MUNICH ..who knew Oktoberfest began in September?

Regional Dining Discussions Rest of Europe
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Flying Lufthansa via Munich back to JFK in late September. Decided to change onward flight to allow 5 nights in Munich., Little did I know that Oktoberfest begins on September 21!

So now have booked five nights at VIER JAHRESZEITEN. HA…do not even discuss price!! But this sticks in my mind as among the grand hotels of Europe so I wanted the experience.

I do not like beer but of course would try a glass or two.

So; Aside from visiting a festival tent for the experience, and visiting the Virtualmarket (probably several times), I’m looking for restaurants.

Always like to concentrate on the local food, but would also consider “German” food, in general, if there is such a thing. We eat almost anything and no allergies.

From very quick online research, I jotted down these names; I would also like a name or two fairly close to the hotel but it seems that that area is not the best for restaurants, apart from very fancy international ones which do not interest us.

Any comments on these, and recommendations for others, would be great!
Nothing stiff or very formal.

WEINHAUS NEUER

FALKE 23

ASAM SCHLOESSEL

FRIESINGER HOF

SPATENHOUS AN DN OPER

Foods to buy to take home to USA? (Skip the meat this time since my last beagle encounter)

No rush…we leave for Sicily late August and will be in Munich 21 September for 5 nights. Is it imperative to book restaurants in advance due to Oktoberfest visitors or do they mainly stay in the tents for their meals?

I’ve not been in Munich since I had a Eurailpass in the 70s…so it will be very new to me, especially coming from Catania.

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I’ve only been to Munich a handful of times, and the last visit was in the late 90s — so any recommendations I might have would likely be terribly outdated.

That said, the Augustiner beer garden may just be the most beautiful beer garden I’ve been to — you sit at round tables beneath ginormous oak trees. Yes, I know that’s a beer suggestion but it may not be packed since most of the idjits will be in the festival tents paying thru their noses for the privilege of not being able to leave their seat :wink:

You should have Weisswurst at least once while there. BEFORE 11 AM. It’s meant to be eaten for breakfast with sweet mustard.

Backhendl aka fried chicken is a great local treat, too.

I would generally recommend not eating at the Fest. Everything is eye-wateringly overpriced.

And Sicily? Swoon.

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I knew. LOL. It was a 4 week celebration leading up to King Ludwig’s wedding.

The only restaurant I’ve tried out of the restaurants you have mentioned is Spatenhaus. I would have liked to have tried Falke 23.

My favourite restaurant for traditional food is Spatenhaus an der Oper.

(Convenient to the Four Seasons. Thank you to linguafood for pointing out that I missed part of your post where you mentioned you were staying at the Four Seasons.)

The main floor of Spatenhaus is less fancy than the 2nd floor restaurant. I have dined at Spatenhaus an der Oper 3 times.
I would probably reserve for the 2nd floor restaurant, if I was only having one meal there.

I can remember what I order on my previous visits. Sauerbraten, goulash soup, cheese spaetzle. My most recent visit was in the spring, and I ordered asparagus with parsley potatoes.

The Ratskeller is an experience, and the food is good, but not at the level of Spatenhaus. Maybe go for a glass of wine to see the inside space.

I have had good meals at the Paulaner and the Augustiner.

At the Viktualienmarkt, some stalls serve traditional Bavarian food like Leberkaese, which is a type of meatloaf which does not contain liver or cheese.

I didn’t book restaurants in advance last time I visited during Oktoberfest. Maybe the Michelin starred restaurants need reservations.

I buy things at Dallmayr, a Munich delicatessen which is a bit like a German Fortnum and Mason, for souvenirs. It’s also close to your hotel.

I also like the spices at Schubeck’s, and the baked goods at Café Luitpold.

It might be possible to buy a stollen already in late September. The stollen baked in Germany keeps well. I often bring home Florentines. The stollen and Florentines at Café Kreutzkamm are very good. There a connection to the Café Kreutzkamm in Dresden.

I also bring back pralines (German filled chocolates rather than American candied nuts) and jam from Elly Seidel, which has several locations.

Rischart is a small chain of bakeries with good sandwiches and baked goods. Their food is not fancy but it’s well made. With some locations , there is a room with table service on the floor above. This is a midlevel type of coffee shop, whereas Café Luitpold and Café Kreutzkamm are upscale.

