European Vacation - Part 11 - Ratskeller and Spatenhaus in Munich, Germany

Besides the Hofbrauhaus, we did not really eat that much of German cuisine. I do not know if it is the cold I had at that time or the restaurants we went to, but it was really not my thing. It is not that we did not try as this post will show (besides the Hofbrauhaus).

Ratskeller Self Service:
Marienplatz 8  80331 Munich, Germany
089 219989-0

After walking around the city and our visit to one of its Art Museums, we decided to go to Ratskeller, a self service on Marienplatz. It was crowded for sure and we thought it was because the food was delicious... 

Like any self service, we picked up our tray and went first to the salad bar. There was some mozzarella and tomatoes, grilled vegetables, salad, etc...All priced by weight.
We decided to have a mix of tomatoes and mozzarella and grilled eggplants.
I know what you are going to tell me: it does not look like German cuisine. True, but considering the other choices of food they had, it was the safest...For sure, it looked better than these boiled white asparagus and potatoes!
Then we saw the potato pancakes: on the photo on the menu, it looked like any potato pancake you will find in a deli in New York. So we were thrilled to try to see if it was similar.
It was served with some black-ich sauerkraut that had an awful taste! Well, in fact the pancakes did not taste better: they were greasy, mushy and the fact that they put the apple in it did not help. We barely touched it.

Clearly, besides the salad, this was a bad choice! I do not think I would go back there....

Spatenhaus:

Residenzstraße 12  80333 Munich, Germany
089 2907060
http://www.kuffler.de/en/muenchen/spatenhaus/index.php

The restaurant is across the street from the Opera. It seems to be a popular restaurant, not only for tourists. The decor is very nice with painted arched ceilings. The service was a bit cold...Efficient, but cold!


In term of food, they serve Bavarian cuisine. So we gave it a try.

First was the clear consomme with liver dumpling.

Think about a Matzoh ball soup with a liver ball. I have to say that it was very good! The broth was delicate and the liver ball light with a nice liver taste.

Then, the spaetzles gratine with cheese (melted cheese, oven broiled), served with crispy onions and a salad.

Honestly, I did not care about the salad and it was weird to serve pasta (the spaetzles) with it. I did not really like the dish: it was dry and the pasta seemed overcooked. It might be the way German eat it!

Then, there was the warm goat cheese salad.
The cheese was deliciously toasted: I guess they put some sugar on top of the cheese and torched it. Simple and good.

So, overall, it was just ok. Interestingly, they put a pretzel basket on the table. Usually, when they put a basket on a table, you would not think that they would charge you for it. Over there, yes. They charged 1.50 Euros for each pretzel that was eaten! I personally do not like this type of pratice: at least tell your customers what the rules are! Do not trick them!

So, if you are in Munich, find another restaurant or go to Spatenhaus only if it is the only choice you have!

Enjoy (the post, not the food)!

And remember: I just want to eat!