Double Date Dinner at Cafe Katja

Cafe Katja
79 Orchard Street New York, NY 10002
212.219.9545

I found Cafe Katja on Yelp and was very intrigued after reading the menu and saw photos on their Yelp page. I've never had German food before, so I was quite excited to try it out and lucky enough, Will and I were able to have a double date at Cafe Katja with our friend and her boyfriend.

We arrived on a Friday night at 7:15 and was able to grab a table without any issues. I absolutely love the dim light and cozy ambiance. Staff was very friendly to us. The music was very down-to-earth and classical music you would recognize.

We started off with drinks and then moved onto the appetizer.

We had the Weihenstephan (on the left) and the one I on the right, don't remember. Our friend ordered it.

The appetizer was a special and it is a Chicken Liver Salad with Poached Egg. Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact name of this appetizer. It was a little refreshing. I've never had chicken liver before and feared I wouldn't like it, but I did. The texture was moist, not tough or overcooked. The salad was good, it tasted a lot like it was Balsamic Vinaigrette based.

Will ordered the Austrian Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables with Potato Puree. The meatballs weren't that big. They were tasty, moist, and was amazing with potato puree. There was a nice, rich buttery taste in the potato puree and roasted vegetables were good too.

Our friend Samantha ordered the Katja's Rueben Pork Belly Sandwich. I love the way the sandwich was served on a wooden board. The sandwich was compiled with cabbage and cheese and of course the crispy, crunchy pork belly, and pickles. There was mustard sauce and purple cabbage on the side. 

The sandwich was cut in four pieces, but I shared one piece of sandwich with my boyfriend. I love that everywhere you bite along the sandwich, there's a great crunchiness to it.

Our friends' boyfriend had the Wiener Schnitzel with new potatoes and preiselbeeren. The Wiener Schnitzel (deep fried veal) was breaded nicely, but the veal was a bit chewy and tough. I guess that's how veal is. There was also some potatoes, a small side salad, and preiselbeeren which is actually lingonberry.

As for myself, I had the Spatezele with Beef Goulash which are two foods that's often eaten in the German culture. Spatezele is a type of egg noodle with a soft texture found in cuisines of southern Germany and of Austria, Switzerland,  Hungary, Alsace, and South Tyrol. Beef Goulash is a soup or stew meat, vegetables, noodles. 

The spatezele was soft and tasted similar to pasta. I was so happy to see that there was a lot of sauce and big chunks of beef. The beef was really moist and tasty. A little dash of spiciness, but it was tolerable. The sauce was excellent and went really well with the spatezele. The sauce gave the spatezele some beefy flavoring. I was really happy with my dish.

We all really enjoyed the food here and how cozy and comfortable it was to dine here. Cafe Katja really exceeded my expectations in terms of quality of food and environment. The food was fantastic and for anyone who has/hasn't tried German or Austrian food, you may want to stop by Cafe Katja. The food will blow your socks off!