Paying a visit to The German Gourmet is almost like going to the doctor. The assistants behind the counter wear crisp white jackets, they serve you with efficient civility, and move you through as fast as they can.

There are two branches, squeaky-clean stores in Falls Church. At the Lee Highway branch I saw a small but impressive range of fresh baked cakes and pastries and among the breads selection loaves of Holzofen and linseed bread. I counted over 13 sausages at the deli counter, including weisswurst, thuringer, munberger and a home-made bratwurst they'll also sell you in a roll with red cabbage, German potato salad, sauerkraut and mustard. There's a much smaller and less impressive selection of cheeses. Among the ready-made salads are spaetzle with cheese, potato salad, fleisch salad, herring salad, and sauerkraut, and there's a goose mousse that with cuts from their salamis would make an interesting charcuterie platter. They'll make other platters to order with 24 hours' notice. In the shelves are plenty of packaged soups, cookies, chocolate non-pareils, florentines, yellow dried peas for a good ham-and-pea soup or dish of mushy peas, and toileteries.

For me a real find is the smoked eel in the chiller that would be pretty delicious with a dollop of sour cream flavored with horseradish, and the tubes of the creamed smoked roe paste, with or without dill, that IKEA sells - a useful standby for unexpected cocktail-hour visitors.

The German Gourmet, 7185 Lee Highway, Falls Church, 703 534 1908 and 5838 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, 703 379 8080.