Dining Recomendations, southern Germany

After a year or two of lurking, I'm finally entering the dialogue. Whew. I look forward joining in on the discussions I've benefited from for so long!

First things first, though, I'm traveling to Germany in September, starting in Munich, heading through the Black Forest by way of Freiburg, then up to the Rhine and Mosel wine regions, and ending in Cologne. I'd appreciate any restaurant recommendations anyone might have in the following cities (vineyard recs too, if you've got 'em):

Cologne
Koblenz
Rudesheim
Freiburg, or nearby Black Forest towns
Munich

We aren't high rollers by any means, although we plan to have one big blow-out meal while we are there. Otherwise, we're looking for places with great food that won't leave us too broke. Not necessarily white tablecloth, but rather places that will offer a cool experience and great German food.

Thanks in advance for any advice....

I know it's a little cliche, but when I'm in Munich I can't pass up Spatenhaus. It has traditional German heart fare and the prices are not bad. Of course there is plenty of spaten beer to go around too.

http://www.kuffler.com/en/muenchen/spatenhaus/index.php

I know quite a few places. Here's a couple. I'll get back to you with other recs when I get a chance!

In Freiburg there's a really charming hotel+weinstube right smack on the Münsterplatz (Cathedral Square), great food. It's pricey, but very nice.

http://en.venere.com/hotels_freiburg_im ... urant.html

Try his own Spätburgunder (pinot noir)--it's wonderful!

Usually there will be some carts selling various kinds of tarts in the square. Plus, right there on the square there's a weinhaus where you can sample all sorts of local wines:

http://www.alte-wache.com/2net/default.asp


When you go on the Rhine, there's a wonderful splurge visit to a restaurant in an old cloister/castle:

http://www.rheingau.de/sehenswertes/eberbach


BTW, in Köln, do NOT miss the potato concoctions offerred by the various carts in front of the main train station; try their wursts as well, of course.

More anon.

Geo

Geo wrote:BTW, in Köln, do NOT miss the potato concoctions offerred by the various carts in front of the main train station; try their wursts as well, of course.

what kind of potato concoctions? like frites w/ the various sauces? this is about the most exciting food i had in cologne. i even bought some curry ketchup and brought it home i liked it so much... (and another one of the sauces was chili sauce of some sort). i was pretty let down by just about everything we ate there in fact (save for some Turkish food we ate , and the service was lousy (we actually went to a place where we sat down for 20-30 minutes and left after nobody had came to our table, and we weren't the only ones...)

...in munich, Augistiner Keller is a fairly popular beer hall that doesn't seem too overly rowdy, and they have good food .. if you're inside, the downstairs basement is a really cool setting, it's a big cellar.... and you can watch them tap a wooden keg or two.... http://www.augustinerkeller.de/english/index.html (pictures of the cellar room are under the 'stocks cellar' link)

in the black forest region, the resort town of baden-baden is probably the coolest place we went in the area... ate at a great place called La Provence... it was a great break from the german schnitzels we were constantly consuming the week prior... http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=12189

dddane--yes, the frites, ah the frites; but I also had something like curly-fries, and an onion-potato thingy. I expect your chilisaus was in fact Zigeunersaus:

http://www.chefkoch.de/forum/2,15,23729 ... -easy.html

Wonderful stuff. It's what gets put on cevapcici for their Zigeuner variant at the Serbian carts and restaurants.

In Köln, try Früh. It looks touristy, but the locals swear by it. The beer is pure Kolsch, and their soups are wonderful.

This is a fair review:
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2 ... _cologne-i

If you're up to it, do the Schweinehaxe--fit for G Wiv, that is!

Geo

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Ddane, I think we're officially adding Baden-Baden to the itinerary. It'll break up the drive from Freiburg to Rudesheim nicely. Did you visit the spa(s?) while you were there?

Schweinehaxe—I'll start building my appetite now. Sounds intense but delicious!

It seems like a lot of the German towns located in wine regions have places in the city to sample the area's wines. I'm curious if that's an easier, less-stress way to go for travelers on a time schedule, as opposed to trying to visit numerous wineries, scheduling appointments, etc. Or is a trip to a couple wineries incomparable?

Also, we're debating between renting a car or taking the train around—or a little bit of both. If you have any suggestions one way or the other, let me know...

Geo, we're planning to stay at the Hotel Oberkirch on your suggestion--I'll be sure to report back on it!

Great Hoynette! Sure hope you have a good time! But be warned: when the bells chime at the Münster, it'll rock you in the bed!! :^)

And yes, I do think that it's useful to go to the tasting houses in the city, first. Find some wines that you like, there'll be literature there about the Weinguter, the wineries themselves, and you can make your choices that way. The tasting places also always have well-informed staff who will speak English, if you need that.

Freiburg is a wonderful place! There are some student pubs which are lots of fun, too. I can't recommend any to you at the moment (memory is failing!) but you'll find them.

Gute Reise!

Geo

Hoynette wrote:First things first, though, I'm traveling to Germany in September, starting in Munich, heading through the Black Forest by way of Freiburg, then up to the Rhine and Mosel wine regions

Will you get the chance to experience Oktoberfest ? If so, what fun it is a blast and the German people we met were fantastic.

