Augustiner Keller München

Update Review, May 2022

Sigh.  Every time I'm in Munich I wind up at Augustiner Keller.  I've never liked anything there, not the food, not the drinks, not the pretzels, not the dessert (which you've read about before) ... but, it *is* an institution there, and is located close to our office.  Oh, and to say they can handle groups is an understatement.  I think the night we were there they had at least 6 different 50+ person groups just in the seating section we were in!

For a refresher, Augustiner Keller is a massive establishment, spanning several style of dining and drinking.  Inside is a massive beer hall with a full service restaurant, serving all the Bavarian food you can imagine.  Huge menu, huge place, all long communal tables, noisy, rowdy, and worth it for the experience alone.  

Outside is an even more massive beer garden.  It extends for blocks, all enclosed in garden walls.  Tables, tables, tables as far as the eye can see.  This area has a much simplified menu, entirely separate kitchens (in little sheds out there), waitstaff wearing lederhosen regularly carrying 10 giant steins in one hand (seriously, the muscles on these servers to heft them around is impressive!), and much, much beer consumption. Again, worth it for the experience. 

We were seated outside, but on the decks, rather than out in the beer garden.  These areas serve a bigger menu than the garden, but still greatly reduced from the indoor hall.  This is where most large parties go, where they can opt for a la carte or family style.  Our host was thrilled to find a place that offered a la carte for 55 people.  A small group of us decided to share anyway, which certainly aggravated our server as we wanted things like sharing plates.

Orders for drinks, for food, etc took a while to place, and even longer to be filled, but, everyone seemed to get what they ordered eventually, even if not actually hot when it arrived.  And hey, we got to dine outside, in a safer setting (May 2022, it still felt better to be outside rather than inside for Covid purposes), and everyone got what they wanted.  The food though?  Just as awful as I remembered, and really, really I have no desire to ever go back here.

Cold Dishes, Vegetarian, Fish.

The reduced menu in the area we were seated had a few sausages, a cheese plate, simple salad, a token vegetarian risotto (yeah, what?), a single seafood option (grilled salmon), and the necessary käsespätzle.  Inside the restaurant there are double the number of cheeses, salads, soups, sausages, fish ... and a slew more vegetarian items.

I was quite sad because the dish I most wanted (Gemischte Schwammerl) is available inside in the full restaurant, was not on offer where we were.  We actually even asked about it, but were turned down.  Not available in that area, only for full restaurant seating.  Wah!

Mains, "Best Seller", Dessert.

Mains were basically all the different forms of schnitzel, or variations on roast pork or duck.  Most dishes came with potato dumplings or cabbage.  Another dish I wanted (Maultaschen) was only served inside.  Le sigh.

The same goes for the desserts.  We had a small reduced menu, which included only 4 items, 3 of which I had last time, and one of which was just vanilla ice cream with berries.  Inside you can get kaiserschmarrn (really the only German dessert I truly enjoy) or apple fritters that sound quasi interesting.

Drinks.

Drinks are a kinda feature of the establishment.  I don't even call it a "restaurant" exactly, as so many patrons are just there for drinks, particularly out in the beer garden.  The drink menu isn't actually all that extensive either - it isn't like they have a large variety of beer to pick from, mostly, just how big you want it.  They also have your basic soft drinks, water, coffee, tea, and token wine by the glass.

I'd guess that 95% of the patrons have beer, split about 50-50 between giant steins and regular large Pilsner style glasses (not standard American pints).

Merlot D.O.C. 4.70.

The menu had exactly 3 wines, and only one was red.  Merlot it was.  I had zero expectations for this, particularly given the ridiculously cheap price (for .2L serve), but ... honestly, it wasn't awful.  Not too much acid, not too much tannin, not to grape-y ... just, quite drinkable.  A entirely acceptable "table wine".

***+.

Pretzels. 1.30 each.

When I realized that one of my fellow diners had not yet had a pretzel in Germany, and I suspected it would be at least an hour before our meal came giving our group size, I suggested getting a pretzel.  A few others joined in.  1.30 each.

The pretzels were highly unremarkable.  Served cold, as they do in Germany.  No mustard or anything.  Just, a cold pretzel.  Eh.  It was nicely salted and had a decent chew, not too stale, but, yeah.  Nothing special here, and since none of our food coming had sauce to want to dunk into, I saw no use for these pretzels, besides helping us pass time as we waited for the rest.

My hotel breakfast buffet had considerably better pretzels.

**+.

Käsespätzle.

"Swabian-style cheese noodles topped with crisp-fried onions and served with a mixed salad."

The same diner who had not had a pretzel in Germany also had never had käsespätzle ("the thing like mac and cheese?", he said, clearly having been told by someone else that he needed to try it).  So, käsespätzle was definitely in our lineup.

It was ... fine.  Not great.  The noodles were just kinda mush, the sauce not particularly creamy nor cheesy, and the fried onion strings no different than what you get from a can.  The little bit of crushed red pepper on top was nice though.  The version from Zum Dürnbräu was so much better, an entirely different league.  Really, to me, this was like boxed mac and cheese compared to a nicely homemade version.

I had my few bites and quickly moved on.

**+.

Mixed Salad (with Käsespätzle).

It came with an odd little side salad.

Three huge pieces of lettuce, a tiny tiny tiny portion of sprouts, 5 kernels of corn, 3 slices of cucumber, 3 small pieces of bell pepper, 1 tomato chunk.  No dressing.

I actually appreciated the greens and juicy cucumber, but the tomato was mealy and not good, and I'd be sad if I had ordered this actually as a salad.  Again, compared to the side salads at Zum Dürnbräu?  That is like comparing a McDonald's salad to Sweetgreen.  Not nearly in the same category.

**+.

Münchner Schnitzel. 15.50.

"Pork escalope with a mustard and horseradish crust, served with cold potato salad."

Next up, schnitzel.  One diner really wanted us to get schnitzel, and didn't care which we got.  I don't particularly like schnitzel, but I didn't mind trying a little.  After all, I *was* in Germany ...

Augustiner Keller has several versions on the menu, such as the pfefferschnitzel (pork with spicy peppercorn sauce and spatzle), wiener schnitzel (veal), or the one we got, Münchner Schnitzel, which was veal with a mustard/horseradish crust, and cold potato salad on the side.  The decision was easy for me as I had heard good things about the potato salad, and wanted to try that (plus, we already had käsespätzle, we didn't need plain spätzle with our schnitzel).

The schnitzel was ... average.  Decent crusting that didn't fall off, and the hint of horseradish and mustard really did give it nice flavor.  Pork was boring, a bit chewy, but fine.  The lemon was key as it added a lot of needed acid/flavor.  So, slightly interesting crust, but very average, and not something I ever really want anyway.

The potato salad was a big portion, good since we were sharing, but still quite a bit on top of the pretzels and spätzle ... carbs, carbs, carbs!  Meat and carbs, that's the German way ... (yup, that side salad was the only vegetable seen at our entire 50 person table!).  It was decent, German style so not all mayo (although it was pretty creamy, not sure if that was potato mash or if there was some mayo?), slightly acidic from vinegar, with some mustard flavor too.  The potato was small bits, plus some mashed, fairly soft.  Not much else to it, just, potato.  I liked the flavor, but I can't really imagine having a big portion of it like this.  I kept the leftovers and threw a scoop on top of a salad the next day at lunch, and that worked well.

**+.

Wiener Schnitzel. 21.90.

"Breaded veal schnitzel served with sautéed potatoes and cranberry sauce."

One of our tablemates, who wasn't in our family style sharing group, opted for the wiener schnitzel, and he offered me a big hunk to try.  His was *much* better.  Sure, the coating was just regular breading and so it didn't have the nice mustard/horseradish zing, but, I liked the flavor of the veal more (as in, it had some!), and the meat was much less chewy.  

I also liked the complimentary cranberry sauce with it (and, with the pork one I had on my plate too).  Definitely more my style to have a sauce.  I didn't try his potatoes, but he didn't touch them.

This was considerably, considerably better than the pork, but not something I'd really go get myself.

***.

Bayrische Vanillecreme. 4.95.

"Bavarian vanilla cream pudding with berries and cream, served in a glass jar."

Last time I was at Augustiner Keller we had a non-dessert sharer (he was gluten-free) who got the Bavarian cream.  We had another such person at our table this time.  The only notable thing was everyone was happy to see a little fresh fruit.  It seemed fairly lackluster though, not gathering any real comment from the person who ordered it, although he did finish it.

Apfelstrudel. 8.15.

"Apple strudel with vanilla custard and whipped cream.

You may recall that last time I kinda hated the apfelstrudel, and I told this group as much, but one person still ordered it.  This time it came with just a small little bowl of vanilla custard, rather than the giant gravy boat we had last time (and that I gladly consumed all of, dubbing it the best part of our meal!).

The strudel was deemed average, the whipped cream seemed canned, and, yup, I ended up basically getting the entire bowl of vanilla custard, which really was just a thin generic sauce, but with good vanilla flavor to it.  Not nearly as magical as I remember it being, but actually, yes, still the best thing I ate at Augstiner Keller, which is not saying much.

Ofenfrische Dampfnudel. 7.20.

"Steamed honey-coated dumpling with hot vanilla custard."

Everyone else at the table wanted the dampfnudel, even though I tried to describe it to them and said it wasn't great.  Not that we had many options, as I mentioned, the real good desserts were not available outside.  So, a bunch of dampfnudel were ordered.

When they arrived, everyone was 1) amazed how big it was and 2) exclaimed that it wasn't what they were expecting.  I had tried to describe it well, but, I guess I failed.  They still really thought it was going to be a "dumpling" in a form they recognized.

It is safe to say that everyone was highly underwhelmed by this.  A few half hearted bites were taken, and our table wound up a graveyard of abandoned dampfnudel.  After all, it really was just a barely warm big chunk of slightly sweet bread, with barely warm thin generic custard around it.  Basically ... like a King's Hawaiian roll with a little custard around it.  Not really sweetened (not sure where that "honey coating" was), and really, really not hot as described.

Major meh.  I left, and went to get alternate dessert.

*+.

Original Review, October 2016

On my recent visit to Munich, nearly every person I asked for restaurant recommendation from said to go to Augustiner Keller.  But, they weren't really telling me to go for the food.  It was more about the beer, and the experience ... not exactly a match for my interests.  Augustiner Keller is the largest beer garden in the world.  I don't really drink beer.

The first night we were in town, Ojan's work group had a big dinner there.  He came back not impressed, and told me I'd hate it.  He said it was an experience, but, he didn't really want to return himself, and he had another dinner scheduled there later in the week that he wasn't looking forward to.

Yet everyone kept recommending it, and, it was close to the office.  So, several days into the trip, my colleagues headed there.  I decided to eat dinner at the office and then join them for dessert, since I knew the desserts were supposed to be at least decent, and hey, this way I'd get to finally try a real German dessert.

Or so I thought.

The Space

Augustiner Keller is really two different establishments: a beer garden and a restaurant.  Both are quirky in their own ways, quite distinct, and massive.

Outside Beer Garden.

Outside is a beer garden, with big screens showing sports, and a counter where you order food, wait for it out in a little shack, and seat yourself.  I imagine that on a sunny afternoon this place is quite popular.  As it was, it was a rainy evening, and it was still pretty busy.  It was there that my co-workers had gathered, so they could watch the game on the tv screens.  This area is massive, with picnic tables going as far as the eye can see.

When I found my co-workers, they had only giant beer steins and equally massive pretzels on the table, so, I quickly went to the counter area to order dessert, only to find that the limited menu outside did not include dessert (besides an ice cream freezer).  Don't get me wrong, an ice cream freezer is an exciting thing, but I had just left my office with a stellar ice cream freezer, and wanted a "real" dessert!

(In case you are wondering, of course I tried the mega-pretzel, and, it was actually quite good).

Thus, I convinced some of them to join me inside so we could order from the dessert menu.

Front Hall.

The second half of the establishment is a restaurant, with outdoor and indoor seating, and table service.  It has a much more extensive menu, and a real kitchen.  Like the beer garden, it is also massive.

This photo shows just the calm front hall.  There is also a downstairs that you can reach from this area, and two side outdoor patios.

And then the main dining hall.

Main Dining Hall.

The main room was a sight to behold.  Like a giant mess hall, with huge, long tables running the entire length of the room.  Parties are seated where they fit.

It was packed and quite loud.  Each table had a basket of normal sized pretzels waiting on it.

The decor was fascinating, ornate woodwork, paintings on the ceiling, and massive round light figures with exposed bulbs.

It looked like a scene from history books.

Stage.

There is also a stage inside.  With a painting on the wall behind it.

Instead of a band setup though, there are tables.  And, within a few minutes of our being seated, people were seated up there.  Where they special?  We have no idea.  It was totally weird to have people up there.

Even more amusingly, Ojan said the night he was there, the stage was filled with diners, and there was a live band ... off on the side, rather than on the stage.

I feel like there must be a story here.

Dessert

So, dessert.  The server came over, asked if we were hungry, and I said, "yes, for dessert!"

He handed me two menus, all in German, and walked away.

The first menu was the classic menu, with items always available.  The second was the daily specials.  Both had 4-5 desserts on them.  Again, all in German.

I pulled out handy Google translate on my phone, and got to work.  Several minutes into my fun translating (which, works really well with the app by the way, you just hold it up and it translates in real time, totally amazing!), one of my co-workers said, "hey, do you just want me to translate it for you?"  It was then that I remembered he was Austrian.  To be fair, he lives in New York now, I know him from his time in San Francisco, and before that he lived in Melbourne, so he speaks with an Australian accent.

Anyway, once we translated the menu, we were ready to order, and our server did come back in a reasonable amount of time.

One diner is gluten-free, so he ordered the only thing that seemed gluten-free (Bavarian cream with berries).  The rest of us decided to share things so we could try several.  There were 4 of us, and I knew that the desserts would all be huge.  Of the 4 of us, one person said he didn't want dessert, and one was stuffed, so I suggested we get only two desserts.  Yet somehow we got three.  It was definitely too much dessert, but, we did order the top three things I wanted to try, so, not all a bad thing.

Ofenfrische Dampfnudel in der Honigkruste mit heißer Vanillesoße.

"Freshly baked dumpling in the honey crust with vanilla sauce."

From the standard menu, we picked the dumpling.  I will admit, this is not quite what I was expecting, as, uh, it didn't look like a dumpling, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Basically, it sorta reminded me of hybrid between a bread pudding and a doughnut?  The dough was super soft, fluffy, and had an underlying sweetness.  Sorta like any good, fresh, sweet roll from a bakery.

It was surrounded by vanilla custard.

It was served warm (both the dumpling and the sauce), which I really appreciated.

Overall, this was pretty good.  I liked the warm bread and the custard.  It was my favorite dish, one other diner's second favorite, and the other ranked it tied for second place.

Ofenfrischer Rahmapfelstrudel mit Vanillesoße und Sahne.

"Applestrudel, straight out of the oven, served on a creamy hot vanilla sauce."

When every person has talked to me about dessert in Germany, they've told me to get an apple strudel.  Never, ever what I'd pick, as I don't like apples really, but, I decided if there was a time to try the iconic German dessert, doing it in a group at a famous beer hall might as well be it.

My opinion was exactly as I expected.  Yup, it was filled with apple.  I love pastry, and, the strudel form doesn't provide much pastry.  Just lots of apples.

Of course, I liked what came with it, a generous puff of whipped cream topped with little berries and a mint leaf, and an entire dish full of "vanilla sauce" to pour over it.

As I've been known to just eat bowls of crème anglaise, it should come as no surprise to you that I did the same here.  The others found this to be odd behavior, saying things like, "And you aren't even drunk!" or "Do you realize how many miles you'll have to run to burn that off?"

Clearly, these folks don't know me very well.  This is totally normal behavior for me, and, honestly, is it really any different than eating a bowl of custard pudding or ice cream?   Yeah, I didn't think so.

Anyway, I didn't care for the strudel, because, apples, making it my least favorite, but it was the favorite of one diner, and tied for second for the other.

Topfenstrudel mit Vanillesoße und Walnußeis.

Finally, we also picked a daily special dessert, another strudel.

This one was filled with a cheese filling, it reminded me of ricotta cheesecake, so I'm guessing there was some ricotta or cream cheese involved.  Again, not enough pastry to evaluate the pastry, it was all about the filling.  I like cheesecake, but, I didn't really see a reason to serve it like this.  Clearly, not the dessert for me.

On the side was the same vanilla sauce and generous amount of whipped cream.  These were again good, and of course, I again ate them by the spoonful.

But, this dish also came with something special: walnußeis.  That is, walnut ice cream.  The ice cream was really, really, really good.  Loaded with caramelized nuts.  It was super sweet, the nuts added a great crunch, and, I totally stole the entire tiny scoop.  Seriously good ice cream.

This ice cream was, hands down, the best item of the night, making this my second favorite dish overall.  One other diner ranked this last, as he loved the apple strudel and the dumpling, but the other also ranked this first, saying, "That ice cream is really, really good!"

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Berkshire Bark Chocolate

Once, when flying out of Logan Airport in Boston, I found a cute little, ridiculously overpriced, market with local artisanal goods: Berkshire Farms Market.  If you've flown out of Terminal 2 at SFO, you'd recognize the model, just like our Napa Farms Market.

Anyway, while I was there, I couldn't resist picking up some chocolate.  It has been a while since I have reviewed chocolate, mostly because I just haven't been trying anything new, so, a chance to try a local specialty was most welcome.  I settled on Berkshire Bark, chocolate produced in the nearby Berkshires.

"No preservatives, no shortcuts, just natural, honest ingredients."

Berkshire Bark makes thick slabs of chocolate, aka, chocolate bark, with several types of chocolate for the base (milk, dark, white) and assorted mix-ins.  They take pride in their ingredients, using Belgian chocolate, whole roasted nuts, no preservatives, etc. 

I only purchased one bar, and it was fine, but, I don't see a reason to seek out this brand again.

Big Bar of Pretzelogical!

"Premium quality Belgian dark and milk chocolate holds together pretzels, homemade sea salt caramel and natural peanut butter."

All of the bar varieties sounded interesting, but once I saw the Pretzelogical, I looked no further.  Every component was something I love: chocolate, both milk and dark.  Caramel.  Peanut butter.  Pretzels and salt to make it salty-sweet.  Oh yes!

The "bark" comes as a big slab, a square in this case, although they also make regular rectangular bars too.

Pretzelogical: Inside.

So, how did all these ingredients come together?

The bark itself seemed to just be milk chocolate.  It was fine milk chocolate, but not remarkable in any way.  The only dark chocolate was a drizzle on top.

But of course, the chocolate is just the base.  I was eying all the mix-ins.

I was very confused with my first bite.  There was something very hard inside.  It turns out, the caramel was more like toffee, very, very hard chunks, as you can see here (the two bigger white areas).

"We add Maldon sea salt to our caramel at the last minute to preserve its texture and incredible flavor."

Hmm.  "Preserve its texture"?  It was rock hard!  And sadly, I didn't taste the salt I was looking forward to.  Moving on to the pretzels ...

"It took two years of searching to find just the right prezels to mix into Pretzelogical.  Our pretzels come from a small family-owned Pennsylvania company that has been making pretzels for almost 100 years."

The pretzels were little chunks of pretzel rods.  They were ... pretzels.  Honestly, nothing special here.

Ok, what about the promised peanut butter?  Well, I never found any pouches of peanut butter, although I could sorta taste some peanut butter from time to time.  I guess it was mixed into the chocolate?

Overall, what we had here was basic milk chocolate, standard pretzels, rock solid chunks of sweet caramel, and a subtle essence of peanut butter.  It had some different textures, and varying amounts of sweetness, but no saltiness, and really none of the magic I was hoping for.

***.

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Group Dining at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

Back in 2013 I went through a phase of wanting to find good Peruvian food in SF.  I hit all the standard places: Limón (decent, not amazing), Destino (hated it) and of course, La Mar (mostly meh).  I love yucca fries, taro chips, plantain chips, tasty sauces, etc, and I was determined to find somewhere I really liked, but, eventually gave up, and haven't had all that much Peruvian food since.

A few years ago, I had a work happy hour again at La Mar, with appetizers and drinks.  I remember leaving early because I was hungry and didn't want anything there.  So when I recently had a large group dinner for a work event again and found out it was at La Mar, I wasn't exactly excited.  Several of my co-workers mentioned how much they love La Mar, and I know it generally gets good reviews, so, I hoped it would be better.  I went in with an open mind, and figured if nothing else, I'd sure enjoy the chips & dips to start.  

My opinion hasn't particularly changed.  It is ... fine, but certainly not somewhere I'd pick to return, and its quite pricey for what it is.  That said, they handled a large group (23 people) well at the service level.

Setting & Service

La Mar is located right on the Embarcadero, just a few minutes walk from the Ferry Building, clearly a prime location.  Open for lunch and dinner daily, and always does a pretty happening Happy Hour. 

Embarcadero Location.

I always laugh when I see the address for La Mar: Pier 1 1/2.  There is not much signage out on the sidewalk level, but the restaurant opens up with lots of glass and bright light on the other side, facing the water.  The backside has a large patio area as well.

Semi-Private Seating.

Our visit was for dinner, and we were seated in a semi-private area.  Our group of 23 had two long tables side by side.

We had one main server who double checked all allergies as we arrived (we had provided in advance), and who took our first drink orders.  She was assisted throughout the meal by several other servers who delivered platters of food and reset cutlery/plates as needed, and a sommelier who poured wines between courses.  They were an efficient team, and seemed to execute like a well oiled machine.  La Mar clearly does many large group events, and knew how to serve a group of our size.  They kept the meal moving at a reasonable pace, provided fresh plates between courses, never messed up drink orders, etc. 

Food & Drink

Since we were a large group, we had a pre-set group dining menu that our host provided.  La Mar has 4 different group dining menus available, all served family style.  The cheapest option is $95 per person, featuring a trio of starters, a trio of mains, and two desserts.  Our hosts opted for the next menu up, which includes the same three mains and two desserts, but adds on four more starters/first courses, for $125 per person.  From there you can move on to a bigger menu still, with a different lineup of starters, and higher end mains, for $145.  And if you still want to go even bigger, for $199 per person, you can get the "Signature a Mar Menu", which is a totally different format, and includes all the premium items, like steamed whole lobster, many kinds of sashimi, octopus, duck breast, grilled whole fish, and even a Tomahawk steak.  They also have vegan versions of the menus available, with the same pricing, but only one dish per course.  

The quantity of food was a bit ridiculous though, and much went to waste, before we realized we could ask for takeout boxes.  It really was worth the rather high $125 per person given the vast quantity of food, but it also was just far too much, and I can't even imagine what the other menus would be like.  I'd highly recommend sticking with the smallest menu, or, making sure your guests realize how many more dishes are still coming, so they can pace themselves, and take home leftovers rather than having so much get tossed.

Group Dining Menu. $125/head.

I found it notable that the La mar event package boasts "our full-service kitchen accommodates all allergies & dietary restrictions individually", as I felt this was an area they didn't do very well.  We had one vegetarian in the group, and they gave him his own dishes, all vegan.  He was never provided with a menu of what he'd get, unlike the rest of us.  And even though he wasn't vegan, he got only vegan dishes, which meant just sorbet for dessert, no real dessert.  Our menu was well marked with basic allergens (gluten, dairy, shellfish, eggs, soy, tree nuts, etc) though.

But really it was my own allergies that I wasn't thrilled with the treatment of.  I'm allergic to avocado, and we had shared our allergens in advance, which was acknowledged by our server when we arrived.  They clearly knew I couldn't have avocado.  But my allergy was not really accommodated "individually", unless that means, that yes, the staff did just tell me when dishes arrived and were set on the table which ones I couldn't have.  Particularly given how easy it would have been to substitute another similar item with no avocado, or leave it off, I didn't think this was great service, and, if my allergy was more severe (like my allergy to melon) it really would have been concerning, as my fellow diners used the same serving utensils as me to take items with avocado on them.

I didn't love the food, but there were a couple nice dishes, and the venue worked well for our group.

Old Fashioned.

I opted to start with a simple cocktail, an old fashioned.  It came with a large ice cube and orange peel.  It was fine.  Most of the group opted for signature cocktails like the Pisco Sour and seemed to enjoy them.

I was planning to focus on getting decent wine to go with my meal, but it turned out, we had wines pre-selected for us.  A cava to go along with the starters that I didn't try, and then their house white (with the first course) and red (with the mains), both of which I had small pours of, and were fine but not particularly interesting.  I thought the white served with the first course (beef skewers and empanadas) was a bit of a miss, I wanted red with those dishes.

Starters

To get the meal started, our menu listed out a single starter: Bandeja de Cebicheria, which was deceiving, as it was actually one each of their four most popular starters, basically, one from each category: a cebiche (ours had the clásico), a causa (ours the limeña), a nigiri (criollo), and tiradito (verde).  These were all cold dishes.  The regular menu includes three other cebiches, two other nigiris, two other tiraditos, and one other causa.  

This round of starters gave us a great sample of the menu, but, it also was quite a bit of food, just for the starter course. These items, like our entire menu, were served family style.  For items that came in pieces, each platter had 5 pieces, and was meant to be shared by ~3 people, which meant that each person was allocated more than one piece basically.  These starters alone could have been a reasonable dinner, and most people didn't quite realize how much more food we had coming.  Our vegetarian diner received just one dish, the vegetarian cebiche (the causa would come later in his meal).

Taro Chips & Dip.

