In a time when I thought leaving Canada by plane was next to impossible without being stuck in a small dingy room for 14 days with no human contact, I found myself in Bavaria with seven days to explore, eat, and drink.
In many ways Munich reminds me of Toronto. It’s a multicultural city with people from all over the world, easy to walk around and everyone loves a good patio.
But there is charm, history, and character that exudes every turning corner of the old narrow roads. City squares that are surrounded in Gothic architecture lead to grand roads constructed in an Italian renaissance style because one King fell in love with something he saw. As much walking as we did, we ate and drank to compensate.
One day, each meal was accompanied by dessert. Apfelstrudel for breakfast, Mango Cream Cake for lunch, and Kaiserchmam (bavarian pancake) for dinner.
Although my typical form of ‘being on a diet’ is me not drinking beer it seemed criminal to apply that rule to my seven days in Germany. Bavarians are particularly proud of their beer purity law (“Reinheitsgebot”), which clearly outline the ingredients and process for making beer. Not drinking beer in Bavaria would be like not drinking Champagne, in Champagne. Depending on my mood I drank a lager (Helles) or wheat beer (Weissbier) in 0.5L steins only, regardless of the time of day. My earliest Weissbier was 11 am and my latest Helles was 1am. Not once did I get that bloated feeling I have come to expect after two pints of Alexander Keiths. It was blissful.
Having nice weather was key to exploring Munich by foot, and mouth, especially during a pandemic. Half the beer gardens we wanted to try were closed, but the other half were open. Beer gardens allow you to bring your own food, which meant we went hunting for bread, cheese, meat, and olives from bakeries and cheese stores around the garden before sitting down for an early lunch in the sun.
Night time patio heaters were in full effect, accompanied by blankets and more beer to keep us warm.
We mostly stuck to Italian, Traditional German and Modern German food for the week. We snuck in one Chinese meal which provided the needed spice mix right in the middle of the week. One thing I loved about Bavaria was how much Bavarians also loves going out for traditional Bavarian food. Old taverns still cranking out pork knuckle, schnitzel, spatzle, and semmelknoedel (bread dumplings).
I dove head first with my first meal of the trip. A heavy piece of pork knuckle with a crispy skin hiding thin layer of fat and dark pork soaked in gravy. The side of small round potatoes were chewy and flavourless but everything tasted better with more gravy. German salads are severely underrated and from that meal on, was a meal staple (it may have something to do with the luxurious creamy dressing that almost makes you think this is unhealthy, but you forget about that by the next bite).
My last meal was the “small” schnitzel at Kaisergarten on their outdoor patio. Still the size of both my hands, roasted potatoes sliced half inch thick create the bed for the perfectly fried schitzel. The pork still juicy and the breading crispy and light. The accompaniments of fresh horseradish and cranberry sauce amplified the comfort level of the dish. Salad of course came as a starter.
Bavarian food is the epitome of comfort food. Hearty meat dishes, pasta with cheese and onions, schnitzel on top of more pasta and gravy soaked potatoes. As a visitor, all it took was a couple days of exploring to find comfort in the same core things millions of people do. And I couldn’t be happier.
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Its impossible to write proper food reviews after eating somewhere once, but these were very notable places we either ate or drank:
- nineOfive: classic Italian pizza and natural wines (shoutout to Seckinger Vineyard)
- Kaisergarten: bavarian staples including a fantastic schnitzel
- Die Kuchenwerkstatt: a cafe serving fresh cake and cofee, only open 2–5pm on weekends
- Spatenhaus: bavarian staples with fantastic square seating during the day
- Manu: cute wine bar with modern German dishes & looked to be fully run and staffed by women which is a great thing to see
- Seehaus: restaurant near the river in English Garden, apfelstrudel was delicious
- Cafe Kosmos: late night beers if your hotel is near the main station
- Mustafas Gemus Kebap: take away kebab that rivals anything in Toronto
- The Hutong Club: everything except our waitress standing around and reminding us to tip 10% was great
- Bar Mural: boisterous wine bar with great selections by the glass, but inside did not feel very pandemic safe at the moment
- Buy a pretzel every morning and eat it, just for good luck