It is very easy/direct to take the train (S-Bahn) out of Munich, you can go visit Dachau, the WWII concentration camp. Just PLEASE remember that they are not open on Mondays which of course was the day I tried to visit. http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/englisch/content/

Also you can also easily take the trian (again S-Bahn) to the end of the line, it ends in the town of Herrsching on the Located on the eastern shore of Lake Ammersee in the middle of Upper Bavaria’s Five-Lakes Region. It is easy to then catch a bus to Andechs Monastery with its brewery, Bräustüberl, and monastery restaurant. Great beer and the pork shank is delicious. Details and map with public transportation info at: http://www.andechs.de/index.asp?lng=en

Will you get to the city of Trier ?

--

Munich - a good, reasonably priced hotel is the Eden, opposite the train station. I would also have lunch one day in the train station, trying out the sausages and various other hand held food - probrably the best sausage I have ever had was in the munich train station. Get to the Hof Bruehaus one evening. simple bavarian food and beer, but a real temple to the culture. also, get to the Viktualienmarkt - basically a farmers style market, not far from the main church in the center of the city. if you get a chance, go to the octoberfest - it is a festival that is not to be missed, a once in a lifetime type of thing

not food, but I would strongly urge you to get to the greek art museum in munich, it is a world class museum.

both trains and cars are good options to get around.

if you are traveling in sept, you should be able to find at least one wine festival in the rhine area. I would suggest just planning on stoping while driving, or getting off the train at a village in the rhine, and looking around - many have small wine bars set up along side the train station or the road.

in koln - there are 2-3 brew pubs near the train station - literally across from it. there is a stand, just ouside, called the king of potatos, that has potato pandcakes - which I believe is what was refered to before. these are fantastic. have some, and then have a few beers in one of the train stations.

I would also suggest taking a little while and hitting dusseldorf, which is about 30 minutes from koln, and has great beer (some, including myself would say better than kolsh). there are 5 brew pubs in town, but try shumacher.

have fun

Hoynette wrote:
Ddane, I think we're officially adding Baden-Baden to the itinerary. It'll break up the drive from Freiburg to Rudesheim nicely. Did you visit the spa(s?) while you were there?

yes indeed the spas are a must do. and what a bizarre/interesting/unique experience that is..! the two are very interesting and very different... go to both (i would try the more traditional roman one first)... If doing both in the same day space it out with a nice long meal or shopping in between. (rick steves has a very funny descriptive of the experience in his germany/austria book). outside of the shops and what nots in the area (which were closed when we went--sunday), the other major thing there is a really james bond nice casino. we didn't bring suits and weren't really there long enough to care about dealing w/ renting a suit (which you can from them), so we stayed downstairs in the non-black tie area of the casino and played automated roulette. plus we walked in with 100 euros, walked out with ~1000 euros. hard to beat that.

I will second Andechs, which was our favorite single spot on our beer tour of Germany two summers ago.

Here is the monastery as you approach it by road


here is the beer garten, monks serve the beer inside


here is the view of the swiss alps at sunset from the terrace restaurant (where carl orff is buried)


Here is our excellent meal -- lamb shanks in beer sauce with perfectly roasted potatoes and venison stew with lignonberries and spaetzle





Note they have dark beers on tap and its the middle of summer!
The Andescher beer is world class (we sampled 7 kinds on our visit). The doppelbock is perhaps the very best of its kind, but all beers were strong examples of their form. As I recall, we also picked up some VERY STINKY monk cheese as well.

Finally, if you can't make it out to the kloister, there is an andescher outlet in Munich. (Andechser Am Dom, Weinstrasse 7). We went there as well and got some excellent Hackepater (and more excellent beer).



Enjoy!

Just a couple more quickies.

Munich: the Ratskeller (restaurant in the city hall) has wonderful local food. The Farmer's Platter is a good sample; the liver and onions are probably the best I've ever had in my life. Waaaay better than Venice. Superb wine list.

The Deutsches Museum is a science museum beyond all science museums. Simply unbelievable.


Düsseldorf has been mentioned. It's worth a trip over from Köln on the S-bahn. The Alt Stadt (Old Town) is a nice neighborhood of restuarants and bars, with some fancy shoppes, too. (Altho' the fanciest shopping is along the Kö--the main shopping street.) My favorite is the brewery Schlösser, which has the characteristic Düsseldorfer Alt beer. ("Alt" means "old" literally, as in 'old style'. Both it and Kölsch are top-brewed ales; Alt is darker.)

Geo

http://www.schloesser.de/

Man, venison stew with lignonberries and spaetzle...potato pancakes and beer in a train station...lots and lots of doppelbock. Can't wait!

Sweet Willie, we unfortunately haven't planned to go to Trier..... but it turns out we may reserve some extra time for Dusseldorf after all.


Thanks to everyone for your advice. I'll be sure to give a full report come September.

You're going to have a great trip.

For Freiburg, here's what I'd reccomend:

The Strass-Cafe in the Schusterstraße Ecke Herrenstraße has some of the best coffee I've ever had...anywhere. Run by a charming British expat, Martin, and his gf Isabel, who makes pretty good cakes occasionally.

Also, Euphrat (Niemensstr.13) is consistently rated as one of the best doner kebabs in Germany. Well worth a visit, even if you don't usually do the doner thing.

A little further afield in the beautiful village of Horben is the Gasthaus Zum Raben (http://www.raben-horben.de/). Last meal I had was some wonderful veal cheeks as I recall. Horben itself is worth the visit as its a great into to the black forest. Have a meal at the raben and then go across the street and have some cake at the small cafe (better desserts than the raben).


