The German Gymnasium, Kings Cross

The German Gymnasium business card

The German Gymnasium is D&D’s latest whopper of a restaurant which is housed in a former…. German gymnasium. The building is quite breathtaking with its huge, wooden beamed ceiling, but the addition of clubby music (a bit too ME Hotel for my liking) jarred a little.

We booked the upstairs restaurant which, other than giving us a nice view of the place, lacked a bit of atmosphere. It felt like we were missing out on the fun downstairs, which is far more relaxed and offers a cheaper menu, so we moved down.

The German Gymnasium inside

Once the kerfuffle was over, we started with a particularly good North Sea brown shrimp cocktail (£14.50) and a chopped steak tartare (£12.50). The latter was coarse and the addition of capers and gherkins added oodles of flavour. The portion was massive too.

The German Gymnasium prawn

The German Gymnasium steak tartare

For main, my veal schnitzel (£25.50) was a little odd looking; like it had exploded. It looked in pain. The breadcrumb coating had come away from the veal and with every mouthful there was a weird flavour of doughnut. The warm potato salad beneath it wasn’t warm and the potatoes were undercooked. I longed for the Delaunay; the home of the best schnitzel in my book.

The German Gymnasium schnitzel

My gentleman companion faired better with his juicy sausage, of which there were two, atop some crisp fried onions and a dollop of mash. The smoked schinkenknacker (£14.50) had the perfect balance of salt and greasiness, which made it pure comfort food.

The German Gymnasium sausages

Sticking to the Deutschland theme, we shared the apple strudel (£7) which came with a mini (possibly too mini?) jug of creme anglaise, sorry, “vanilla sauce”. The pastry was crisp and the inside was packed full of raisins and soft apple; very nice indeed.

The German Gymnasium apple strudel

Service in the downstairs section was super friendly and chatty, although they did feel a little understaffed, as getting someone’s attention wasn’t the easiest at times. I can see what they’re trying to do with the German Gymnasium, and I don’t doubt once they iron out the problems that having such a giant restaurant can present, they’ll be bang on the money.

3/5

Restaurant - The German Gymnasium Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *