the Rhine took about ten or fifteen minutes. I’m not kidding. The stop light was only letting two or three cars go at a time.

Scenes at the border…

One thing I noticed on this trip were the many crucifixes and crosses everywhere. I have heard it said that Europe isn’t all that religious, but there’s religious symbolism everywhere. I even saw one cross on a small mountain on the autobahn, surrounded by hills. It was very cool looking. I couldn’t help but be reminded that in the United States, such symbolism is disappearing. I am not a particularly religious person, but I do think it’s kind of refreshing that Europeans don’t seem to get bent out of shape over crosses and crucifixes… and little shrines.

We got home at about noon and I was hungry, so Bill and I went out to lunch at Hotel Hasen Gasthof, a very nice four star gasthaus in Herrenberg. I had seen this place and wondered about it last time we lived in Germany. I’m glad we got to try it today, because the food is excellent and so is the very proper service. Bill and I were a little underdressed for the clientele, which appeared to be chiefly older people. It was interesting to observe them. One very nice couple sat near us with a woman who was either a nurse or a family member. As they left, the man nodded and said to me sweetly, “Auf Wiedersehen.”

We had two courses. I had a bowl of tomato creme soup with a “gin espuma” (basically some kind of foam). Bill had a barley soup that was very good. Then I had kasespatzle with bacon and sautéed, caramelized onions and Bill had roasted pork with a mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. I hesitated before I got the spatzle, because I don’t usually like it. A lot of times, you get it kind of dry and flavorless. This time, it was delicious with creamy mild cheese. I am a fan of mac and cheese and this dish was like Germany’s grown up version of it.

Yummy spatzle! Sorry this is half eaten. I usually take photos before I start eating, but I didn’t want to be too conspicuous, taking pictures of my food. It was so good, I decided to take them anyway.

Bill has the special…

Hotel Gasthof Hasen: A very good place to eat on the main drag in Herrenberg.

I washed my lunch down with a Hochdorfer beer and Bill had Spezie, which is cola and orange mixed together. He let me taste it. It’s really good when it’s made from a fountain. We both resolved to come back to Herrenberg one night properly dressed and have dinner at the gasthaus. As we left, I turned to the gentleman sitting next to me and said “Auf Wiedersehen.” I was rewarded with a big smile. I know he could tell we were Americans and likely wasn’t expecting that.

Later, we went to Bad Niedernau to pick up our dogs at the Hunde Hotel Haase. They were glad to see us, though I think they had a good time. I’m not surprised. Our old dogs, Flea and MacGregor, used to love going there when we took trips. They got through it fine, so I feel okay about them staying there when we go to the States next month. I just have to figure out the new way of getting there, since we no longer live in Pfaffingen.