I lived in Freiburg last fall, and know it well. I'd love to go back

Peter

On a more general level, keep you eyes out for venison. We found it on every other menu in Germany, from basic pubs to higher tier restaurants and no more $$ than pork or beef.
They have two kinds of venison, the one you know and a much smaller goat-sized species. They also have two words for venison: Hirsch and Reh.
The two words may refer to the two types, but I can't recall which is which.

Unlike the U.S., wild venison can be sold, and much of what you'll see is wild.

Unexpectedly, we just got back from Scotland and encountered as much venison as we did lamb. Apparently deer populations have boomed in recent decades due to the increasingly mild winters. MMMMM, global warming sure tastes yummy!!!

In Munich what the locals would recommend -- viktualienmarkt for sure, great place to have an inexpensive lunch. If you can find the time for Andechs, definitely go, it is supposed to be absolutely beautiful.

Augustiner-Großgaststätten on Neuhauserstr. pedestrain zone. Augustiner Helles is the hands down local favorite lager, and this is a great opportunity to drink it straight from the (wooden) keg. Plus the restaurant apparently has its own farms supplying ingredients, and prepare them with care despite the huge crowds.

Weisses Brauhaus on Tal. If Augustiner is the favorite lager, Schneider Weisse is the favorite wheat beer. Decent menu, but tends to get packed on weekends.

Having said all that, if I had visitors who wanted German food I would probably take the to Zum Durnbrau, on Durnbrau Gasse (little alley off Tal). it is an absurdly cute place that has been around for literally more than 500 years, a tiny hidden place with very nice food and good service. They serve Spaten beer though.

Hofbrauhaus to be honest I would go inside to have a look, maybe a beer, but wouldn't bother eating there. Spaten, eh, though the location is nice.

Beergartens: the Viktualienmarkt one is nice, and definitely be sure to visit one of the English Garden ones -- Chinesischer Turm is the closest to the center of town. Biergartens in general are great for inexpensive meals.

For the blowout meal, if you give me an idea of what you want to spend and the type of food you want, I can give some suggestions. For a Michelin starred but still German place, you might try Schuhbecks, in the square near Hofbrauhaus. But of course there are many other options. If you want to try traditional game dishes, the restaurant Halali on Schönfeldstrasse is supposed to be the place.

Of course these are all bavarian recommendations in the "altstadt", and Munich is a big and fairly diverse city, so if you are interested in anything outside of the old town or something besides southern German food, let me know.

Oh, don't forget to try the pretzels.

Behemoth wrote:Augustiner-Großgaststätten on Neuhauserstr. pedestrain zone. Augustiner Helles is the hands down local favorite lager, and this is a great opportunity to drink it straight from the (wooden) keg. Plus the restaurant apparently has its own farms supplying ingredients, and prepare them with care despite the huge crowds.

this picture was about 3 seconds too late to take of them tapping the wooden keg... it was quite something else to see!

..though this was at Augistiner Keller

Made a trip out to southern Germany late last year. Our first stop was Munich.

Wirtshaus Zur Brez'n
Pictured: pork knuckle and other meats


Our first night night we made it up to Schwabing for a meal at Wirtshaus Zur Brez'n. It has a classic Bavarian lodge look with lots of dark wood. We arrived a little on the early side which was good because every table was full by 7 o'clock. Every restaurant we visited in Munich we realized we'd have been better off with a reservation, even though this was off-peak season and we were outside of the main tourist district a lot.

We started off with a pumpkin soup that was creamy and delicious and topped with crunchy, fried dumplings. We followed that up with the giant plate of roasted meats that's meant for two. Really that dish could have fed 4 people easily. The meats were tender and juicy, but the plate was somewhat disappointing overall. The schweinshaxen (pork knuckle) was rich and fatty, and by far the most memorable item on the plate. Otherwise all the other meats were prepared well but unremarkable. Sadly we didn't finish it because it was simply too much protein and not much else to balance it out. The food on the other tables looked great, so I'd say we did this particular restaurant wrong. Great schweinshaxen though.

Wirtshaus zu Brez'n
Leopoldstraße 72
80802 München
http://www.zurbrezn.de/

Viktualmarket




All the guide books recommended getting a traditional Bavarian brunch at the central market, a great call I have to say. This a culture where having a half-liter of beer with breakfast is the norm. The biergarten at the Viktualmarket was busy with tourists and locals alike enjoying a hefeweizen along with a soft pretzel and an order of weisswurst (white sausage). It was strange to see the sausages served in the water they were cooked in since the broth was totally flavorless. Nonetheless the weisswurst had a pleasantly mild flavor that paired well with the wheat beer and ubiquitous hot and sweet mustards found on all the tables much like ketchup would be in the US. I also ordered a leberkase (kind of like bologna only sliced thicker like meat loaf) sandwich which is a common street food in Munich. I love leberkase and this version was solid. I should add that the soft pretzels were somewhat disappointing across the board. They were generally fresh but more bready than the ones I've eaten the US, and I have to say I prefer the more complex, bagel-like versions I've had at Paulina Market and Laschett's. As good as this biergarten was, I could recreate this meal 100% with the wonderful products from Paulina Market, minus the old Bavarian lady slamming the beers on the table.

