Sindelfingen is an area near the Stuttgart military community.  It’s also home to Mercedes Benz, Breuningerland, and Erospark.  In 2007, Bill and I stayed one night at the Sindelfingen Marriott Hotel.  Other than that, we haven’t spent a lot of time in Sindelfingen.  Today, we needed to go to Patch Barracks to run some errands.  Bill said he wanted to go out for lunch.  He also wanted to try someplace new.

I had heard a lot of good things about Funzel, which is a German restaurant in the old part of Sindelfingen.  Since we never go to Sindelfingen, we decided to venture there today and check out things.  It was no problem finding Funzel, which is right in the middle of Sindelfingen’s surprisingly cute old town.  It did take us time to find a parking spot.  We finally settled for parking at the enormous Stern Center, which is just a short walk from the old town.

Pretty soon, those tables outside will be packed with people enjoying spring weather.

When we arrived at Funzel at about 12:45pm, the place was pretty much packed.  I sensed that most of the clientele were Germans, but I also noticed some Americans there.  I liked the way the inside of the restaurant looked, with its cozy tables, rustic decor, and wooded walls.  A guy in lederhosen invited us to sit at a pub table near the bar.  He and a lady in a dirndl appeared to be the only ones taking care of the entire restaurant.  Consequently, it took awhile to get served.  Fortunately, we were in no hurry.

The food at Funzel appears to be very typically German.  Here’s where you can get your schweinebraten, schnitzel, and schweinshaxe.  I noticed they had several kinds of schnitzel and was actually tempted to order that.  But then I remembered that the last time I had schnitzel, it lasted three meals.  I never did finish it, either.  I was also tempted by the schweinshaxe, but again– way too much food!  And when I saw them coming out of the kitchen, I realized I made a good choice when I decided to have zander filet.  Bill went with the “spicy goulash”.

Bill checks out the menu.  I quipped that it looked like someone had taken a bath while reading them.  The pages were a bit water warped.  But I was pleased to see reasonably priced food and a broad variety of local favorites.

I had a lovely hefeweizen.  Bill had a dunkel.  Both beers were excellent, of course.  It’s hard to have a bad beer in this country.

Bill’s goulash came with a nice salad.  This came out well before our main dishes did.  Bill inhaled it and said it was very good.  Then we waited quite a bit longer for the rest of the food.

My zander filet was very tasty.  I enjoyed the light breading on the mild fish, the riesling sauce, and the fact that it wasn’t humongous.  The potatoes were plain, boiled, and parsley covered.  I also got plenty of greens.  I didn’t eat too many greens because I don’t have a problem with constipation.  

We thought it was funny that the goulash was supposed to be “spicy”.  It was as mild as morning milk.  But it tasted good and went well with the spaetzle.  If you’re looking for truly spicy goulash, though, you might be disappointed.

I got a kick out of this sign, which was hanging in the bathroom.  Hand washing is very important for so many reasons.  But, if anything, consider that you have to hand your money to people who are serving food.  In the interest of not spreading germs, you should wash your hands.  In the interest of not being gross, you should remember where your hands tend to be when you use the restroom.  Brought to you by a lady who has an unused master’s degree in public health and still got norovirus last year at this time.  😉

Lunch at Funzel was very low key, despite the number of people enjoying lunch there today.  I didn’t see anyone particularly rushed or stressed, which as a former waitress, I found rather refreshing.  I enjoyed the 70s and 80s music playing and the fact that a well-behaved dog was charming a little boy on his way back from the bathroom.

Because the restaurant was so busy today, service was a bit on the slow side.  But the food tasted good and was reasonably priced.  Today’s lunch was 36 euros before the tip.  I thought that was fair.  It also appeared to be a very kid/family friendly place.  The kitchen stays open all day, with no pause.  That’s a definite plus when you’re coming to Sindelfingen from places south.  Another bonus is that parking at the Stern Center on a Sunday is dirt cheap.  We paid fifty cents to park for two hours.

Looking around old town Sindelfingen, I see we’re going to have to come back and do some more exploring there.  If anything, I need to add to my Good Eats restaurant guide.

After lunch, we visited the commissary and stopped by the Shoppette, where we managed to load up on some nice craft beers we’ve been missing lately.  In the States, I have a spare refrigerator I bought because we rented a house that didn’t have a fridge in it.  I now use it as a beer fridge and call it the “fridge of sin”.  We’re missing the fridge of sin here in Germany…