Tag Archives: Broager

Poshing up Take-Away: Det Franske Hus

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Having had a baby recently time is often at a premium and preparing food low on the agenda. Unless you have friends who bring food over (thanks!) or food stocked in the freezer this may quickly end up in a take-away bonanza. However, quickly you will probably get tired of eating pizza, sushi and/or Chinese.

One place where you can get something that bit different is Det Franske Hus. As the name implies, the place in Broager is run by a Frenchman, Thierry Manane and the aim is to provide good food for its customers. The regular menu on offer is not wide but it changes regularly: a weekly menu (Monday-Friday), a weekly fish menu (Tuesday-Saturday) and a monthly menu are offered. It is mainly for pick-up from Broager, but we were also told that for a charge of 150 DKK they will deliver to Sonderborg.

We opted for the weekly menu on take away last week: warm salmon mousse with fish cream and shrimps as starter, stuffed pork filet with baked leeks and rosti potatoes as main, and apple tart with apricots for dessert. You do not need to order all 3 courses and in fact we ordered 2 starters, 3 mains and 2 desserts between 3 people and got more than full.

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The food came packed in aluminium foil dishes in a polystyrene box. All dishes had clearly marked information on how to warm them up (temperature and duration). It seems that some thought does go into this as the same temperature was required for all dishes, making warming up easy. Warming up times was between 15 and 20 minutes, after which the food was warm through very nicely. This is how the weekly take away offer is served. The other items from Det Franske Hus is offered as catering and is delivered warm and ready to eat with the appropriate china to serve it from.

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We enjoyed all the food. I was particularly surprised by the starter, as it was not something I would have ever picked. The cabbage, in particular, was really nicely spiced probably with cumin, which is not something I would have thought of. The main was a decent piece of pork, though a bit salty, especially for my non-Danish mother who was visiting! The dessert was again really good.

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You can easily order the food by calling them before 10 am on the day and you can agree a time to pick up (or organise delivery). Payment can be in cash or by bank transfer after you collect the food (they have no card terminal).

We were really satisfied with what we got. Furthermore, it is not only for daily food that the place is set up. It is, even more so I would say, set up to deliver food for special occasions. And in fact, that was part of the reason we tried it out: as a trial run for a special meal we have coming up. The trial run went smoothly so we will definitely be ordering more food from there!

Gendarm Path: Around ‘Broager Land’

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The Gendarm Path (Gendarmstien) is an 74km long route that follows the coastal border between Denmark and Germany. We plan on walking, running and cycling the path in chunks. This blog post covers the length from Sønderborg via Vemmingbund around the peninsula of Broager Land and back to Sønderborg.

My parents had rented a summer cottage in Vemmingbund 8km from Sonderborg so early on the Sunday me and a friend jumped on our mountainbikes and cycled towards Vemmingbund to meet my dad at the cottage. The path from Sonderborg to Vemmingbund is easy to cover on a mountainbike without being too difficult. It took us about half an hour to cycle that leg.

Setting off on Gendarm Path

From Vemmingbund the first section is tarmac road as there is a section of The Gendarm Path not right on the water here. Then you turn left towards the water going through Gammelmark Strand camp ground before you make it to the water. This is the first difficult section as you have a bit of beach, a narrow path and a steep set of stairs to climb.

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Once you’ve carried up the bike the hill continues so onwards and upwards!

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As you go along here getting up on the hill you get magnificent views of the area. However I was lagging behind at this point so there is no photos to show you the great view.
We continued up and down steep hills until at the top of the last hill before we made it to Broager Strand camp ground.

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Here Jan got a flat tire so while him and my dad changed inner tube I could take some photos. I attempted to do a 360 Photsynth image from here but unfortunately it turned out a bit dark:

With a new inner tube in place we could continue down the slope and onto tarmac again. Again we had a short detour inland before going back down to the water and through the forrest called Kobbelskov. After Kobbelskov we got all the way down to the water with a section of the path on the beach with fairly big stones. Not an easy place to cycle but interesting challenge as long as it was not for too long.

We continued until we reached a parking lot and took bearings of the situation. The path we just came from can be seen behind Jan. He looks concerned about the beach section coming up.

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From here on around the bend of the peninsula the Gendarm Path follows the beach with soft sand, medium and big stones and sections where you have to climb over big rocks. Not easy with a bike so we opted for the easier route inland again until we were past the wind mills. Here’s the beach path we did not follow.

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At Skeldemark we went back down to the water again and now we got a short section riding right on the beach with fairly even sized stones so it was doable to stay on the bike and keep moving forward.

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At a point on the beach the Gendarm Path took a turn to the right across a field. The inhabitants of the field didn’t seem too fussed about three guys in bright lycra outfits so we opened the gate, got our bikes in, and closed the gate again. We gave the cows a wave but they were not really interested in us as we rode across their field.

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We followed the Gendarm path inland to Gammelgab (Literally translates to ‘Old Yawn’) which looked more cozy than the name implies.

We went back down to the water for another patch of beach and gravel road riding through the courtyard of a farm and then across another cow field before we made it to Brunsnæs.

From here it was an easy drive to Broager with a single hill that was too steep for any of us to drive up.

In Broager we left the Gendarm Path and turned eastwards towards my parents rented cottage in Vemmingbund. Here we left my dad and Jan and I continued home to Sønderborg.

Route stats

  • 3 and a half hours excluding breaks
  • From Sønderborg and back was 50km
  • 370 elevation meters
  • See and download the route from Gpises or Endomondo.

The route is really great. I was amazed at the scenery and bike challenges I have on the door step here. As a mountainbike route it is really challenging with the various surfaces and hills.
This section is great for doing on foot without too big a load or on mountain bike. Other types of bikes will probably have problems.

hotdogs

Annie’s Kiosk #18/99

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Annie’s Kiosk is a small snack hut on the scenic way from Sonderborg to Flensburg. Small as it might be, it punches above its weight; it even has a long wikipedia entry in German!

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The kiosk is famous for its hotdogs (and ice-creams). In typical snack hut style, you walk up to the window, order your hotdog – different choices of sausages, mustard, ketchup, remoulade, fried onions, raw onions and pickles – pay, and then get to enjoy it on the open-air benches and tables to the side. There you can get a good view of Flensburg Fjord and Store Okseø.

The kiosk is a favourite stopping point for motorcylists and drivers in the area. It served as a perfect stopping point for us after visiting Cathrinesminde Teglværk in Broager in the morning and before continuing onwards to Frøslev Prison Camp in Padborg, while allowing us to enjoy the scenic views down to the kiosk.