Across from the biergarten were a number of stands serving sausage sandwiches. There were many varieties, but since we were pretty full from the Bavarian brunch we only got to try one. The sausage had a nice crunch from the grill and plenty of punch, and a couple squirts of spicy mustard on top. I wish I could have tried all the varieties, but the one I did have was on the money. The sausage stands are a great option for quick and cheap lunch food.

Cafe Arzmiller
Pictured: topfenstrudel


On our way up to the English Garden we stopped by an exceptional coffeehouse tucked behind the Theatinerkirche. We stopped by a number of bakeries on the trip, but most had the quality and feel of Au Bon Pain. Arzmiller is one of those places you'd never find if you didn't know about it because it's located in a courtyard that isn't visible from the street. We walked through a couple random passages (really more of a tunnel) looking for it before we happened upon the elegant courtyard that houses this hidden gem. Even though it's right in the tourist district, it was filled with business people and ladies who lunch grabbing a cup of coffee and a pastry while enjoying the crisp fall air. We picked up a couple different strudels, my favorite being the topfenstrudel which is stuffed with a soft cheese. I imagine they have nice lunch options on the menu as well though we didn't get to try any. This place would be at the top of my list if I'm ever to return to Munich.

Cafe Arzmiller
Theatinerstraße 22
80333 München
http://www.cafe-arzmiller.de/

Wirtshaus in der Au


Once again we showed up without reservations, but this time they couldn't seat us for a little while so we put our names in and walked around the neighborhood. Wirsthaus in der Au is located in a forest preserve like neighborhood that is just across the river from the Deutsches Museum. The area has a stream running through it and miles of walking paths to explore, so it was a welcome diversion while waiting for our table to open up. When we finally were seated, we were put at a large table with two other parties. It turns out this is a common practice in Germany since we shared a table for almost every meal. Take heed though, this place is off the beaten path, in a quiet neighborhood outside of the tourist district, and we still needed a reservation on a week night.

We started the meal off with the liver dumpling soup which was outstanding. The dumplings were big and meaty with lots of liver flavor to offset the salty, rich broth it was served with. For entrees we ordered a sampling of dumplings that were served with a soft pretzel and sauerkraut and the sausage platter that featured two well-spiced sausages in a beer-based sauce. This place typified Bavarian-comfort food, everything served with a side of potatoes and lots of pumpernickel and rye bread.

Wirtshaus in der Au
Lilienstraße 51
81669 München
http://www.wirtshausinderau.de/

Andechser am Dom

Our last meal was at the oft-recommended Andechser am Dom. It's in the heart of the tourist district, across the street from the iconic Frauenkirche. It was a step down from our other dinner choices both in terms of atmosphere and food. We walked in with a reservation this time and were quickly ushered to a crowded table filled with other diners. Our table probably had 5 languages being spoken. The service was mostly uninterested and the food was fine but unremarkable. Granted there isn't much range to Bavarian cuisine, but particularly at Wirtshaus in der Au we saw that the cuisine can really hit the spot when made with care. The highlight of the meal was the Andechs beer (their doppel bock and dunkel are outstanding), which was better than the macro blond lagers being served all over town. I'd say you could probably do worse in the vicinity, but I'd opt to stray out of the tourist district for my meals.

I was actually kind of surprised that I couldn't find any of my favorite German beers in Munich. Each restaurant has a brewery sign out front and serves that brewery's beers exclusively. Certainly if I had sought out places that serve Augustiner, Weihenstephaner, or Ayinger I could have found them, but Spaten and Paulaner were being served just about everywhere. Also I looked hard for bocks and rye beers, both styles that come from southern Germany, but couldn't find them being served anywhere. Perhaps it was a seasonal thing, but I was a little disappointed by the beer in Munich.

Andechser am Dom
Weinstraße 7a
80333 München
http://www.andechser-am-dom.de/

From Munich we rented a car to hit up Neuschwanstein Castle and Rothenburg ob der Tauber, before going to Frankfurt for our flight out.



It's a solid 15 minute walk from the bottom of the hill to Neuschwanstein Castle, but definitely opt for the walk instead of the carriage ride. If the fresh mountain air and beautifully forested path aren't enough incentive, about 2/3 of the way up the hill is a stand selling deep fried dough balls (I think there was some cheese in the batter too) that are served with powdered sugar. When these come fresh out of the fryer they are outstanding. We got an order on the way up the hill then again on the way down the hill. And in case it's not totally obvious, do whatever you can to skip the food stands next to the castle. They were horrible.

Pictured: Schneeballen


Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a charming medieval city that's worth an hour or two detour (certainly not a day or two like the tour books recommend). All over town they promote the local specialty, schneeballen (snow balls). The snow balls are covered by a hard shell (usually chocolate) and have a cakey interior. There are shops all over selling the stuff. At first we decided to forgo this obvious tourist trap, but eventually curiosity got the better of us and we picked up a couple. I'd say opt for the smaller ones since they have a higher shell to cake ratio. They were pretty sweet but we needed a little sugar rush after walking around for a couple hours.

Zum Gemalten Haus
Pictured: Blood sausage and liver sausage


With only one night in Frankfurt, we had to check out one of the apfelwein taverns in Sachsenhausen. When we arrived the place was very loud and packed, not surprising since it is pretty big. We were seated at a table next to a group of college students on one side, and three retired gentlemen on the other, all drinking apfelwein. They sell filtered and unfiltered apfelwein as well as filtered and unfiltered apple juice. The apfelwein is remarkably drinkable, a little sour, only a little sweet. Not sure how strong it is, but they go down pretty quick.

