United777Heavy

Please accept my advance apologies in-advance if I offend anyone one...


With so many beer gardens in the city of Munich, are they all the same?

I'm staying downtown Munich (in mid-June), or at least that what I think... and I want to try several different places... but are they all the same?

I've read on the FT boards to try, augustiner-restaurant or augustiner keller.


First of all, I don't speak-a-lick of Germany, except what I may learn before I get there... (and yes, my pronuciation will be shameless)... Any tips?


thanks..

Crampedin13A

The biergartens are easy even without any German. Just go up and ask for a maß of helles and then proceed to the cashier to pay for it. When are you going? The quickest introduction to them would be the small one in the Viktualienmarkt. It is also the one most likely to be open if the weather is crap(unfortunately quite common). The next one to go to would be the Chinesicher Turm biergarten in the Englischer Garten if the weather is nice. It is huge and easy to figure out as a tourist. The Seehaus biergarten further north in the Englischer Garten is in a fantastic setting and definitely worth a visit. The Augustiner Keller biergarten at Hackerbrucke west of the Hauptbahnhof is awesome especially at night. Huge and serving the best helles in Munchen. Also the way the empty glasses are collected is something I doubt you will see anywhere else.. Problem is it seems to be hardly ever open if the weather isn't really good. There are plenty of others such as Hirschgarten,Taxisgarten. Here is a short list:http://www.muenchen.de/Stadtleben/Ea...ergardens.html. I'm sure that list is comprehensive enough for one trip.
Enjoy them. On a good day being in one is about as good as it gets anywhere.

SunshineStay

The main difference is that the more central locations, e.g. the Augustinergarten near Hackerbrücke and the Biergarten in the English Garden attract more tourists and are a little bit more expensive.

Others like the Taxisgarten or the Michaeligarten attract more locals.

supermasterphil

The main concept of course it the same. They are typically branded with one sort of beer producer like "Augustiner", "Löwenbräu" (disgusting) or other. The typical local (Munich) beer is called "Helles".

The other difference is typically the quality of the food. Some are more down to earth, some are a little more upscale (people, food, prices)

It should also be easy enough to get in touch with locals, I don't know how old you are but if you are travelling alone, just look out for others. Typically lots of Americans and other tourists around, also younger locals will also enjoy hanging out with fun people they don't know. Older ones might have language issues

As for vocabulary, all you need to know is "Bier, Schnitzel, Breze, Weisswurst, süßer Senf" :-)

Oh my, my post is full of stereotypes

ChrisMuc

Schnitzel? I have never seen any local eat Schnitzel in a beergarden....
That's how we recocnize "Preißen" (everybody from outside Bavaria)
Better try the local stuff. Weisswurst, Obazta, Breze, Beer.
Oh and only whimps order a "Halbe" in the Beergarten :-D which is half a liter instead of the usual Maß which is a Liter.

oliver2002

There are finer differences: the first one is price, you can certainly pay far more at the cool locations (chin turm, seegarten) within the city. The second is quality of food: the more traffic the location gets the better or worse the food.

One thing to remember is that at a beer garden you can bring your own food, you only have to buy beer @:-)

supermasterphil

Only Preißen eat Weisswurst after 11am and when do most people typically go the Biergarten?

ChrisMuc

Klugscheisser :-) Afterall the 11am rule is outdated. As the weisswurst used to be raw meat it had to be eaten fast (before Noon). Today it's is already scald and there is no danger in eating them after 11 :-) But if you are even more of a "Klugscheisser" you should know to only eat them before eleven on Saturday :-p And don't forget to peel them. The otherday at the Augustiner there were these russian Ladys and they ate them with the skin - guess what - the didn't like them :-)

Something just came to my mind - interstingly the Hofbräuhaus has a nice beergarden. Usually people from Munich don't go to the Hofbräuhaus - it was built for tourists only :-) Been there once or twice - beeing right dowtown it was quiet and nice.

flyingfkb

No the grammar Nazi strikes: the plural of Biergarten is Biergärten. My favorite in Munich is the one at the Chinesischer Turm. Yes it is more touristic but still the location is very nice as the whole English Garden is.

Something really worth to watch are the surfers at the Eisbach.

etch5895

I tend to avoid places that sell Erdinger. Their weissbiers have an unpleasant aftertaste to me. I'm a fan of Augustiner beers and they have more than one beer hall in the city.

I've never peeled a weisswurst, and they have all tasted good to me with some mustard, even after 10-11 AM, especially when accompanied by a good weizen.

ChrisMuc

^

Aba Weisswürscht mit da Haut san ja nur no greislig....

jspira

Ja, I find it amusing when I see people attacking a Weißwurst without peeling. It can´t taste very good with the skin on.

jspira

I wrote an article last year with some history of the Biergarten.

For those who are interested in the topic, it is on line here.

I mention and include photos of several in the area.

ChrisMuc

Especially as the skin is kind of thick and rubber like. It's not like on other sausages where you can easily eat it. We have Weisswürscht every Saturday at home and i was born here - i have seen people suck the sausage out of the skin which is kinda popular - but they don't eat the skin either.

jspira

Ja, I thought of this thread (and your comment) when I went with a friend to the Loreley Biergarten in Brooklyn on Friday. He had the Wurstteller and I had to stop him from eating the Weißwürscht with the skin on.