Schmidt’s German restaurant in Charlotte Street London W!. It closed down after a few generations existance in London - I believe it opened in 1901 and closed in the late 70's. The German waiters were all self-employed and effectively bought the food from the kitchen and sold it to the customers.
The elderly waiters were surly to the point of rudeness (except to German or Austrian expats of their own generation), but did provide silver service (when the food eventually arrived). The waiting times were unbelievable, but the food was cheap and usually good. The Wiener Schnitzel was authentic; the braised pork knuckle (Stelze) was both glutinous and tasty.
This article captures the zeitgeist.
The restaurant was at 35-37 Charlotte Street. The building there formerly housed Schmidt’s Restaurant, which had been on site since 1901, when Frederick Schmidt, an immigrant butcher from Wurtenberg opened a delicatessen. He became a British Citizen and served during the First World War as an army cook and opened a restaurant on his return. It was famous for its rude waiters and good food at cheap prices. Apparently, the Soviet spy Donald Maclean spent his last day in Britain at the restaurant before fleeing to the Soviet Union in May 1951. The restaurant closed in the 1970s.
I also read on this website that London's German population had settled north of Oxford Street where Charlotte Street was sometimes known as 'Charlottenstrasse'.
This is from an article from Herald Tribune ...
Once, when I received a cheque for three pounds for an article I had written for Hier Spricht London, the magazine of the German service of the BBC, I invited a Venezuelan lady to dine with me at Schmidt’s Restaurant at 33-37 Charlotte Street, where each table was attended by a surly, elderly waiter wearing a white apron and they had a proper silver service. The photographs on the walls depicted scenes from some German town as it existed in the 1930s.
I miss Schmidts where you "
mustn't mention the war" and where they put you in your place!