For an appetizer we started off with an order of the handkase mit musik (sour milk cheese with onions, oil, and vinegar). The cheese had a mild, slightly sour flavor with the texture of thick butter. It went very well with the apfelwein. Afterward we got an order of the steak tartar that came out a beautiful shade of red. For an entree we split an order of the blutwurst and leberwurst (blood sausage and liver sausage) that are made in house. They're served in a thick casing that explodes like a balloon when you poke it and releases ground sausage all over the plate. Mixed with sauerkraut and a side of potato salad, these sausages were terrific. The food was no nonsense tavern food, done very well. But more importantly, the energetic atmosphere and everyman dynamic of the place left us with a great memory of Frankfurt.

Zum Gemalte Haus
Schweizerstraße 67
60594 Frankfurt
http://www.zumgemaltenhaus.de/

Wow, great report, turkob! I've been itching to get back to Bavaria and that post might have pushed me over the edge.

turkob wrote:Cafe Arzmiller
Theatinerstraße 22
80333 München
http://www.cafe-arzmiller.de/
This place would be at the top of my list if I'm ever to return to Munich.

...

From Munich we rented a car to hit up Neuschwanstein Castle.....

Thanks for the rec on Cafe Arzmiller.

Mrs Sweet Willie & I are heading to Munich this week, I went solo in Sept 2003, so am looking forward to getting back & taking Mrs. We also hope to be able to rent a car (weather cooperating) to visit Neuschwanstein & perhaps the village of Garmisch was well.

The only firm plan we have so far is dinner on Sat night Nov 26 @ Ennstaler Stub'n (address: Adlzreiterstr 21, München)
A couple of locals from Munich as well as an associate from Alsace will be joining us, if anyone is in Munich & would like to attend, you are more than welcome to!

Thanks for the reminder Elfin, I’ve been remiss about posting our Munich trip report.

Mrs Sweet Willie & I had not been to interior Europe in awhile so we decided last Thanksgiving to go to Munich. We find Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to visit Europe as travel costs are low, sights are not crowded, restaurants not busy, etc etc. We’ve also had some experiences in the off season that one would never get during high or shoulder season.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Munich city centre, our cost per night was <70 Euro all in (taxes incl.) The breakfast is 20€ per person, it is a nice buffet but the price is WAY TOO HIGH IMO for what you get. So we simply would grab a roll/pastry & coffee from a local bakery, thus saving some nice coin over our 5 day stay. They have no king beds so we were on a Queen. Temps were in the low 30s at night & low 40s in the day, we turned off the heat & opened the windows to get a decent temp in the room as the heat of the room was oppressive (even for Mrs Sweet Willie who likes a warm room). Rosenheimer Straße can be a bit noisy at times so we'd close the windows, the room was fantastically quiet then, they really are high quality windows with good noise proofing, knowing what I know now, I would ask for a room that doesn't face the street. There is one complimentary PC w/internet access in the lobby which thankfully was rarely in use when we needed it. There is no concierge in the hotel, the front desk staff is tasked with acting as a concierge if needed. They are ok & friendly about the task but not all the front desk staff speaks English, so if you require English speaking like we do, just be warned. We did utilize the concierge at the nearby Hilton City Center (they were fantastic).

The location of the hotel is terrific, a 150 yard walk (inside) from an entrance to the S Bahn stop Rosenheimer Platz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/München_Rosenheimer_Platz_station
Rosenheimer Platz is a stop on both the S1 & S8 trains that come from the airport. So very nice not have to switch trains or walk far with our luggage. RP is only a quick two stops away from the Marienplatz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marienplatz
A tip, when getting off the S Bahn at Rosenheimer Platz, do NOT walk towards Rosenheimer Platz but away from it, you will then see signs at the top of the escalator for the Holiday Inn, Novotel, Hit grocery store etc etc, simply follow & you will find the hotel.

Normally I’m pretty thorough w/my destination research before we depart somewhere but this time I only had a rough idea of where we wanted to go & what we wanted to see.

So after walking around our first day, we found ourselves in the Marienplatz area and decided to go to dinner at the Ratskellar Restaurant, a ratskellar is a basement/cellar restaurant located in the Rathaus (city hall). While I can imagine it would be wall to wall tourists during the summer months or during Oktoberfest, during the time of year we went it was busy but not overwhelming. The menu for the Ratskellar: http://www.ratskeller.com/uploads/media ... 062011.pdf
We started with the smoked trout and Mrs had the Entenbraten (roast duck w/gravy, red cabbage & potato dumplings), both of these were terrific. Being a lamb fan, I had the Lamb Bratwurst which were ok (overcooked unfortunately), even with the mistake with my meal, I would not hesitate to go again to the Ratskellar.

turkob wrote:Cafe Arzmiller
Theatinerstraße 22
80333 München
http://www.cafe-arzmiller.de/

thanks for posting this. FYI, there are eye-level big signs advising of Café Arzmiller at the tunnel hallway leading to the courtyard where the café is located. Entrance is basically 50’ south of the Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatinerk ... C3%BCnchen)

While I enjoyed the topfenstrudel, from the photo I expected some crispyness to the outside or at least a few layers (there wasn’t any) so from a textural sense, I found the topfenstrudel to be a singular experience, good but not as good as my hyping mind led me to believe.