Every meal at La Mar starts with complimentary chips and dip, the one thing I really did remember loving from a previous visit (although they were slightly different before, including plantain chips, and multiple dipping sauces).

I did again like these.  Just taro chips, but, thick sliced, not too greasy, decent taro flavor.  And whatever the sauce is, it was flavorful.  I most liked the chips though when used with the causa.  I highly recommend saving a few to go alongside it if you order one.

My third favorite dish of the night. ***+.

Starter: Nigiri criollo.

"Ahi tuna with smoked aji Amarillo cream."

First up, Peruvian style sushi.  This is available in 3 varieties on the regular menu: Wagyu skirt steak, ahi tuna, or king salmon, all served as nigiri over rice.  Our menu included the ahi.

I opted to skip this since I knew how many other dishes we had coming, and I don't tend to really like raw ahi these days.  I was nearly tempted to try it though, just for the aji amarillo cream.  This is $24 on the regular menu.

Starter: Tiradito verde.

"Salmon belly, jalapeño, avocado leche de tigre, quinoa pop and seasonal greens."

Next up, more raw seafood, this time in tiradito form.  Like the nigiri, the regular menu has three varieties: ahi tuna, salmon belly, or halibut.  Our menu included the salmon belly, which, unfortunately for me as I'm allergic, contained avocado liche de tigre.  I was a bit annoyed, as we provided allergy information in advance, and the staff did make sure to point out to me all the dishes that had avocado, but it was about half the dishes.  Normally I'd expect them to offer either one of the other tiraditos or at least have a piece without the avocado sauce?  And I really do like raw salmon belly.

My fellow diners lucked out though, as they all liked this dish, and this mean 5 pieces for just the two others sharing a platter with me.  $22 on the regular menu.

Stater: Causa Limeña.

"Whipped potato over seasonal ingredients. Purple potatoes causa topped with Dungeness crab salad, avocado, and tomato."

Next up, more seafood, cooked this time, and, yup, more avocado.  Sigh.  And even though I didn't love this dish when I had it on a prior visit, I still wanted to try it again, as I do love crab so much, and really my complaint last time was that I didn't taste the crab enough.

My fellow diners suggested that I take the piece on the end that had no avocado on one side, and just cut off the corner with the avocado.  As my allergy is mild enough, I went for it.

I did sorta like this.  The whipped purple potato was creamy and starchy.  The crab, yes, loaded with too much mayo to really taste the crab itself was still tasty, just, in a creamy mayo sort of way, not a fresh crab sort of way.  The drizzle of sauce was good too.  It did eat quite mushy though, which is why I loved actually just using it as a spread on a taro chip.  Had this not have had the avocado on it, and had we thought of asking for togo boxes at this point, I certainly would have taken some home to throw on top of a salad the next day for lunch, or even to wrap in nori like a hand roll, but alas, this one went unfinished and tossed, as one of the others in my trio doesn't eat shellfish, so that left the whole dish basically to one person, besides the one I took.  $28 on the regular menu, also available in a vegan form (which, our vegetarian diner received later in the meal).  

My second favorite dish, particular when used as a spread on a taro chip. ***+.

Starter: Cebiche Classico. $24.50.

"Catch of the day in classic leche de tigre, with red onion, habanero, corn, sweet potatoes."

And finally, cebiche.

Cebiche is a big draw at La Mar, a namesake item, available in several forms.  Our menu included the "Clasico", basically whatever the white fish of the day was.  I didn't care for this when I had it at La Mar previously, but, people do really laud the ceviche at La Mar, so I was willing to give it another try.

The fish was ... meh.  It was kinda chewy, had no real flavor.  Extremely unremarkable.  The marinade wasn't particularly flavorful either.  The corn, in two forms, was fine, but didn't really pop.  The most interesting component was the thinly sliced sharp red onion.

Really, quite average ceviche, and I wished I'd skipped it entirely and just saved more room for other dishes.  My least favorite of the dishes I tried.

**.

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Starter: Cebiche Veggie (Vegan). $19.

"Artichoke heart, beet, avocado, artichoke chips, cancha, in Jerusalem artichoke leche de tigre."

The vegetarian diner had his own full size portion of the vegan cebiche, which looked pretty, but also a bit boring.  He didn't finish much of it.

First Course

So all of that, the cebiche plus 5+ pieces of other seafood per person, were just the starter.  Next we moved on to the first course(s).  Again family style, again served with 5 each for each group of ~3.  

Here we moved into warm small plates, including one of the anticuchos (grilled skewers) and one empanada.  The regular menu has two other skewers, and three other empanadas.  Our vegetarian diner did not get a hot dish at this time, instead, he was served the vegan causa.  I thought this was interesting as actually two of the empanada options are vegetarian.  Wouldn't it be nice for him to have a warm dish too?

First Course: Chicken Empanadas.

"Chicken, aji amarillo, and polleria sauce."

The regular menu has many kinds of empanadas available (chicken, beef, mushroom, choclo), and I would have loved to try any of the others, but alas, our menu came with chicken ones, and I don't like chicken.  I hoped the vegetarian diner would be provided with either the mushroom or choclo ones, but alas, he was only given a single other dish (below).

I didn't try this, but one other diner really clearly loved it, and the other was more than happy to help finish the extras.  These were not mini empanadas, but clearly folks were quite into them.  These seemed to be a hit, and were filled with what looked like shredded white meat chicken.  I think many people would have taken extras of these home had we thought of asking for boxes.

Available on the regular menu for $14.50.

First Course: Anticuchos de Carne.

"Sirloin, sweet potato, corn, and polleria sauce."

Our other first course was beef skewers, our only beef course.  I was sad that the real signature dish of the restaurant, the lomo saltado, was not on our menu, so even though I'm not really a big beef eater, I wanted to try this, hoping it would live up to some of the accolades of the lomo saltado, although obviously a completely different dish.

The beef, which should be the star, was ... cooked well done.  No pink.  Sadness.  It was a bit chewy.  It was moist, it was tender, but, I certainly would prefer it far less cooked.  Fine I guess, but nothing special.  Each skewer had 2-3 sizable pieces.

The other elements, sweet potato and corn, were the same as from the cebiche, and felt a bit like filler at this point.  Our menu was huge, and there really was no reason to fill stomach space with more sweet potato and corn at this point, and they didn't compliment the dish in the same way they did in the ceviche.  Interestingly, beef skewers aren't on the regular menu, but both chicken and octopus are (I wished we got that!).

My second to last pick, only slightly better than the ceviche, and I wouldn't get it again.  A lot of this went unfinished. **+.

First Coure: La Causa Vegana (Vegan). $18.

"Purple potatoes topped with grilled green asparagus, onion escabeche, avocado, with fried garlic, chimichurri, aji amarillo cream."

Our vegetarian diner was served a full size version of the vegan causa as this first course, rather than alongside the other causa we had as a starter.  Since it too had avocado I couldn't really try it, and I'd had the crab version anyway, but I did pluck a piece of asparagus from it to try it.  It was unremarkable, just cold average asparagus.

The plating of this was lovely, a since it was a normal menu item rather than family style one, it really showed off what the dishes from the kitchen normally look like.  The colors, the way the elements were stood up, really was nicely done.  This is $18 on the regular menu, compared to the crab version for $28.

Main Dishes: Mar Y Tierra

After all that food, it was finally time for the main dishes, all drawn from the Mar Y Tierra section of the regular menu.  If you are counting, by now each person had been allocated a portion of ceviche, about 5 pieces of raw seafood (some with rice, potatoes, etc), 2 full size empanadas, and 2 skewers of beef with multiple pieces each.  Easily more than enough for a meal, but now it was time for the mains, composed large format dishes featuring cooked proteins.

Our family style menu included 3 main proteins: chicken, salmon, pork, and our vegetarian diner had his own entree.  The regular dinner menu includes three more seafood options (shrimp, scallops, catch of the day), along with the signature lomo saltado, which I was surprised not to see featured on our menu, particularly as the vegetarian main dish was the veggie version of the saltado, and it is the one listed in their online event package menu - I wonder if our host requested otherwise?

Anyway, these dishes were barely touched by my group.  After so many previous courses, these protein and carb heavy, large format items were just too much.  Luckily, the restaurant provided some boxes at this point for folks to take leftovers home, which I gladly did (and wished I'd thought of asking for during earlier courses!).   My favorite dish came from this round.

Main: Arroz con Pollo a la Brasa.

"Roasted organic chicken marinated with Peruvian spices served over rice in cilantro & white wine."

First up, chicken.  This was the only dish on our menu not also available on the regular menu.

As I don't like chicken, nor rice, I skipped this entirely.  No one else seemed to eat much of it, I think compared to the rest of the menu, this was just boring.

