Annie’s sister, who I’ve never actually met, has been visiting with any for the last few weeks (mainly on a whirlwind tour around Spain) but leaves tomorrow to return to Oz. To give her a proper send off Annie got a few of us to come out for a meal. We ended up at Vapiano which is a German Based Italian restaurant chain. Its actually a pretty big chain internationally with locations including Australia, Estonia, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and, naturally, Germany.

This is no ordinary Italian restaurant. It’s a pizza pasta bar where food is made to order. Each customer coming into the restaurant has to pick up a chip card at the front door which you then use to wave in front of the counter when ordering your food and drink. Chargers are then accumulated on the card and there are no problems with splitting the bill. It’s a very casual restaurant with heaps of dining split over two floors. It does get very busy, however, and if you’re in a big group like we were then it could get difficult to find space all in one area. Even on a Sunday night it was heaving.

The great thing about Vapiano is that you don’t have to rely on a waiter or waitress (except to clear the tables) – its help yourself so you can go order your food whenever you want how often you want. This is ideal when in a big group, so you can stagger your orders so you can keep your table, but may be awkward if you’re trying to keep the table but you all want your food at the same time. Because there’s no service there’s no pressure to finish your meal and get out of there so you can stay as long as you like.

Food is surprisingly good and cooked fresh in front of you so you can see it all happening and also customise your dish (in terms of amounts of salt, chilli, pepper, garlic etc.)

An interesting option to add to my portfolio of food.