turkob wrote:The highlight of the meal was the Andechs beer (their doppel bock and dunkel are outstanding)

glad you liked these, we did as well. I had thought that the Andechs Monastery was magic when I visited years ago, so I wanted to take the Mrs so she could enjoy. Andechs did not disappoint !! We took the S Bahn (S5) to the end of the line, as stated above there is then a bus one can take to the Monastery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andechs_Abbey I had an oven roasted pork belly and the Mrs had oven roasted pork loin. Both had ample fat left on and they roasted the meats at a high temp so the very exterior ¼” was almost like a chicharrones, yet the meat was still plenty moist/juicy. Besides the Andechs dunkel beer which was amazing, the potato salad served at Andechs is one of the best Mrs or I have had, a delicious combination of mustard & rich mayo, just great, we still talk about this.

We did a few other side trips from Munich, one was to take the S2 U Bahn out to Dachau, the first concentration camp opened in Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp We weren’t really hungry after the tour so didn’t dine anywhere in/near Dachau.

There was a Europcar rental location 50 yards from our hotel so I simply walked down and negotiated a great rate that included GPS, turns out they were sold out of the size car I had reserved so when we showed up the next day, we received a free upgrade to a nice Audi, which was so fun to drive on the Autobahn and in the foothills of the Alps. We used the car to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle
Unlike turkob, we were very happy to pay 6 Euro to take the open horse carriage ride up to the castle. The walk down was easy, (I like gravity). The yummy sounding doughball stand was not along the trail, nor were there food stands operating by the castle.

I’m forgetting a number of wonderful Bavarian meals at various beer halls, most of which we found in the Isartor area which was an easy walk for us from our hotel, Isartor also has an S Bahn stop. I really don’t think one can go wrong, all the food we had was of very high quality.

We did want to take a break from Bavarian fare one night & we stumbled upon a tiny Thai place just down the street from our hotel & across the street from the Hilton City Centre hotel. Restaurant is called Manam, with maybe 12 seats, the chefs are in the back of this small space cooking away. Manam served some of the best larb/laab that we've ever enjoyed (including Thailand), simply stellar. The restaurant is TINY, 4 small tables, we were lucky enough to snag one but we saw many people taking out, so if you can't get a table, simply get a to-go order and eat back at the room.
Manam
Rosenheimer Straße 34
Tel. 089/458 6789 4
Rosenheimer Platz
Open Monday - Wednesday 9:00 - 19:00, Thursday - Saturday 9:00 - 21:00
closed on Bank Holidays

On the subject of breaks we also wanted to take a break one evening from beer so we went to a bar just around the corner from the Holiday Inn called Ver-O-Peso Bar (a Brazilian bar/restaurant), which serves a decent (not as good as Rio, but decent) caipirinha (made with cachaça (sugar cane rum)). We apparently drank enough caipirinhas that the bartender gave us some complimentary shots of cachaça. Ver-O-Peso is located at Rosenheimer Str. 14 (cash only !!)
We also went to the market store called Hit, which was in the walkway to our hotel, we would purchase deli meats & cheeses, bread & beers to enjoy in the room or on our roadtrip.

On our final night, we enjoyed a dinner with some European friends at Ennstaler Stub'n (address in previous post above), schnitzels were the specialty and all in our group got one. We were fond of an Austrian schnitzel that had mustard in the breading. We also chose potato salad but this salad nor anything since has made us forget the potato salad at Andechs. Ennstaler Stub’n is not a tourist spot and off the beaten path. The mgr does speak some decent English but the menu is all in German, thankfully our friends were able to translate all for us.

For the fourth out of five years, I've been invited to speak at a conference in Europe, the week after Thanksgiving. One of these days I'll get to an LTH Holiday party again. Previous ones were in Barcelona, Vienna and Nice (I missed last year's Zurich by not submitting an abstract early enough, but I'm looking forward to Dublin next year).

This year, had a great time in Munich, it's a terrific food town, especially during Christmastime, as the Weihnachtsmarkt/Christkindlmarkt booths serve a wide variety of food and drink.
Our habit is usually to tank up on breakfast (especially if it's free at the hotel), and nosh for lunch, topping off with a big dinner, so there's not a lot of lunchy places listed. The fact is that if you can't find lunch between the Viktualienmarkt and all the Christmas Markets (at least this time of year), you need a cane and a dog. There were a couple street food items I never got around to: currywurst and little potato pancakes -- maybe next time. Note that there's no reports on beer, we just don't drink beer.

If you're going to Munich and looking for a place to eat, I'd recommend looking a block or two off the Marienplatz -- prices will be lower, more variety. In general, meals are not cheap - a street wurst might be only 1-4 Euros, but I don't think I ever saw an entree under 10 (about $12.50 US), and getting charged 3E for 200ml of water can really sting. Bread service is not complimentary most places -- you'll get charged upward of a Euro if you eat a pretzel.