Main: Salmon La Mar.

"Grilled salmon, seasonal vegetables in aji panca & coconut milk sauce."

The seafood main was grilled salmon, served with veggies, and a little aji panca & coconut milk sauce.

The salmon was ok.  It was fully cooked salmon, so not my style, but, it was well cooked, not dry, not over cooked nor hammered, the albumin not seeping out.  For fully cooked salmon, they nailed the prep, and it had a bit of a sear on it too.

The veggies were fairly boring to me, mostly broccolini (which, I just don't really like), cabbage that was rather mushy, as if it had been overcooked, some equally mushy red onions, a few token pieces of asparagus (ah, there's the "seasonal"), and a few little mushrooms, that I did like.  There was also what looked like slices of a red winter squash, which I was thrilled to see, as I like squashes (but, uh, totally not seasonal, it was summer!), but surprised me when I bit in and they were crunchy.  At first I thought it was just very undercooked squash, but then I tasted ... melon.  Melon, that I'm allergic to.  No staff mentioned any melon in this dish, although they were aware of my allergy, but I'm fairly certain this was melon. My throat felt a bit funny after just one bite.  Sigh.  It was nice to have some vegetables though, as the rest of our meal really didn't have any.  

The sauce was fine, fairly creamy, it reminded me a bit of a non-spicy Thai red curry due to the coconut milk.  It didn't particularly have much flavor however.

Overall a fine, but a bit boring, dish.  Execution was a mixed bag, salmon cooked well but not my style, some veggies too mushy.  ***.   My forth favorite dish of the meal.

This is available on the regular menu for $39, which also includes a few shrimp.

Main: El Adobo Atamalado.

"Bone-In Berkshire pork hind shank slowly cooked with aji panca, red wine, sweet chili sauce, quinoa-corn tamal, and mint."

I was beyond stuffed when the mains were hitting the table, in particular, the meaty mains.  I certainly didn't really want more food.  But, I couldn't resist trying this, I mean, look at it!

I ripped off a piece, and was impressed.  The pork was tender, it fell off the bone easily.  It had a nicely caramelized exterior, plenty of flavor from the glaze, fat well rendered.  I appreciated the presentation served on the bone, plus, it meant I could suck out a bit of marrow (which, I did with glee).

The "quinoa-corn tamal" was also quite tasty, it really tasted to me kinda like grits, although clearly had a bit more texture from the quinoa in the mix.  It tasted strongly of corn, which I liked.  It was creamy and soaked up the sauce well, and was a nice compliment to the fatty pork.

Overall, a nice dish, well composed, and I liked both elements quite a bit.  It made me wish I wanted more, as I was really just too full to appreciate it.  I was happy to take home extra, as we several servings of this that weren't even touched (!).

****.  My favorite dish of the meal, the quinoa-corn tamal was perhaps my favorite element, but together they were definitely the winning bite.

This dish is also on the regular menu, for $41, I think exactly as we were served.

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Main: Saltado Veganato. $29.

"Wok stir-fried portobello mushroom with tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, oyster mushroom sauce and Peruvian yellow potatoes."

Our vegetarian diner was served a vegetarian version of lomo saltado as his main, with mushrooms in place of beef, at this time.  I didn't get a photo of it, but did try it.

I wasn't particularly impressed by it.  It tasted very greasy and heavy, which surprised me for a vegetarian dish.   The large wedge cut potatoes soaked up the sauce, which normally I'd be excited for, but that really just left them too feeling greasy.  They were average potato wedges.  The big chunks of portobello were fairly slimy.  The vegetarian diner only had a small portion of this, and no one else touched it.  My fifth choice, behind the boring salmon.

This dish is normally $29 on the regular menu.

Desserts

And finally, after all that, dessert!  I was stuffed, as was everyone, but I was looking forward to this.  I also hoped to bank on the fact that everyone was full, and likely take home a lot of extra dessert ...

Dessert Duo.

However, alas, desserts were the only items not served family style.  Instead, we were each served mini versions of two desserts (our vegetarian diner was clearly assumed to be vegan, as they gave him a little bowl of gelato instead).  Both are based on versions from the regular menu, which also includes a chocolate cake that we didn't receive. 

Dessert: Tres Leches.

"Brown Butter vanilla cake soaked in a mixture of three kinds of milk."

First up, the most popular dessert at La Mar, the tres leches cake.  Served in a tiny shot glass, not full to the top.

It was fine.  The cake was indeed very very moist, soaking in a lot of milk liquids.  I didn't taste the brown butter.  It had a bit of cinnamon, and otherwise was mostly just mild sweetness.  It also had a touch of whipped cream on top, so much milk / cream elements here.

The regular dessert menu also features tres leches, in a slightly different form (for $13): "triple cream vanilla sponge cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream".  I wonder if they really do use a different cake base for both?  I really would have liked the strawberries in the mini version, a fresh fruit component did feel missing.

Overall, average, but nice to end the meal with a sweet note. ***.

Dessert: Choco Maracuya.

"Passion fruit mousse and chocolate mousse layered with berries compote, and almond crumble."

The second dessert was chocolate based, so I had to save it for the next day, as I don't eat chocolate (caffeine) at night.  Others seemed to like it though, and no matter how full they were, I had multiple inquiries if I didn't want mine, they'd take it off my hands.  Clearly, large format desserts would have worked better for our group!

I love mousse (and, all pudding for that matter), but I wasn't particularly excited about this.  I like passion fruit, real, fresh passionfruit, but not usually passionfruit flavor.  I also am not generally into chocolate and fruity pairings.

This dessert was interesting though.  It was covered in a thin chocolate shell, smooth milk chocolate with a nice snap to it.  Inside was two layers of mousse, reasonably creamy.  The top layer, passion fruit, as I expected, wasn't quite my thing.  A bit tart, a bit sweet, but very fruity.  I'm not sure why, I just don't go for this.  I liked the chocolate layer, particularly with the chocolate shell, and the whipped cream on top, and tiny bit of crumble.  I wanted more of another fruity component though, there was just a tiny dot of the raspberry compote.  At the base was a thin cookie layer, perhaps also almond based?

So, decent chocolate mousse, interesting dish, but not really my thing. ***.

The larger version of this specifies that it is raspberry compote, and calls it almond praline rather than crumble, but I suspect they are the same.  The full size version is $13.

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Zum Dürnbräu, Munich

Update Review, May 2022

It was the last night in Munich for two of my fellow travelers.  The entire trip, I kept talking about kaiserschmarren.  Raving about it.  And yet, it somehow never became our priority to seek it out (granted, we kept winding up at big group dinners we didn't select, and it wasn't on the menu).  So their final night in town, after a mediocre carb heavy Italian meal nearby at Tavernetta, rather than staying for traditional Italian desserts (which did sound good!), we just wandered two blocks away to my old reliable favorite place: Zum Dürnbräu, the only place I deemed ever returning to from my previous trip to Munich. 

Both of the others had already been to Zum Dürnbräu on this trip (per my recommendation), one of them twice already even in his only a handful of days, but, neither had gotten kaiserschmarren, and I hadn't been yet.  Everyone was happy to follow my suggestion.

I was thrilled we were easily seated outside on a warm evening, and the restaurant had no problem with us just getting drinks and desserts.  I finally, finally got to share a good version of kaiserschmarren with the others who had never had it.  

For context, they had a version at our office a few days prior that was basically just lukewarm bits of torn pancake that really wasn't good at all, and I think made them doubt the entire concept.  The next night, one of them had another version at a super touristy place that looked a little better ... but still wasn't served in cast iron, had no caramelized bits, etc.  Again, I was losing my cred.  I needed to redeem myself.

Kaiserschmarrn.

And then we got this.  Yes.  It was everything I remembered.  Worth the wait, since always made to order.

It was just as massive as I recalled, easily serving 4 of us.  Served in a heavy cast iron that kept it piping hot.  It was served fresh and hot as can be, and had plentiful crispy caramelized bits with all the torn edges.  Some chunks were bigger, more doughy inside, tasty as well, just, different.  There were raisins in the mix but not almonds.  Just enough raisins to keep it interesting, but definitely not dominant.  They were juicy and plump.  It was loaded up with sugary crust, and more powered sugar on top.  It was lightly spiced.  On top was a little garish of fresh currants, which the others had never had before.

It was sweet.  It was hot.  It was crispy.  It was carb heavy.  Decadent, in so many ways, and just a true joy to eat.  It is one of those dishes that you have the first bite of, and your brain just turns to mush and your eyes roll to the back of your head.  Just that good.  While it has elements of state fair or boardwalk fried dough/funnel cake, we really have nothing like it in the US.  The closest thing would be perhaps if French toast or bread pudding were turned into torn fried dough? Except I am not sure if it has a custard base or egg dip ... it really just is its own thing, and if you try to describe it "like a torn up pancake" it does not do it justice at all.