I don’t drink beer. There are plenty of nice wine bars in Munich. I’m not even a wine drinker. I like German coffee a lot.

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When were you in Munich?

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March 2019.

I stayed at the 4 Seasons previously, in Sept 2003 during Oktoberfest.

I also stayed in Munich in July 1996, July 2000, November 2005, Sept 2007 and January 2014.

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Oh, cool! Just before the pandemic. Did you post a trip report here anywhere?

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I posted a lengthy trip report on Chowhound, unfortunately.

I wasn’t posting trip reports here until January 2020.

I’m consistent in my recommendations. Haha

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Ah, shame. I’d left CH long before then.

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I wish I had dinner at Der Pschorr on my last visit in 2019. One of my 4 dinners was a miss, and Der Pschorr would have probably been better.

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This is great info for me!!! So skip the tents and go to Augustiner…perfect!!

Will do my best to squeeze partner into Lederhosen but do not bet on that happening!
Keep the reminiscences and the recommendations coming.

Signed…another mourner from CH!! ek

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If you like looking at traditional clothing (Tracht in Austria and Bavaria), there are some beautiful dirndls and lederhosen being sold at Loden Frey and the other luxury department stores in the Old Town.

I love the idea of having a beautiful dirndl but I know I would feel like a poseur wearing one, so I haven’t bought one.

I even had a TripAdvisor post for where to find vintage dirndls. I do own some boiled wool jackets which are technically Tracht.

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Munich during Oktoberfest is an experience!

Don’t feel too bad, like you, I had no idea either when I showed up at the beginning of Oktoberfest many years ago :joy:. In my defense, my friend who was living in Germany was completely in charge of the trip, so the fact that we ended up at the “idiots who didn’t book a hotel” counter was entirely his fault :rofl:.

Highly recommend Radler even if you normally don’t like beer (i don’t)— it’s like shandy, think lemon soda mixed with beer to make it delicious and light. Weissbier / Hefeweizen is also more fruity than hoppy if you want to explore a bit.

I don’t remember where we ate (before chowhound trip research days), but I must have consumed my weight in weisswurst — yum! I still crave that weisswurst (Bar Boulud has a truffled boudin blanc that I’m hooked on because it reminds me of it). Lots of other delicious food too — Munchner schnitzel, Schweinshaxe, Kasespatzle — good sturdy meat & carbs!

As you have 5 days, consider taking a day or two out to see Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles, about 1.5-2h by car. (Neuschwastein is famous as the inspiration for the Disney Castle.) We drove, but I’m sure there are tour companies in Munich that have this available as a day trip if you don’t want to drive yourself.

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These words don’t belong in the same sentence

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Hahaha

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“Classical” Bavarian/ German food is obviously a good choice but I would also recommend to look for other types of cuisines. People tend to forget that Germany had historically a high level of foreigners coming to Germany (Gastarbeiter) to work 60-70 years ago and many stayed now for several generations and it had a tremendous effect on the food scene in Germany. Try to find Turkish or Croatian or Italian restaurants for example. You won’t find this level of quality in the US (even most Italian restaurants in the US are much more”americanized” than you will find in Germany)

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who knew?

other than “everyone”?

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on a trip . . . following my years in Auslandsdienst -
bought a Lodenmantel.
love it.

back in USA . . . never had many opportunities to wear it.
the USA weather is simply ‘different’ that German weather.
it’s on a hanger . . .

got my son some Lederhosen, my daughter a Dirndl. he had a ball with them for a year or so.
got the kids - at considerable effort . . . (real aka wearable) “wooden shoes” from Holland.
teachers called to request they not wear the clogs to school - seems the kids had too much fun ‘disrupting’ things with the . . . . ahhhh, uhmmm . . . ‘noisy’ shoes . . .

some things just don’t translate . . .

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I had an Austrian dirndl when I was 4, which was pretty cute.

I bought my boiled wool jacket in 2003 and I still wear it in the fall.

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I didn’t know. Never paid much attention because I’m not much of a beer drinker.

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Nor did I as I’m not a beer drinker either.

Kind of thinking that if something is named starting with “Oktober” would be more in October than September. And I guess it was - until TPTB running the festival decided to extend the length of time it ran, and chose to move backwards into September because it was warmer and nicer weather.

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