Sunday
We got into town from the airport around 11AM, and planned to do our usual first-day jet-lag plan: Hit museums until we're exhausted, then nap and dinner.
The Belle Bleu Zentrum hotel is just two short blocks from the Hauptbanhof, in a neighborhood with a lot of strip clubs (relatively quiet and unseedy) and middle-eastern places (which we never got around to trying). Just before entering the Neue Pinakothek, we spotted a cafe that looked hopping, and had a reasonable-priced menu. We split an excellent pumpkin soup and a caesar salad (not quite standard dressing, more creamy, less salt but otherwise delicious).
Tresznjewski Cafe
Theresienstraße 72
80333 München
+49 (0) 089 282349
tresznjewski.com
(Tram 27 Pinakotheken)

For dinner we decided to try the Ratskeller based on recommendations above, and we were in the area -- I'm glad we did this on Sunday, because the rest of the week the Marienplatz neighborhood was packed with people coming down to the Christmas markets which started Monday. Sue had a roast pork dish, I had a braised beef which was pretty tasty... but nothing too special. A good intro to Bayern cuisine, though.
Ratskeller
Marienplatz 8
80331 München
+49 (0) 89 21 99 89 0
http://www.ratskeller.com
(Marienplatz U-Bahn)

Monday
Monday morning, we grabbed stuff from the Viktualienmarkt - cheese, sausage, bread and olives - and ate it after a marathon tour of the Residenz. The Viktualienmarkt isn't as vibrant as, say, the Boqueria in Barcelona, or the Naschmarkt in Vienna -- they shut down completely around 6PM, for one, and there's less exotic produce, more butchers. There was a vendor with about 14 different types of potato, and some very nice cheese shops.
(Marienplatz U-Bahn)

For dinner, we were back in the Marienplatz area, and stopped at the Augustiner, again based on recommendations above. We forgot to look for the seashell room, and just ate in the main hall. I had a Wienerschnitzel -- I very much like the Münchener version -- it's a toastier, darker crumb than the ones we had in Vienna.
Augustiner
Neuhauserstr. 27
80331 München
Tel. +49 (0) 089 - 23 183-257
http://www.augustiner-restaurant.com
(Between Marienplatz and Karlsplatz U-bahn)

Tuesday
We spent most of the early part of the day at Dachau... not the most hunger-inducing tourism. Late lunch was a couple little bratwurst on a semmel (bread roll) from Marienplatz Weinachtsmarkt. It's kind of funny to see two sausages sticking out of a roll three times as wide as they are. The only long roll I saw was for an extra-long wurst some vendor was selling. .

For dinner we went to look for Nage & Sauge referenced above, but wandered around in the freezing drizzle on Marienstrasse instead of Marienenstrasse and never found it, and instead meandered back to the neighborhood between the Viktualienmarkt and the Stadtmuseum, where we'd seen a number of small restaurants. We found a little Italian place, the menu is whatever's written on the blackboard. A nice soup, I had a Pasta Arrabiata with scamorza, Sue had a risotto which I thought was very good, if perhaps lacking a bit of zing (but that's my opinion of a lot of risottos: some sort of crisp, acidic or spicy garnish would elevate risotto nicely).
Baricentro
Sebastiansplatz 5
80331 Munich, Germany
089 23259980
baricentro.de
(Between Marienplatz and Sendinger Tor U-Bahn)

For dessert, we had previously seen a vendor in Marienplatz selling dampfknodel, or steamed dumpling, and Sue was anxious to try it. Imagine an unfilled bao about the size of a baby's head, covered with vanilla sauce and cinnamon sugar (zimtzucker), although not as sickeningly sweet as that sounds. Tasty, but not something I need to eat again.

Wednesday
We'd moved to another hotel at this point on the east side of town. We took a tram back, and spent most of the day, including lunch, at the Deutschesmuseum. A fascinating place that's like the Museum of Science and Industry, but perhaps less kid-focused (and a model train layout almost as good as the old one at the MSI, even if it's HO-scale). There's a little internet cafe at the back of the second floor (behind the computers exhibit which includes a couple Enigma devices and a Univac), where I ordered a couple of weisswurst. It's a bland, spongy sausage, probably veal, and nearly snow-white in color. It's greatly improved by the sweet, spicy mustard served with it.

Deutschesmuseum
Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München, Germany
+49 89 21791
deutsches-museum.de
(Tram 16 Deutschesmuseum stop)

We stopped at a tram stop about midway back to find a restaurant. Some of the best Bavarian food we had was at the Hofbräukeller:
We started with obatzda, a cheese spread a lot like beer cheese, made from camenbert and butter, topped with chives and red onion, served with brown bread and pretzels (we were charged separately for the pretzels, which I find bad form, as they were served with the other bread). I can't remember what Sue had, but I had an outstanding schweinshaxe - crispy pork shank. Crisp cracklings around tender meat, served with a dark beer sauce and a potato dumpling. Dessert was apple fritters, which were made from battered appel slices, with a nice vanilla ice cream.

Hofbräukeller
Innere Wiener Straße 19
81667 Munich, Germany
089 4599250
hofbraeukeller.de
(Tram 16 Max Weber Platz)

Thursday
Thursday and Friday I was stuck in the business conference while Sue was out playing tourist. Our sales guy took a bunch of folks out for dinner at Andescher am dom, a Munich restaurant that's an arm of the Andescher monastery brewery mentioned upthread. We had quite a feast, as shown in the photos below. Great food, lots of beer flowing (but not for me).