The others agreed, and the one that I've rarely seen get too excited by dessert definitely enjoyed this in all its glory.  I still wished for ice cream/whipped cream/custard to go with it rather than the traditional sauces, but, it was fantastic anyway, and I'd gladly get it again.

Probably great paired with a black coffee/espresso to combat the sweetness.

****+, and I'll gladly get it any time I am in Munich.

Sauces: Apple & Stewed Plum.

When I mentioned to the others that this comes two ways, either with applesauce or stewed plum depending on the version, they wished we could try both.  Since we did have a local with us, he actually asked if they could give us both, which, with a little negotiation, was easily accommodated.  Both sauces came as large portions.

The apple sauce, was, well, apple sauce.  Not really my thing.  It had a few chunks in it which added a bit of texture, and fresh apple slices on top.  Very minimal, if any, spicing.  I can imagine enjoying this if more like apple pie filling?  I've had apple pie filling on top of fried dough at a fair, I could see that working.

The stewed plums were the winner for me, although they came in a very sweet syrup, and since the kaiserschmarren at Zum Dürnbräu is so sweet and caramelized, it was a bit much in terms of sweet on sweet.  Still, the flavor was great, and honestly, I'd love a bowl of warm stewed plums with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.  I think that would be delicious.

So, both traditional sauces, which I'm glad we got for authenticity, but, what I'd really like with my kaiserschmarren is either ice cream or whipped cream (or maybe custard?) and perhaps fresh fruit.  And then I'd just enjoy the stewed plums in other ways, since they were so tasty.

Original Review, October 2016

Zum Dürnbräu is an institution in Munich.  It has been in operation since 1487!  Yes, 1487, that is NOT a typo.

Currently, the site has a biergarten out front and a second one out back, and a restaurant inside.  At one point they were also a brewery, so of course beer is still a focus of the establishment.  The menu is traditional Bavarian cuisine, as you may expect given the history.

It is also the only place that I dined while in Munich that I selected, as I was there for a conference, and thus, large group conference dining it was.  I did my usual Julie-research before my visit, and was pretty stumped about where to dine.  I can't say that Munich is known for its food (there are a few Michelin star restaurants actually, but, they are quite pricey and not appropriate for a business trip).  Everything else sounded highly mediocre, the only rave reviews were for Mediterranean cuisine, which is never my choice, or, beer and pretzels, like Augustiner Keller, where our groups ended up most nights.

After extensive research, I found Zum Dürnbräu.  It actually gets good reviews, and, even locals claim the food is good (AND the dessert, always a key element for me).

So, when I was able to plan a dinner for a small group of 4, it is Zum Dürnbräu we headed.  I easily made a reservation online, and got a confirmation e-mail, but, then the table wasn't reserved when we arrived.  It wasn't a problem, as we were dining a bit early, but, if we had requested a later time, it certainly would have been a problem.  The place filled up fast.

The food was shockingly delicious, both the savory and the desserts.  It was however very heavy food, in ridiculous portion sizes, so you really, really should split mains with others (which we didn't do).  Not a single one in my group was able to finish our individual mains.  The food waste distressed me, but, there was soooo much extra, that it wasn't possible to just "have a few more bites to finish it", which is normally what I end up doing.

Anyway, I really liked the food, unlike pretty much everywhere else I dined in Munich.  So, two days later, after a two day conference of nearly 200 people, I decided to return, this time with a much larger group: 25!  I very rarely "waste" a limited opportunity exploring a new city to return to the same place twice, but, Zum Dürnbräu was such a solid choice, not that I had any evidence of competition, that I really did want to return.  I'm glad I did, uh, glad I dragged 24 of my closest dining buddies?

We had our one German speaking colleague call in the morning to make the biggest reservation he could.  He secured us a large table in the back garden for 20.  I let others know of our plan, and quickly we filled the 20 seats.  But word of mouth was strong, and somehow an additional 5 people found their way to the restaurant with us.  The restaurant didn't seem to mind that we kept adding people in, as we crammed them into our table, pulled up extra chairs, and just mushed in.  Everyone seemed to want a chance to dine with the "famous" Julie Dining Club!

Visit #2 was also a success, and most everyone agreed it was the best food they had in Munich.

Service was good on both visits.  We were provided with English menus, and our server the first time was relatively comfortable speaking English.  Our server the second night didn't speak any English to us, but, it was easy enough to communicate, and, we did have one German speaker with us who could explain some things, like, that we wanted to dine family0style this time, having learned our lesson with the individual orders the first time.

I'm glad I went twice, and honestly, I would have gone back another time if the opportunity presented itself.  It is the only place, besides perhaps Burger King (more on that soon!), that I'd return in Munich.

The Space

Finding Zum Dürnbräu might be a bit difficult if you don't know what to expect.  It is located close to the Marienplatz, a very lively, jam packed, shopping district.  But, the storefront does not open into the mall area directly.

Alleyway.

Instead, you go down a side alley, lined with bicycles and little else.

Front.

At the end of the alley, there it is, a bit of an oasis.  Nice curb appeal, with a cheery front biergarden.  I think they don't take reservations for this front area, and it isn't very well protected from the rain, a common problem we faced on this trip.

Inside.

The main restaurant inside features one long, communal table, plus tables of assorted sizes.   Decor is what seemed to be "traditional Bavarian", like the cuisine.  On both visits, every table inside had a reserved sign on it.  Like I said, make reservations here.

Back Biergarten.

The back biergarden is where we were seated both times, helpfully protected by awnings.  Most tables back here were also reserved.

Along the fence was a trellis with ivy, and a fair amount of vegetation.  It really did create a nice relaxed garden sense.  The back garden had no view to street, so it was a nice oasis, although, a beer-filled oasis.

The ground was cobblestones, the tables and chairs wooden with red slats.

Tables.

The red theme continued to the tablecloth, napkins, even the coasters.

Each table had a candle on it.

Drinks

The drink menu was 3 pages long, and was entirely in German, so, I didn't quite know what was available.  It seemed to be that there was beer on tap or in bottles, apertifs, red wine, white wine, a rose, and I think a full bar.  There also seemed to be standard soft drinks and juices.

My colleagues got beer (non-alcoholic was available too), but, I don't like beer.  I didn't really want wine at a beirgarden, so I thought cider might be a good choice, and would pair with the food in the same way that beer would.  I tried to ask my German speaking fellow diners if cider was a thing in Germany, but, they didn't think it was and we couldn't identify any on the menu.

I found one section of the drink menu that I didn't understand. Weinschorle, it said.  I asked what that was.  My colleagues said it was like wine mixed with sparkling water and maybe some fruit.  I figured that at least sounded different, so, I went for it.

Weinschorle Weiß. €4.50. 

It turns out, weinschorle is a wine spritzer.  I went for the Weiß, the white version, not entirely intentionally, the first time.

I was given a very full pour, even though I ordered the small size.  Ah, German portions.  At least it wasn't a stein-full!

It was actually pretty much perfect.  It did remind me a bit of cider due to the carbonation.  It was refreshing, crisp, and went with the food just like a beer would.  I was happy with my choice. 

Weinschorle Rot. €4.50. 

On my second visit, since I liked the weinschorle before, I opted for the red version.

I didn't like it.  The cabonation level was fairly flat, and the red wine used wasn't very good.  So, barely sparkling low quality red wine?  Yeah, not good.

I also opted for sparkling water on both visits, served with a cute wine-shaped glass.  I did notice that at most places in Munich, sparkling water always came with custom glasses, much like the different beers.

The Food

As I mentioned, Zum Dürnbräu has been around since the 1400s.  As you can imagine, this means that the food is pretty traditional, lots of meat, lots of potatoes, super heavy stuff.

Also, delicious.

Everything we had was cooked to perfection.  Execution really was flawless, which is saying something for group dining.  Everything was incredibly well seasoned.  Shockingly, it was the fresh vegetables, mostly in side dishes, that impressed me the most (which, perhaps was my body really wanting something light after a week of heavy eating), but, of course, I did love the cream sauces.

I'd gladly return to have some of these dishes again, or to try more items.  I'd go with a clear plan to share dishes, and make sure we have at least one salad in the mix to lighten the load.

Traditional & Cold Dishes Menu.

The menu is many pages long, in a binder.  Luckily, they do offer English menus for the food portion.

We skipped everything from the first few categories on both visits: soups, salads, and sausages, although I really was interested in the "Salat mit Lachs & Forelle", a salad with smoked salmon and trout, with "apple potato paddles" and horseradish dressing.  Alas, I never got around to ordering it, and, didn't go back a third time.  Next time, seriously, I want that salad.

