The Old Betting Office - Feelgood atmosphere and culinary delights at Dresden new town
There are two simple reasons to definitely pay a visit to the Old Betting Office. In the backyard you will find one of the most beautiful summer gardens that Dresden Neustadt has to offer and the food is truly top class. But be careful, the location is so popular with Dresden residents that you can hardly get a place in the evenings without a reservation. Reasons enough to introduce you to the restaurant close to Albertplatz in more detail today.
The location - From club to top restaurant
In fact, many Dresdeners don't know the Altes Wettbüro because of its excellent cuisine. When the Neustadt party scene was desperately looking for places to party and dance in the 2000s, an ideal location was found in the former betting office. Like many properties, the house was empty; for most people it was too large for commercial rental and unsuitable for catering purposes. In addition, the monument protection made it impossible for the owners to “renovate” the building and then sell it off.
The new operators quickly established one of the most popular clubs in Neustadt. The name “Altes Wettbüro” soon became a synonym for nights of dancing with lots of electronic music and was listed in every good event calendar. And that's how it remains to this day, as they still present a wide range of smaller events, ranging from ambient concerts or party nights for dance lovers to film screenings.
The garden of earthly delights
However, my reason for warmly recommending the Old Betting Office to you is different. In addition to spacious interiors, the Wilhelminian style villa also has a very large plot of land. And so the cult location was quickly expanded to include a restaurant and, over the last ten years, the backyard was transformed into one of the most beautiful summer gardens in Dresden Neustadt. Once again one of my recommendations, which doesn't exactly promise much peace and quiet when viewed from the main street, but...
Once you've arrived in the backyard, you'll find yourself in a green oasis of well-being where you can not only relax, but also have a great meal. However - or fortunately - the garden is not so artificially designed. The old sandstone walls of the property are actually overgrown with plants. Everywhere there are large planters with rhododendrons, yuca palms and hibiscus plants and in between dandelions and laburnum shoot towards the sun. A truly cozy atmosphere that you should definitely see for yourself.
Fancy, schmancy, delicious
Outside they advertise with words like beer or summer garden, but be careful! The real surprise in the “Altes Wettbüro” restaurant comes in the moment the food is on the table. If you're expecting beer garden fare like pretzels, pork knuckles and bratwurst, you're completely wrong. The bratwurst is available, but it comes in the form of a Wagyu Bratwurst from a merchant family in the region.
As in many places, the recipe for success - regional, fresh and creative - is doing it's magic here. The weekly changing menu usually offers a good mix of eight to ten salads, pasta and meat dishes. The selection is intentionally kept small, but very varied and there is always an option for vegetarians.
A look at the menu shows that an exciting and varied selection of dishes is guaranteed. Precisely, the decision to offer only a few dishes, puts the chef in the position to really show off how to work with a selection of exquisite and seasonal ingredients. The prices are more than reasonable at an average of €10 - €17 for a main course of this quality. The best way to imagine the style of the kitchen is this: Simple dishes from different national cuisines are cleverly reinvented and then really spiced up with elements from the star cuisine.
The homemade pumpkin dumplings for instance are served with a blueberry-lavender foam and the Italian seafood risotto is given an Asian interpretation with pak choi and wakame seaweed. Of course, don't forget a final finish with some lobster foam on top. So it's definitely a little extravagant and you should have the desire to try some contrasting flavor profiles.
During my visit I had to try a tagliatelle with a Cabonara made from Wagyu beef sausage. This gave the food a fine seasoning and the necessary fat to fry the really large and fresh porcini mushrooms. Served with plenty of shaved Parmesan and spicy salads, the dish was complemented with some mirabelle plum jam on the edge of the plate. You could either combine the two as a sweet contrast to the full taste of the Cabonara, or concentrate entirely on the harmonious trio of savory flavors of Wagyu beef, porcini mushrooms and Parmesan. For me, the meal was perfectly balanced in every respect, delicious and worth every cent of the €17.20.
One last special feature that the Old Betting Office can come up with, is the Wagyu beef available here. This may be known to some as the famous Kobe beef from Japan. Apparently, the locals massage it to make it extra tender. It is considered the most expensive and best beef in the world and is actually more tender than other types of beef due to its particularly pronounced marbling of fat. Since it also has the highest proportion of unsaturated fatty acids that you can find in beef, it is also quite healthy. In Japan, however, cattle are only actually massaged if they have injuries or cannot get enough exercise due to other circumstances.
Of course, the Wagyu beef used here does not come from Japan, but rather from regional production and is sourced from, among others, an organic farm in Großdobritz. It's not always on the menu, but more and more often, making the Altes Wettbüro one of the few addresses in Dresden where you can try this (still) rarity. Together with the beautiful outdoor garden and the high quality food, the Altes Wettbüro is one of the big surprises to discover in Dresden and a 100% recommendation from me - definitely try it out.
Altes Wettbüro
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