Appetizers: Obatzda, brown bread with butter and chives, brown bread with schmalz and crisp-fried onions, ham, sliced daikon, beef tartare


Mains: Wiener Schnitzel, Roast Pork, Sausage with kraut, potato salad, potatoes (the yellow things are lemons in cheesecloth)


Dessert (sorry for the dark photo): Cheese struedel, apple fritters, something with chocolate I can't remember

Andechser am Dom
Weinstraße 7a, 80333 München, Germany
+49 89 298481
andechser-am-dom.de
(Marienplatz U-Bahn)

Friday
Friday we took a recommendation from a local at the conference, and tried Liebighof in the Lehel neighborhood. They take their Christmas decorations seriously (see the website, my photos were too dark on the cell phone). The place was bustling and we just barely managed to get a table (the next walk-ins were turned away).
Their specials were all based around fried potatoes. I had Frikadelen with a fried egg, Sue had a chicken and mushroom dish. We had soups for starters, a tomato for her and a broth with "pancake" for me. Relatively inexpensive, friendly service, we had a great time. It's the sort of thing that Michelin will never notice, but would probably end up a GNR in Chicago.


Liebighof
Liebigstraße 14, 80538 München, Germany
+49 89 295405
liebighof.de
(Lehel U-Bahn, Tram 18)

Saturday
Our last day in town, we'd originally thought about going to Neuschwanstein, but heavy fog and a bit of snow discouraged a trip to the mountains. Instead we went to the Nymphenburg summer palace. Walking the grounds we worked up a nice hunger, and popped back to the Viktualienmarkt to get lunch and some stuff to carry on the plane on Sunday. A bit more tourism (the Archaeology museum had a very "Bones"-like exhibit on the 30 Years War, and don't miss the surfers in freezing weather on the Eisbach river right at Prinzregentstraße at the south tip of the English Garden), and we decided to get dinner outside of the city center, given the crowds we'd seen in the earlier part of the day. Using the notes from above, we looked at Halili on Schönfeldstraße, but being cold, tired and lack of an ability to translate the expensive menu outside the door, we opted for the nice little Italian place across the street. We again managed to get a table based on it being early (about 5:30), and ordered the prix-fixe menu. The starter of cheese-filled, truffle-topped pasta was excellent, but the main courses of beef for Sue and steinbuttfilet (turbot) for me, and the panna cotta dessert were uninspired.

Ristorante Di Rosario
Schönfeldstraße 24
80539 Munich, Germany
089 24242682
ristorante-da-rosario-muenchen.de
(Odeonplatz U-Bahn)

My wife and I just returned from a lovely vacation in Germany. It was our first time there and we were spurred to go by an insanely cheap round trip from O'Hare to Frankfurt. Given that, we decided to stay in the southern half of Germany for the most part - so no Berlin this time around, which we felt OK about, especially after the events there earlier this week. When we travel, we like to eat well, though not at any Michelin-type places - that's just not our scene.

After landing in Frankfurt, we took the very convenient Lufthansa bus from the airport directly to Strasbourg. My wife studied in France while in college and had always raved about the beauty of Strasbourg and its iconic Christmas markets. We pledged to eat basically all of our meals at the market, at least in Strasbourg. It really is impressive how the entire city transforms itself for the holidays. On a misty, foggy, crummy weather night, the whole city looked beautiful.



This first night was a fog - we hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane, nor on the bus, and only a quick nap in the afternoon. Truth be told I forgot to take pictures for the most part, and only remembered to snap a photo of an amazing croissant with chorizo after I'd eaten 3/4 of it. This bad boy came out of an amazing wood fire oven that was detached from the stand. I could have stood there all night taking in the smoke.



That was something unexpected about the markets in Strasbourg - most had themes, and this one was all Portuguese. Unaccustomed to international travel, my stomach was not feeling so well - otherwise I would have indulged in more bacalao and probably 2-3 salt cod croissants.

Then it was off to Munich from Strasbourg via Deutsche Bahn. This was my first time riding the DB and I have to say, it really is amazing. I'm an avid supporter of Amtrak and want it to be more than it is and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to enjoy riding trains here in the USA after the incredible DB experience. Clean, efficient, smooth, and fast as hell.

Munich's Christmas markets were as picturesque as any in Strasbourg - we especially enjoyed the Medieval-themed market at Wittelsbacherplatz. Set near the most beautiful palaces and cathedrals in the city, the square was a great place to spend an afternoon.



Also a good spot to indulge in some Nurnberger bratwurst. I had read about these in my research before the trip, and they exceeded my very high expectations. Just three little bratwurst sausages charred over an open flame and tucked in a hard-but-yielding little roll, touched off with some mustard. Heaven.



Had Nurnberger in other forms at a few other spots - still great, but not quite the same. The open flame and high turnover of product was what made the sausages at the market so good. Nurnberger over kraut at the beautiful Augustiner-Keller beer hall was good, but not quite the same.



Unfortunately I got pretty sick in Munich and didn't venture out for too many bites for the rest of our time there. That said, I'll be dreaming of the "Regensburger Special" I had at the Sendlinger Tor market. By this time I was pretty hopped up on cold medicine and can't really tell you what this meat was (Leberkäse?) - but it was damn good. Just two thick pieces of meat with pickles, horse radish, and a spicy brown mustard. Does not get much better than that.



Next, we were off to Nuremberg - which I will cover in a later post. Happy holidays!

Medieval Weihnachsmarkt
Wittelsbacherpl.
80333 München, Germany

Augustiner-Keller
Arnulfstraße 52,
80335 München, Germany

Sendlinger Tor Weihnachtsmarkt
Sendlinger-Tor-Platz,
80336 München, Germany