I would also love to order the Bayrischer Leberkäs, Bavarian meatloaf, listed in the sausages section.  My hotel had it at breakfast and I kinda adored it, and would love to try another version, and, ideally, not at breakfast.

Pretzels, Complimentary.

On our first visit, once we sat, a basket of two pretzels was brought out (for our group of 4).  On our second visit, we were not provided any pretzels, even though every other table was.  I'm not sure why, perhaps they just didn't want to deal with a group our size?

Also, why only two pretzels for 4 people on the first visit?  Anyway, the pretzels were fine I guess, salted, served cold.  They weren't particularly fluffy.  Not really my thing, and fairly average.  Not worth filling your stomach with, when so many great things lay ahead.  Literally my only food item criticism.

Cold Dishes

The cold dishes section of the menu has some interesting items like salads made from sausages, cold meat, and even a ox muzzle (!) salad.  We skipped all these things the first time, but, on the second visit, I decided to order one cold dish, a dip, as a starter.

Or, what I thought would be a starter.  Except, it came when all the other food did, which was totally overwhelming, as our table was entirely full.  I also ordered it intending it to go with the pretzels, and since those never came, it didn't quite work out correctly.  Doh.

Obatzda. €8,90.

"Obatzda, cream cheese garnished with onion rings."

So, what is Obatzda?  Its generally a mix of a soft cheese, like camembert, with butter and sometimes cream cheese.  Super healthy stuff.

Its used as a spread for pretzels, and is a common beirgarden snack.  Or so I hear.

Anyway, I love cheeses and dips, so on the second visit, I thought this would be great to nibble on while we waited for the mains, and, I thought it would make the pretzels more interesting.  But since it came with the main meal, and we never got any pretzels, my plan was a bit foiled.

This dish, when it arrived, looked nothing like I expected.

For one, it had crazy thin pretzel rods sticking out of it, like the store bought ones we get in the US.  It really did look a bit silly.

Second, the "onion rings" turned out to be just that ... rings of raw red onion.  I sorta thought it would have fried onion rings, since that is what onion rings are to me, but, on second thought, it was a cold dish, I didn't want cold fried onion rings.

Third ... there was basically an entire salad on top, with radishes, tomatoes, and greens, none of which were mentioned on the menu.  The vegetable elements were all fresh and really quite good, albeit a bit out of place.

I still really enjoyed it, although entirely not what I was planning.  The cheese mix was creamy and very flavorful.  While I didn't really have anything to slather it on that made sense, I found that even just coating a tomato in it was delicious, and, probably better than filling my already full stomach full of more bread anyway.  The harsh red onion also worked, and helped cut the richness.

Overall, my second favorite savory bite the second night, and one I'd gladly get again.

Vegetarian Meals

It might seem strange to order vegetarian food in Germany, given that I'm not vegetarian and German cuisine seems largely meat focused, but, I actually really wanted all three of the vegetarian mains.  Of course, being traditional German food, you can be assured that vegetarian did not mean light, and these items were just as heavy, if not heavier, than their meaty counterparts, loaded up with cheese and cream, and plenty of carbs.

On our first visit, I opted for a vegetarian main myself, and on the second, I ordered one for the table.  I never got to try the third, the Gemüsestrudel, a savory strudel filled with vegetables and topped with cream sauce, but, if I manage to go back sometime, it is high on my list.

While perhaps not known for vegetarian food, I can safely say that these traditional dishes were fantastic, and, actually the highlights of my meals at Zum Dürnbräu were all vegetarian.

Rahmschwammerl. €11.50. 

"Fresh mushrooms served in a creamy sauce with herbs and bread dumpling."

On my first visit, when no one wanted to share dishes, I picked this as my entree.  It basically sounded like all things I love: cream sauce.  Mushrooms.  Bread dumplings.

And ... it was totally delicious.  Comfort food at its finest.

Two huge bread dumplings, in a super rich cream sauce, with tons of mushrooms.

There is no way a single person could finish this dish and still manage to walk out of the restaurant, even without ordering dessert.  And I knew I wanted dessert, so, I tried hard not to eat it all.  But it was a battle, as it was so good it was really, really hard to stop, even when I was beyond full.

So, starting with the dumplings.  I wasn't actually entirely sure what a bread dumpling was exactly, but, these were basically big, soft, moist, balls of bread.  Like a scoop of bread pudding or stuffing perhaps.  They were really well seasoned, and perfect for soaking up all the sauce.  I know this description doesn't necessarily sound great, soggy, moist, bread balls, but, I assure you, it worked.  And you'd think that I'd want more texture, a sear on the outside, but, nope, they were fine just like this.

And that sauce.  Swoon.  A super rich, super heavy, cream sauce.  Like the dumplings, well seasoned.  And loaded up with mushrooms, assorted varieties of mostly exotic mushrooms, sliced into various sizes, all well cooked, soft but not mushy.

This dish reminded me of stuffing smothered in gravy, or biscuits smothered in gravy, melded with mushroom stroganoff, all comfort foods in my world.

Everything about this dish was a winner.  Yes, it was rich, it was heavy, and the portion was far too big, but, it was wonderful, my favorite savory dish of all the visits.  In the future, I'd love to get this again, along with a salad, and split them both with someone else, and then of course, have dessert.  That would be the perfect amount of food and balance of heaviness.

Kässpätzle. €10,50.

"Spätzle 'Allgäuer style' mini dumplings covered with a creamy cheese sauce and roasted onions served with a small side salad".

On the second visit, I ordered the spätzle for the group, thinking it would be nice to have something besides meat, and, I wanted to try it myself anyway.

This one said it was served with "roasted onions", which turned out to be crispy onion straws.  Ok, so, "onion rings" is raw red onion, and "roasted onions" is crispy fried onion strings.  Translation is hard.

I'm not sure if you can tell the scale of this dish, but, this was a huge plate, and it was loaded up with spätzle.  With our group size, it was perfect, as we all got a scoop and it wasn't too much, but, like all the dishes, I can't imagine trying to eat it all myself.

The sauce was creamy, it was cheesy, it was pretty awesome, basically like uber mac and cheese.  Uber mac and cheese, with a ridiculous pile of crispy onion strings on top that is.  Of course I loved the fried onions on top too.

Overall, this was my favorite savory dish of the second trip, and my fourth favorite savory bite overall, and I'd gladly get it again.

Small Side Salad (with Kässpätzle).

The spätzle was served with a salad on the side, presumably to cut the richness of the dish.  It was a shockingly good salad, just like the salad on top of the obatzda.

I had read reviews where everyone said the salads were great, but, I still didn't quite believe it.  Why on earth does this place make a good salad?  I have no idea, but, it was super fresh, and full of quality ingredients like bell peppers of assorted colors, carrots, radishes, and tomatoes.  It was wonderfully seasoned, and had a really delicious, creamy dressing.

I actually liked the salad even more than the spätzle itself, making this my third favorite savory bite.  The salad is served as a side dish a la carte as well, and I'd recommend it, just to have something light.

Our Specials

We focused mostly on the specials, because, well, they are special?  The theme here was huge portions of meat, in well seasoned, tasty sauces, with complimentary vegetable side dishes.

“Dürnbräu Geschichten″. € 20,90.

"'Dürnbräu stories', medallions of pork served with hearty cooked sauce of bacon, onions, herbs, garlic and fresh mushrooms, topped with stripes of roasted dark bread and a small side salad."

On my first visit, two of my tablemates each got the Dürnbräu Geschichten.  It too was a crazy hearty portion, and served with the same excellent salad on the side.

I didn't try the pork, nor the bread, as I mentioned, this wasn't a sharing group, but, I did want to try the sauce, so, when one diner was trying to identify the ingredients in the sauce, I volunteered to uh, help.

The sauce was very complex, and my guess was veal based, but I really don't know.  Serious depth of flavor though, and, I loved the bits of bacon in it.  If I wasn't already busy lapping up my own sauce, I would have liked even more.

 Schweinebraten. €15,90.

"Oven fresh pork roast served with crackle on dark beer gravy with potato and bread dumpling and white cabbage salad."

This was a hearty portion of meat, served with two balls on the side.

The first ball was one of the same bread dumplings as I enjoyed on my first visit (although it seemed smaller here), and was not covered in the delicious cream sauce.  It was fine for soaking up this gravy, but, was much better in my creamy mushroom sauce.

The other ball was a potato dumpling, again, not quite what I was expecting.  Does dumpling just mean ball?  The potato dumpling was entirely uninteresting to me.  Basically just a scoop of compressed potato.  In the world of potato based items, this was about as boring to me as boiled or baked potatoes.  Why not a nice pile of mash at least?

