ADAC members who show their membership card when ordering receive a discount of 1 Euro on “King Menus”.  This cannot be combined with any other offers.

The tray inserts currently show that the offer is valid until 31.12.2012.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Burger King offer for ADAC members
• Take a tour of the Schwebebad at the Hessentag
• Osterhase? Nur solange der Vorrat reicht

And it was at the Resaurant Riff (in Ralswiek, on Rügen) that I spent a pleasant afternoon before going to the Störtebeker Festspiele a few weeks ago.

The restaurant is located next to Ralswiek’s harbour, so the tables outside offer a fantastic view across the area of water known as the Großer Jasmunder Bodden whilst at the same time being protected from the wind coming in off the sea.

Opening at 10am and offering breakfast, Riff stays open until midnight, although only from Easter until mid October.

The menu, quite apart from being a good mixture suitable for most tastes, was also a feast for a linguist’s eyes, with regional names that I had not heard of before.

Would you know, for example, what a “Rügener Badejunge” is?  No?  Then keep guessing and I’ll tell you at the end of this article.

There are also several specials every day and a selection of cakes in the afternoon.

As it was a hot day I decided to order a salad, and went for the signature dish “Salat Riff” which was made up of strips of chicken and pieces of pineapple on a bed of lettuce and tomato with a curry dressing.  It cost €9 and was such a large portion that I was well and truly full up by the time I had finished it, although later on in the afternoon I did find space to try out one of the cakes.

The 'Salat Riff'

What I particularly liked is that I could just rest between dashing around the island and going to the performance in the evening.  I was able to enjoy the view and just let time go by or finish making my notes on the rest of the day.

Riff is run by Gesine Lippert and apparently it is not unusual to meet the actors from the Festspiele there sometimes (if you don’t spot the connection in the name, then re-visit my article on the Störtebeker Festspiele).

And while many of the visitors who come by coach head straight to the bustle of Störti’s, Riff has a more tranquil and relaxed atmosphere about it.  I hope that one day I will make it back to the island and can go there again.

Oh, and the Rügener Badejunge is the name (and registered trademark) of a locally produced Camembert.

Restaraunt Riff is located at Störtebeker Weg 56 in Ralswiek.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Störtebeker Festspiele – Open-Air Theatre on Rügen
• 10 Things to do on Rügen
• Lippi-Bekenntnisse – a different look at life in the GDR

The offer cannot be combined with other offers, and I do not know if every branch is taking part, or how long the offer is on for.  But with student membership currently starting at 19 Euros per year, if it runs long enough then I am sure that for some, the membership may pay for itself!

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Burger King and ADAC extend their offer by a further year
• Gaudi am Tisch
• Transport Pack 1: Cars

That was the impression left by a visit to one of our favourite service stations on the way from England yesterday.  The sign on the door says “Kinder sind hier gern gesehen”, meaning “children are welcome”, but actually translated as something like “children are gladly seen”.

"Kinder sind hier gern gesehen"

Anyway, we like this particular stop because they have good value family meals and it is at about the right place to have a break on the 6 hour journey from Calais to Frankfurt.  As usual, we stopped there yesterday and ordered our meal at the warm food counter.  We then let our daughter go to play in the childrens’ area which is located between the food section and the seating.  This was our mistake.

When we came to pay at the cash desk, we were charged the full price for our drinks because the cashier could not see our daughter from her viewpoint.  This all made very little sense, as she was still prepared to charge the food as a family meal, so accepting that we could have the deal on the food but not on the accompanying drinks on the same tray!

Strangely, my offer to go and get our daughter to “prove” to her that she really was with us made her change her mind and she duly removed one of the drinks from the bill.  Perhaps she didn’t want us to hold up the queue anymore?  (Sound familiar?)

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Fanta comes from Germany
• Burger King offer for ADAC members
• Cola + Orange = Spezi

Today they feature again, this time for a couple of small and a not so small problem. Here’s what happened:

Yesterday I took my daughter to McDonald’s in Oberstedten for a treat. A few weeks ago she had received a sticker album with pictures of horses in it, and could get another set of stickers with her meal. At the entrance a poster showed the available sticker sets – we were in luck, or so I thought. Inside there were new toys with a sign saying “from 6th June”. However at the till I was offered one, to which I replied that we were prefer a set of stickers for the album. “We don’t have those any more” came the answer. “You do according to the poster in the window” was my reply. Oh yes, they did have some left. Which set would we like? Warum nicht gleich so?

The other small problem was the mayonnaise that I wanted with my meal – I had ordered a menu with something called Gitterkartoffeln – “that only comes with fries, you can have it as an [payable] extra if you like” the cashier told me. I asked if she was sure, then on other occasions it has been included, although I admit not always. She was sure. “It seems to depend on which day and at which till you are as to whether it’s included” was my response.

I don’t think she liked that much, and although I didn’t really care about the 19 cent I find it annoying that such a simple thing is inconsistent depending just on who is serving you.

All this paled into insignificance compared to the next problem. There were no Gitterkartoffeln to give to me, so I was given a large plastic number to take with me, the Gitterkartoffeln would follow…

“Ein Augenblick noch… und wir bringen’s Ihnen”

But they didn’t follow. I watched other food being brought out but mine did not come. After waiting for 30 minutes (by which time we had either eaten everything else or it had got cold) I went to the supervisor at the cash desks and asked for my money back. At first she appeared to be a little unsure and asked how long I had been waiting for.

When I showed her my receipt, however, it was not a problem. She wanted to know who had served me and then she proceeded to give me a refund – in fact she would have refunded me the who meal but I played it fair and only wanted back the amount for food that I hadn’t received which she duly gave me.

And then I noticed it: the other half of the plastic number “5″ was not waiting for my Gitterkartoffeln at all – it was sitting on its own amongst all the other unused plastic numbers. I wonder how long it had been there?

One final thought: there used to be a rule in McDonald’s in the UK that if you had to wait for longer than 20 minutes you were given a free apple pie. Perhaps McDonald’s in Germany would like to consider introducing this…

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Service at McDonald’s
• A sponsored walk to Oberstedten and back
• The new Youth Club (Jugendtreff) in Oberstedten