German cuisine at Helmer's in Hoboken, NJ

Helmer's is a restaurant located on the Uptown part of Hoboken. Serving authentic German cuisine, it opened in 1936 by the Helmer family who immigrated from Germany. It was then sold in 1940 to the Lueders from Bremerhaven, Germany. 

There is definitely a particular atmosphere there, rendered by the decor: high wooden booths, wooden tables and beer steins on top of the bar.

If you are a beer fan, they have a mice selection of Belgian and German beers, served in big beer glasses also used to serve...water.

As I mentioned above, their menu proposes authentic German food, like wurst, Sauerbraten (pot roast) or schnitzel. But they also serve American dishes such as cheeseburgers or NY Sirloin steaks.

After we ordered, they brought us some bread:

There was a pretzel bread as well as one that I guess was pumpernickel bread. This bread was perfect to open our appetite.

As an appetizer, we ordered the stuffed mushrooms:

The Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, PA

You cannot go to Philadelphia without visiting the Reading Terminal Market! This place has some incredible food! Not all the food is good, but they have some little gems there!

I love going to this kind of places where there are so many different merchants that you do not know where to go and what to eat! They serve: meat, fish, vegetables, ice cream, pastries... And then, you can eat French (crepes!), Thai, Italian, Middle Eastern...

Each time we went to Philly, we stopped there!

The Old German Bakery in Hoboken, NJ

It has been a while I wanted to sit in the Old German Bakery in Hoboken to sip a hot cocoa and try one of their cakes. The bakery opened in January 2011 and I think it is a good alternative to Carlo's bakery! Not that German and Italian pastries have anything in common! It might be because of the crazy lines in front of Carlo's, made of people who do not care about those who are just trying to pass through and use the sidewalk for what it is supposed to be! 

Anyway, I already tried the Old German Bakery before for a quick snack: their pretzel bread is excellent, not too salty; their almond croissant is to die for! Very buttery with a decadent almond paste in it! It has been a very long time I did not have such a good one!

So today, after a long walk in the cold, we decided to go have a hot chocolate and try one of their cakes. I am very particular when it comes to hot chocolate: I need milk, not water! Although it took them a little bit of time to prepare it, it was good. Not the best (like Angelina in Paris or Max Brenner in NYC), but good! And with milk...This was perfect for a cold day!

For the cake, we decided to try a cherry and crispy chocolate one: this might not have been the best choice and we should have probably tried a more standard cake like a black forrest or a strudel. The top part with the cherry was my favorite part. The issue I had was with the bottom part: there was something chewy! 

I will definitely go back and try a different cake (they have plenty) with my hot chocolate!

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I just want to eat!