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Munich claims to be Germany's gourmet capital. It certainly has an inordinate number of fine restaurants, but you won't have trouble finding a vast range of options in both price and style.
Typical, more substantial dishes in Munich include Tellerfleisch, boiled beef with freshly grated horseradish and boiled potatoes on the side, served on wooden plates. Schweinebraten (roast pork) is accompanied by dumplings and sauerkraut. Hax'n (ham hocks) are roasted until they're crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. They are served with sauerkraut and potato puree. Game in season (venison or boar, for instance) and duck are served with potato dumplings and red cabbage. As for fish, the region has not only excellent trout, served either smoked as an hors d'oeuvre or fried or boiled as an entrée, but also the perchlike Renke from Lake Starnberg.
You'll also find soups, salads, casseroles, hearty stews, and a variety of baked goods—including Breze (pretzels). For dessert, indulge in a bowl of Bavarian cream, apple strudel, or Dampfnudel, a fluffy leavened-dough dumpling usually served with vanilla sauce.
The generic term for a snack is Imbiss, and thanks to growing internationalism you'll find a huge variety, from the generic Wiener (hot dogs) to the Turkish döner kebab sandwich (pressed and roasted lamb, beef, or chicken). Almost all butcher shops and bakeries offer some sort of Brotzeit, which can range from a modest sandwich to a steaming plate of goulash with potatoes and salad. A classic beer garden Brotzeit is a Breze with Obatzda (a cheese spread made from Camembert and paprika served with freshly sliced rings of onion).
Some edibles come with social etiquette attached. The Weisswurst, a tender minced-veal sausage—made fresh daily, steamed, and served with sweet mustard and a crisp pretzel—is a Munich institution and, theoretically, should be eaten before noon with a Weissbier (wheat beer), supposedly to counteract the effects of a hangover. Some people use a knife and fork to peel off the skin, while others might indulge in auszuzeln, sucking the sausage out of the skin.
Another favorite Bavarian specialty is Leberkäs—literally "liver cheese," though neither liver nor cheese is among its ingredients. Rather, it's a sort of meat loaf baked to a crust each morning and served in pink slabs throughout the day. A Leberkässemmel—a wedge of the meat loaf between two halves of a bread roll slathered with a slightly spicy mustard—is the favorite Munich on-the-go snack.
Inside Literaturhaus, a converted Renaissance-style schoolhouse that is now a literary center, this stylish brasserie is named after Munich writer Oskar Maria Graf, who fled to New York after the Nazis took power. The vaulted ceiling and plate-glass windows create an airy, modern atmosphere to enjoy the eclectic international menu, ranging from duck curry to leg of lamb with ratatouille, while its sprawling terrace is one of the city's best outdoor eating locations.
A good spot, especially if you're visiting the neighboring Pinakothek museums, this convivial corner bar and café attracts an interesting mix of students, artists, businesspeople, and trendy types from breakfast until late into the night. The menu features a wide range of breakfast foods, salads, sandwiches, and small selection of pastas. The restaurant's art deco touches, funky artwork, and buzzy vibe are thoroughly enjoyable.
This cozy, low-key Italian restaurant serves a rotating menu of excellent pasta dishes, many featuring seafood, and the spritzes here are particularly good.
This happy combination of Munich tavern and international bistro is set on Hans-Sachs-Strasse, one of the city's most interesting streets. Juicy schweinsbraten and burgers satisfy any meat cravings, and there are Asian and Mediterranean dishes for vegetarians; the dining room features beautiful ceiling murals and in warmer weather, the sprawling terrace is the place to be.
In 1893 Augustiner, the oldest brewery in Munich, built this sturdy Wirtshaus to sustain travelers on the 12-km (7-mile) trek from Munich to the castles at Schleissheim. Today, it's as much a forum for good eating and drinking as it was more than 100 years ago—a place where you can enjoy hearty Bavarian food in a dining room festooned with antlers, in the cozy, quiet bibliothek (library), or out on the terrace.
The Hofbräuhaus is the most famous beer hall not just in Munich but in the world—a kitschy multiroom space with a pounding oompah band and singing and shouting drinkers contributing to the festive atmosphere. The courtyard beer garden provides an escape from the noise in good weather, and there's also a quieter upstairs restaurant where the food is fine, although there are better places in Munich for Bavarian cuisine.
This cozy, alpine lodge–style restaurant in a small street behind the Rathaus is a treat for those craving an old-world tavern, complete with live accordion playing and yodelers who perform most nights, telling jokes and poking fun at their adoring guests in unintelligible Bavarian slang. The food is traditional Bavarian and the tasty beer is from the Ayinger brewery.
Step into the Deep South at this hip barbecue and soul food joint, decked out like an old-school American diner, with an open kitchen turning out slowly smoked meats including baby back ribs and short ribs in house-made barbecue sauce. There are also fine renditions of such southern staples as shrimp with creamy cheese grits, plus a host of tasty sides like cornbread and mac 'n' cheese.
One of Munich's most popular taverns is dedicated to Nürnberger Bratwürste (finger-size grilled sausages), a specialty from the rival Bavarian city of Nuremberg. They're served by Dirndl-clad waitresses who flit between crowded tables in the dark-paneled dining rooms with remarkable agility; in warmer months, tables are placed outside beneath the towering Frauenkirche.
If you've developed a taste for Weissbier, this Munich institution—beautifully restored to something approaching how it would have looked when first opened in the 1870s—is the place to indulge. The tasty wheat beer from Schneider, a Bavarian brewery in existence since 1872, is served with hearty Bavarian dishes by famously straight-talking waitresses.
Wirtshaus describes a kind of bar-restaurant serving traditional Bavarian food and beer, and this one, with its great vaulted room lined with beer steins, has been doing so since 1901. It has a combination of fantastic service and outstanding local dishes, including Hofente (roast duck) and Schweinsbraten (roast pork), but the real specialty, and for which it is renowned, is Knödel (dumplings), which come in spinach, cheese, and beet varieties.
A good spot, especially if you're visiting the neighboring Pinakothek museums, the ever-popular Brasserie Tresznjewski serves an eclectic menu, well into the wee hours.
Open since 1775, Tambosi is Munich's longest-running café. Its location is superb, partly sitting in full view of Theatinerkirche on Odeonsplatz and partly in the Hofgarten. Watch the hustle and bustle of Munich's street life from an outdoor table on the city side, or retreat through a gate in the Hofgarten's western wall to the café's tree-shaded beer garden. If the weather is cool or rainy, find a corner in the cozy, eclectically furnished interior.
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