Spargelfest in Schwetzingen

I saw on the internet that there would be a Spargelfest in Schwetzingen, the (self-proclaimed) Asparagus Capital of the World. This title is perhaps too grand, but this area is famous for its locally grown spargel (white asparagus). This is the spargel season and we have seen people selling them at stalls in Karlsruhe for about two to three weeks now. So we decided to take a slow regional train (as there is no fast train to this quaint little town) for this 40-min, 60-km trek. The town center is only a short walk from the train station.

Along the way, it did not look like the asparagus festival was on today; and it was not. All the cafes, pubs and restaurants had set up their outdoor seating, but we did not see any food stalls in the main plaza, which would indicate a festival. (Upon returning home, I checked the information on the web again, and it showed that the Spargelfest was on May 3-4 LAST year). On our trip to Christmas last December, I missed the dates by a couple of days. And I missed by a whole year this time. No matter! This is the asparagus season, and we were sure that we would have an enjoyable day here in Schwetzingen.

We found an outdoor table at Kaffeehaus, a brewhouse on the main plaza. The kids each ordered a cheese burger (which is not common in Germany), and Glenda and I ordered two different spargel dishes: an omelette with spargel and a Black Forest spargel plate:


It took a long time for the dishes to arrive primarily because the spargel were cooked until the hard stalk turned tender. The higher grade spargel takes longer to reach tenderness (as they usually have thicker stalks). But it was well worth the wait. The spargel had a sweeter and more tender taste than the green variety, and the well-prepared (read: not so thick) hollandaise sauce really complemented the taste.

The kids were upset for the long wait:


So we let them have an ice-cream cup. That was the justification for the adults to have some desserts as well. Glenda and I each ordered an apfelstrudel, and it was excellent (even better than the ones we sampled in Vienna last month).

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Schloß Schwetzingen (Schwetzingen Castle) before taking a regional train back to Karlsruhe.