A fun little medley of bread, greek olive oil, tuna curry spread and a vegetarian salsa arrived. The sweetness of the curry and the creamy meatiness of the tuna made for a really rich and tasty spread. We were excited to get the party started!

Two breads (Vollkorn and potatoe) were served with locally made butter from Miesbach and Portuguese sea salt. The butter was good enough to eat on its own. Seriously. I love the cow that gave us this butter. Heavenly, creamy rich with an almost flowery scent.

Also accompanying the cheese... this lovely homemade fruit bread.

You can tell a lot about a restaurant's attention to detail just by peeking in the bread basket. This one held miniature baguettes and seedy potato rolls - the latter being hands down the best potato roll EVER to roll up in our mouths! All setting the stage beautifully...

So here comes the bread and butter, ladies and gents... and we're happy to report it was GOOD! Fresh baked, still warm and served with farm fresh butter. So ready to try the rest of the food from the newly re-vamped restaurant side of the Maxlrain establishment.

more precise would be to all it Boudin sourdough. Of course, when in a Restaurant at the bakeries flagship location, one has to have their bread. And it is good! thank you, Isidore Boudin for introducing french technique to the SF Sourdough.

Soft, white an fairly run of the mill... but served warm, which earned them some points. ;)

Fresh baked, warm from the oven, devilishly tempting us to fill up before the apps arrive.

Time to celebrate 8 years of Carastian bliss.. with a lovely meal at our resort. There are few dining out choices in Hana, and this is their 'fanciest' restaurant by far - which means STEEP prices, even though we thought the service was NOT a good match. However the food was good, so let's get the party started with some yummy fresh focaccia bread. So savory and crispy/chewy... matched perfect with the sweet honey cream spread. One could eat this every day. Easily.

Although not incredibly tasty (tasted just like a plain old dinner roll IMHO) they sure were pretty to look at! The purple taro root producing a stunning lavender coloring.

Off to dinner - some nice warm rolls - and athough we have seen the heater they put the buns under - still a promising start.

This restaurant has changed hands so many times... but the new owners seem to be doing something the town likes as they've been here the longest (2 years) so far. Regardless of the cute bread presentation, we were not all that impressed. But first things first - slightly stale bread arranged lovingly on a plate with some curry cream cheese spread. Such a shame that the spread and plating was so nice but the bread sucked. Priorities people. Better a boring old basket of amazing bread than this white hot mess....

Beautiful basket of fresh sourdough roll and this gorgeous brown nut bread with a perfect crust and soft flesh. There were two small pieces of sun dried tomato brioche tucked in there, too. Very nice indication of what was to come - you know we always say the breadbasket sets the mood for the meal!

Oh. My. God. Their Bread... homemade. fluffy. warm. perfect ratio of dense to air pockets. this crust. this wonderful crust. brown golden. delicious. Must. Stop. (give in to it, says the devil on the shoulder). must behave, wait for food (Says the angel on the right). Oh shut up you two, Mr. Carastian says. and digs in.

a beautiful summer day - perfect for a little bike tour - which of course has to end in a Biergarten ;-) a Weissbier and a bread with Emmental like cheese. Mrs. Carastian substituted the normal Bavarian bread with baguette (You can take the American out of America - but not American's love of white bread out of an American I guess ;-)

Wow... great flavors of toasted hazelnuts, fresh delicious crust and soft inside. For you WECK junkies - a tiny one with homemade cucumber quark mix as a spread.

New to the menu is this cute little appetizer of homemade dip (cream cheese, veg and herbs) to spread on those perfect little fresh pretzel pieces. YUM! If you wonder about the Bavarian name - it literarily translates to stomach scratcher. Or as they put it in the menu - if you are too hungry to properly decide - get that with your beer. So what was there to do - obey the menu.

And for your dipping pleasure... fresh made, spongy and delightful injera bread. Perfection!

a piece from right back in the day when the Tavern was the hot spot of Alexandria. Lovely yeasty bread. home made.

Staying well clear of the actual seafood (at a semi-sketchy looking crab house) we decided to try a sampling of their fried appetizers. These hush puppies were actually pretty damn good, and the onion rings... well... they were so tasty that they didn't even last long enough to get photographed!

Thanks to a fab recommendation by the lovely @June, we found ourselves enjoying a fine meal in a hipster area of London. The proof is in the bread - and this plate came out with slices of hot and chewy fresh baked crusty bread and creamy fresh butter. Ready for more!

Thanks to a fab recommendation by the lovely @June, we found ourselves enjoying a fine meal in a hipster area of London. The proof is in the bread - and this plate came out with slices of hot and chewy fresh baked crusty bread and creamy fresh butter. Ready for more!

Accompanying our lovely sampler platter is a plate of German brown bread slathered with butter and chives or Griebenschmalz (pork fat with crispy pork bits in it). Just in case you did not get enough meat from the log....

Remember the tiny buns Mr. Carastian talked about? well, here is a whole basket of them. fresh, beautiful crust, a vast variety (whole grain, poppyseed, Brezen bun,...) and a little paper bag to take the ones home, you can finish.

Cute toast presentation... kind of like an edible game of Jenga with gluten... that wonderful gluten... (and before you be sad, @Sarbarella, there will be some first hand impressions from the Intolerant food truck (stay tuned)).

While attending an AWESOME wedding a few weekends ago, we were privvy to these lovely pretzel buns, fresh and hot from the oven, after we watched the bride and groom give their solemn vows in the stunning Diana Temple in the Hofgarten of Munich. Flash mob style, as it is illegal to gather and do ceremonies there. Being naughty tastes almost as good as these buns!

Ahhh.. Stumbling over a horse show in search for beer and across a stand from an organic bakery using all regional ingredients. Beautiful fragrant sourdough (rye and whole grain wheat) bread with sunflower seeds. Lovely !

The best thing to scoop up all that eggplant cream? Garlic pita! Yeah... breath mint needed after this deadly combo...

Even though it was hard to even consider eating ever again after this beautiful meal (as probably any food would just suck in comparison), the Carastians accepted the challenge at breakfast and were greeted by a great selection of breakfast items - as much as possible locally sourced. Like these perfect poppy seed and Brez'n rolls. Crisp outside soft and not blown up with air on the inside.

These crispy flatbread gems were served in the slats of a piece of beach wood, great presentation and tasty wholegrain goodness. Perfectly paired with a dip on the edible stone that came with it (pictured separately).