The pork roast I guess was fine, but, I don't really like roast pork, and I didn't love the beer gravy either.  My least favorite of the dishes, but I think this was due to personal preference.  I wouldn't want this again, but, the others seemed to think it was fine.  The crackle was good.

White Cabbage Salad (with Schweinebraten).

The pork roast was served with a white cabbage salad on the side, a very generous bowl full.  It was topped with green onion, radish chunks, and bacon bits.

It was really quite good.  The cabbage was fresh and crisp, and it had some horseradish mixed in for some kick.  The bacon bits added a crunch and saltiness.

I loved this, as silly as it sounds, this side dish was my favorite savory of the night.  See, I don't always go for the heavy, decadent stuff!

Schweinshaxen. €14,90.

"Half crispy knuckle of pork, directly out of the oven served with sauerkraut and potato dumplings."

This dish was served with two of the potato dumplings.  I'm not sure how they choose what dumplings to serve with what, as it seemed just as appropriate to me to have one of the bread ones here too.  Anyway, I still wasn't into the potato balls with this dish, although they were good to soak up sauce.

The sauerkraut in this dish was actually in the base of the dish, and it was warm and creamy.  I'm not sure what else was in there.

And, the main attraction, the pork knuckle (or ham hock as I know it).  They nailed the cooking on this, somehow making it tender and shred easily with a fork.  It must have been braised or roasted for a very long time.  The "half crispy" portion was totally crazy, I'm still not sure how that was done.  Was it the skin?  Was it dunked in something and deep fried?  I have no idea, but it was crazy crispy, salty, and right up my alley.

While this dish isn't one I would have wanted on my own, I was glad to try it and really enjoyed the kraut and crispy bits more than I expected.

 Wiener Schnitzel. € 21,50.

"'Wiener Schnitzel' veal escalope, covered with bread crumbles, pan fried in butter, served with roasted potatoes and cranberry jam."

Because I knew it would be a crowd pleaser, I had to order Wiener Schnitzel for the group.  It was served over roasted potatoes with a little bowl of cranberry jam on the side.

The schnitzel was good, pounded thin, very crunchy coating.  The potatoes were fine, but, just roasted potatoes.

This was all fine, well executed, but not particularly novel or special to me, so, after a couple bites, I left this for the others to polish off, while I focused on the things I liked more.

Something Sweet

Of course, one critical reason I pick any restaurant is the dessert.  Zum Dürnbräu is actually known to have great dessert options, all home made.

Something Sweet Menu.

The dessert menu has only 5 items on it.  The classic desserts: apple strudel and bavarian cream, plus a interesting sounding "pancake filled with ice cream", and two versions of kaiserschmarrn.

What is kaiserschmarrn?  Well, the menu said "Warm specialty, directly out of oven, big special pancake, dough, added with almonds and raisins served in twitched bits in a pan, with stewed apples."

I of course had done my research, and knew that these were the thing to get.  The description sounds a bit strange, as in, what is a "twitched bit", but, what it is is a giant, and I mean giant, shredded pancake, sorta pan fried.  Reviewers go nuts over these things, both versions, and report that they can easily serve 4 people each.  I doubted that, but, it turns out, they were right.

Since I returned with a large group on the second night, we were able to try nearly all the desserts.

New Place Settings.

Before dessert was served, we were provided fresh plates and cutlery.  I appreciated that they brought us dessert plates, many places don't provide plates for dessert, even when you are sharing.

Semmelschmarrn. €11.90.

"Bavarian version of “Kaiserschmarrn” directly out of oven served in twitched bits in a pan, with stewed plums."

On my first visit, since we had only four people, and, we were all stuffed since we didn't share entrees, we needed to get just one item, and picked the semmelschmarrn, the Bavarian version of  kaiserschmarrn.  From what I could tell, the main difference between the two is that it came with stewed plums on the side, rather than stewed apples.  I like plums in general far more than apples, and most reviewers had agreed this was the better dish, so, Bavarian style we went.

I knew that this was going to be large, and I knew that reviews said it could feed 4-6 people, but, I also know that I can eat a lot of dessert (although, I'll admit, after such a huge, rich meal, I didn't actually feel like I *needed* dessert, a pretty rare thing for me).  The rest of my group was similarly full, but, I had read so many good things about this dessert, that I had to order it.

My eyes went a bit wide when the giant cast iron pan was placed in front of us, loaded up with semmelschmarrn.  The "pancake" was basically chunks of sweet, hot dough.  The chunks came in assorted sizes, were crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside.  While not technically fried (I think they are pan seared in lots of butter), it basically reminded me of fried dough, except, sorta caramelized fried dough.  The entire thing was coated in powdered sugar, amping up the sweetness even further.

This was truly delicious.  I'd compare it more to fried dough or even beignets than pancake, except that you got your pick of assorted sizes, and thus textures.  In the mood for a crunchy bit?  Go for a smaller, thinner chunk.  Want doughy deliciousness?  Pick a big one.  It was tasty and fun to eat.  Why don't we have this in the US?  Turns out, "twitched bits" are delicious!

On the side was the stewed plums.  The fruit was very tart, and none of us liked it.  One bite in, I realized there was also a few chunks of watermelon (!) on top of the plums, and wisely didn't even try a second bite.  The pancake was delicious enough on its own that we didn't feel like we missed out, but, we all commented that it would be even better with whipped cream.

Anyway, this was very, very good, and I'd gladly get it again.  The portion is huge, and needs to be shared for sure, ideally with at least 4 people, and ideally not after a huge, heavy meal.  Heck, go just for beer and dessert, I'm sure that is fine.

 Kaiserschmarrn. €11,90

"'Austrian style' Warm specialty, directly out of oven, big special pancake, dough, added with almonds and raisins served in twitched bits in a pan, with stewed apples."

On the second visit, I decided we should try the kaiserschmarrn, for variety, and because I didn't like the plums themsevles anyway.

The pancake was nearly the same, except this one also had chunks of almonds and raisins mixed into the dough, which I liked more.  They added a bit more texture, a bit more flavor.  I think you could really mix in anything that you'd put in bread pudding, really.

But, otherwise, the pancake was basically the same ... delicious.

Stewed Apples for Kaiserschmarrn.

The "stewed apples" was applesauce, and, like the plums, it came garnished with a chunk of watermelon (and starfruit, mint, and pistachios).  Seriously, why so much watermelon?

I didn't like this as a side either.  I'm not sure which I liked better, this or the plums, as I didn't want either of them.  No one else did either, and after one bite, no one went back for more.

I also just don't understand why either of these are served on the side.  It seems like whipped cream, custard, or ice cream would make a lot more sense, all three of which the restaurant offers.  But, from my limited research, it seems that kaiserschmarrn is always served with one of these, or another fruit compote.  Also good would be caramel or chocolate or nutella ...

Bayrisch Creme. € 6,90.

"Bavarian crème with fruit sauce."

The previous day, at Augustiner Keller, our gluten-free diner ordered the Bavarian Creme.  I didn't try it there, but, it inspired me.  I've only ever had Bavarian Creme as a filling for donuts, but I love custards and puddings, so, this sounded like the perfect thing to try, and, traditional for the region too.

The Bavarian cream was ok, not quite the consistency I was expecting, a thick, fluffy mousse more than a smooth pudding.  It also had a layer of fruit jam and whipped cream on top, and a little sprinkle of pistachio.  Oh, and a crunchy wafer cookie on top.

I loved that it was served in a little jar, a rustic and cute presentation.  But what I didn't love was the contents of the jar lid.  Fruit.  But not just any fruit: watermelon, my deathly allergy.  Again.  There was also a gooseberry, a slice of starfruit, a chunk of pineapple, a strawberry, and a mint leaf, but, I couldn't get past the watermelon and didn't try any of the fruit.

Apfelstrudel. €5,70.

"'Applestrudel', straight out of the oven, served on a creamy hot vanilla sauce."

And finally, the classic apple strudel.  And, yup, it too was garnished with starfruit, mint, and deathmelon.  Sigh.

It was served warm, with warm custard surrounding it.

The custard was not as thick as the custard at Augustiner Keller, nor as flavorful, so, on this dimension only, Augustiner Keller provided a better product.

I went to try a bite of the strudel itself, on the edge farthest from the deathmelon, before anyone else broke into the dish and contaminated it.  One of my fellow dinners stopped me though, saying, "Really?  It is not worth it."  I realized he was right, and I was being totally foolish.

So, I didn't try the strudel itself, although it did seem like it had a good crunchy crust, and, it was warm.  The custard though, not great, and I wasn't even tempted to take a second spoonful.

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