Edelweiss

One day, one day, I'm going to Europe and see and smell and touch and taste all the amazing things, places and food there!

But that's not going to be happening very soon so while waiting for the perfect time, we just went to this newish restaurant down the street that has fascinated us because of its colorful decor and very foreign-looking ambiance. It is named after the national flower of Switzerland and Austria, the edelweiss, which they claim is the most beautiful flower in the Alps.

Everything about the Edelweiss Austrian Restaurant proclaimed foreign, foreign, foreign. Take for example the subdued lighting, the scalloped checkered curtains with ribbon loops, , the cathedral window lampshades, the upholstered sofas, the wine bottles prominently displayed, the food servers costumed as little milkmaids, and of course, the numerous Caucasian customers. On the scale of 1-10 I'd give the place a grade of 8 for interior design and atmosphere. Not that I'm any good with interior design, I just like the way the place looked. As for atmosphere, maybe it was pleasant because we came early and there were not that many smokers in the room yet.

Their menu was half Austrian and half Filipino and we had some of both. The verdict: the next time we go there we'll be sure to order a Filipino dish, which sort of defeats the purpose of going to a European-themed restaurant if you're going to order Filipino food, right. So maybe we won't go there again, unless we really, really want the "ambiance." Their new milkmaid waitress who attended to us made a blooper. When we asked her if the salad bar was "unlimited" meaning could we go again and again, she said it was. But just to be sure, before we went for the second time to the salad bar, we asked her if she was sure that it was a salad bar buffet and she sheepishly said sorry, dili diay, she made a mistake, that she was just new there. Tsk tsk.

But what I really found delightful about that place was that on the first page of their menu was, in charming, broken English, the legend of edelweiss, the flower of the Alps. The legend goes that (from what I can recall)...

Once upon a time, there was a Snow Queen most fair who lived in a cave in the Alps together with her gnome subjects. One day, a shepherd mistakenly wandered into their cave and heard the Snow Queen singing. He was so enraptured by her beautiful voice that he came day after day and just sat there listening and admiring the Snow Queen. As the menu book said, "they had their love."

Soon the gnomes noticed that their beloved Snow Queen was spending more and more time with the handsome shepherd instead of attending to their needs and they did not like it one bit. So the gnomes planned a rebellion of sorts (I forgot exactly what they did) where the Snow Queen had to make a choice whether to go with her beloved shepherd and become a mortal and plunge her dependent gnomes into orphanhood or give up her forbidden love and face her duties as mother and leader of the gnomes.

And so it came to be, that when decision time came, it was duty first before pleasure and the ill-fated lovers had to part. The Snow Queen's heart was wrenched just so that a single tear fell from her forlorn eyes and when the tear touched the Alpine snow, voila!, the edelweiss was born.

Awww. I love this legend!