Hi, just wanted to give a quick trip report on my short visit to Munich this week. I arrived Tuesday afternoon at the airport, found my way down to the S-bahn and caught the S8 train which took me to Rosenheimerplatz where I was meeting my husband and staying at the Hilton which you can access from the underground through their car park. I found the S-bahn completely unthreatening, clean and relatively easy to use (I am dyslexic so I am not the best person to rate ease of use when it comes to reading maps etc – my husband had told me where to go and which train to get and where to get off).
The room at the Hilton was extremely clean, helpful and friendly staff and had everything that we needed and I will submit a review of the hotel separately.
We took the train for two stops to the Marienplatz and had a wander around, stopping for a glass of wine under the trees in the Englischer Garten, which was lovely. I was slightly surprised at what appeared to be a local custom of putting ice cubes in wine – but it was very refreshing. The local area is interesting and easy to walk around and I found the balance between bicycles and pedestrians to be fine – and it is good to see so many people using bikes – and being polite rather than aggressive in their riding, (which happens a lot where I live).
In the evening we went for a meal to SevenFish which had been recommended to my husband and he had booked a table. It was a very pleasant evening. We were greeted warmly, shown to our table and helped through the menu by a very charming young waitress who also helped us choose a wine as neither of us are familiar with German wines. When I asked if I could have mussels as a starter, on their own rather than with pasta, this wasn’t a problem at all, and they were delicious. My husband had the oysters which he said were very fresh and tasty. Our main course was black turbot with a giant scampi, which was cooked to perfection. We skipped desert as we were full but chocolates came with our coffee and grappa and they were delicious. The bill was, in my opinion, high – but I found that the cost of living in Munich is high compared to what I am used to in London – but that is due to the weakness of the pound and the strength of the Euro as much as anything else I guess, plus I understand that SevenFish is one of the more popular restaurants in Munich.
The next day we went to two glass galleries that I wanted to visit – one was the Alexander Tutsek Foundation gallery in Karl-Theodor-StraBe which has an exhibition of Chinese contemporary glass and was extremely interesting to me (I work with glass myself) and the other was a visit to First-Glas Galerie in Heßstraße that had been recommended here on TA. The owner of the First-Glas, Friederike Sauter, is a very kind and interesting woman who was generous with her time and knowledge of the artists she represents. Both venues were well worth a visit for me and I would strongly recommend them to anyone interested in contemporary art glass.
We took the train back to Marienplatz and wandered around some more until we found Brenner (another recommendation) which we stopped at for a plate of pasta, which was excellent (and we sheltered under an umbrella outside in the warm rain, which soon passed).
I was coming down with a cold/cough so needed a rest before our trip out in the evening to another recommended restaurant, this one called Restaurant Nymphenburger Hof. It was my birthday treat and I really couldn’t have had a better evening. The restaurant, to me, is in an unlikely location – on a main road at the bottom of an apartment block – but when you walk through the gates into the garden – it is like entering a secret garden – it is walled and screened by large umbrellas from which hang many baskets of flowers and colourful plants grow abundantly creating an intimate and secluded atmosphere. We were very warmly greeted, shown to a lovely table with a bowl of beautiful red roses decorating it, and offered a cocktail of champagne and strawberries that was absolutely delicious, which we sipped while looking at the menu. They don’t have menus in English and unfortunately I cannot read German, but we taken through the menu without being made to feel embarrassed or that we were ignorant – and each dish was explained. We had a wonderful meal – I chose scallops to start and my husband had a lobster salad – both of which really couldn’t have been improved upon. Again we went for black turbot for our main course, which seems to be a local speciality and it was even more delicious than the fish we had had the previous night at SevenFish. We managed to squeeze in a wonderful desert and again our coffees and grappa came with homemade chocolates. The wines were slightly cheaper here than at SevenFish, but still very expensive compared to what is available at restaurants here. Its not that the mid to high price range is any different – it just seems that there aren’t any really good priced house wines available – but that could be because we were dining at top end restaurants (it was my birthday treat).
It was a perfect evening at the Restaurant Nymphenburger Hof, I loved the garden setting, the staff were exceptionally good – we appeared to be the only tourists there and it was obvious that many of the diners were regulars – but we were made to feel so welcome, and the food could not be faulted. If you have a special occasion to celebrate I would strongly recommend it.
The next day I caught the S-bahn back to the airport, which was very easy as it terminates there (I caught the S8 again) and can honestly say that I really enjoyed my short trip to Munich and look forward to returning again – for the thing that was the nicest about the whole trip for me – is how friendly and welcoming everyone was – it is a busy city but a quirky and welcoming one and it seems to have a big heart too. Thank you Munich for making me feel so welcome, my first visit to Germany (I have travelled quite extensively in other areas of Europe) was a big success – and I can see why people love Munich so much. I look forward to returning. And thanks to people on this forum for their help – it is much appreciated.
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Very nice report. I am envious. Ahh, the Nymphenburger Hof - good food there.
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Thanks for an excellent report.
Have been trying to decide whether to go to Munich or not and I think your review has confirmed that we will.
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Sunskin - thanks! Yes, I think it has to go down as one of my best meals/evenings ever. BTW, we are heading to Florida - St Pete Beach - in September for our wedding anniversary - don%26#39;t suppose that is your neck of the woods and you can recommend somewhere good to eat?? (Hope you don%26#39;t think I%26#39;m being too cheeky asking)
BigAndy, yes! go to Munich - I thoroughly recommend it and am looking forward to returning to visit again while my husband is still working out there.
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