Munich


One year I had a full day’s break between work and a guy from the host law firm took me around Munich. He was quite the historian and as we’d approach buildings he’d say which were completely rebuilt, versus which had to be partially rebuilt, etc. And he claimed to be able to still see on the exterior of the latter exactly where the new met the old - my eye was not that good, or I wasn’t paying attention to his description well enough. But at least according to his description, not entirely leveled but certainly very heavily damaged.

Good day overall - we did both the old and new Pinakotheks. I like the older stuff better, though.

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Learn something every day.

Interestingly, the reason some buildings were not rebuilt in Berlin, is to keep a reminder of how destructive and awful war is.

During war, the beautiful cities and the museums are often targeted in air strikes because it crushed the soul of the people. As we have continued to see in recent wars.

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We are fond of Munich and its traditions. We have had memorable meals (downstairs and outside on the plaza) at Spatenhaus an der Oper; all the meat dishes, superlative potato salad, their wonderful rich kaiserschmarm and leberkase at a brunch hour in summer, a fish dish. I recommend looking for fish, it will probably be fresh water in this area, the germans seem to prepare with subtlety, the hospitality. We also like Der Pschorr - inside I think is better not so touristy. I agree with looking for the daily specials there, On our last visit to Munich - June '19 - we stayed on the Isar and had sever meals at the local restaurant Wirthaus an der Au. It was very pleasant and definitely a cut above the formulaic places in the center. But I am sure there are many on this level in other neighborhoods.

The museums (art and the German museum on the island), the old baroque churches, the river and the pervasive traditional culture make Munich a special place even though it is also a modern commercial city

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We really enjoyed Restaurant Tantris when we were there 5 years ago. It’s still going and serving a tasting menu. It’s a blast from the past with the orange colors. Great food and service though, and the decision is only what to drink with the food.

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thanks for the recommendations! We are going to be back in Munich for a week in July, hopefully not as hot as the last time! Any additional restaurant ideas would be great. We are staying in the Haidhausen area

Just as a disclaimer, I have not been to some of these places in quite a while.
Schmalznudel-Café Frischhut Prälat-Zistl-Straße 8
Great Coffee and hot fresh Krapfen, Donuts filled with Apple and coated in Sugar.

Giesinger Bräu Microbrewery Martin Luther Straße 2
http://giesinger-braeu.de)

Schneider Brauhaus, Tal 7, München

If You get sick of German Food:
Makassar Dreimühlenstraße 25
French Colonial inspired Cajun, Caribbean, Moroccan and Vietnamese influences . In a cool part of Town and great Reviews

Pizzeria Grano Sebastianspl. 3
Wood Fired Pizza in the Alt Stadt! Cozy little Spot near the City Museum

Quan Com Wendl-Dietrich-Straße 4
Good Vietnamese including Phở as well as Grilled Items to roll with Herbs in Rice Paper, Curries and Dry noodle Dishes. Half way between Schloss Nymphenburg and the Alt Stadt.

Thanks for this! We are leaving for Munich in a week - any updates or new advice from anyone on good eats there? I noted that Tantris has gone through chef changes - doubt if its the same place as in the past tho it still rates high. I am really looking for either really good GERMAN food (not ***fusion experimentation) or good examples of other cuisines hard to find in NY. We are heading to Italy after so Italian does not answer our needs.

By the way, wondering has anyone eaten at Halali?

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Sorry have no more info, hope you have a wonderful trip.

Nice to see you here!

Thanks! We’ve been focusing on domestic travel lately and my international opinions are getting out of date. We had traveled in the U.S. more before I started my blog and then Covid made us stay in country and it’s hard to want to take those long flights anymore!

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Anything to report back?
Since Covid it would be nice to hear what’s up.

Well this didnt turn out to be a true foodie visit to Munich - it mostly wasnt planned around eating destinations so we wound up eating lunch wherever we happened to be at midday - with the exception of day 2 where, after a long morning’s walk in the Englischgarten, we landed at Spatenhaus an der Oper for a return visit. There, we ate in the more traditional downstairs dining room, where all was the same as we remembered and the food was classic bourgeois fare, en point. My fried fish was cooked perfectly, the potato salad with cucumber was terrific as i n the past, my husband loved his pork , the fine potato dumplings and the accompanying red cabbage with apple was perhaps the best Ive ever had (as before). Nice light clove flavor, not too much sweet and sour.


Of the other midday meals, I think the one on Day 1 at the Hofbraukeller biergarten in Haidhausen was the best, simple but good especially my sauteed pferrelinge with scrambled eggs

the kiosk at Schloss Nymphenberg provided the minimum as in the past and lunches during the two days we spent in the Museums were average only. If you ever consider Brasserie Tresznjewski because its close to the Alte Pinacothek, just dont, mediocre. It was raining and it was across the street.
Our dinners were mostly of the bread , fruit and cheese variety at our very nice apartment in Haidhausen. Lots of coffee bars in that area, but I would particularly like to single out for praise the lovely little Wolfl Patisserie Konditorei right behind the Gasteig. The family there bake beautiful pastries on a daily basis, using fine ingredients. We particularly enjoyed their Esterhazy torte, with lovely hazelnut layers, buttercream, rum and a nice raspberry layer on the bottom. We were sorry to only have a few samples, since they are only open from 8-6. Just a couple of tables on the street so we took out .


Lots of good nutty, seedy, hearty bread in Munich; we recommend Fritz’s in the Vitualmarkt (their bread is also sold elsewhere now); i addition to their hearty country bread they now have an extensive line of gluten free loaves; we actually bought (by mistake) a seed-packed gluten free loaf and they seem to have cracked the code on how to make a good one tho obviously without the taste of wheat.

There was a great fruit steand and a nice little cheese shop, Tolzer Kasladen, with french and other cheese and also wines nearby that we patronized; prices and quality seemed reasonable, especially compared to stateside for the same products


Finally, we did have one dinner out, at Herat, an afghan place in Haidhausen. It was really good value, plenty of nice lamb in the qabuli pilau, and the mashawi, a well spiced lentil soup/stew was first rate. On our last evening we stopped by our favorite local from the last visit, Wirthaus an der Au, and just had a drink while we soaked up the atmosphere and watched plates of dumplings etc go by.

My apologies for how the pictures are displaying in this post, I hope you can figure out which is which!

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Thank you for the report back.
“I hope you can figure out which is which!” :laughing: Yep I got it!
That Schweinebraten mit Kartoffelknödel looks good!
Hope we can get back to Germany soon.