Plekken in Munich

Munich's grand café since 1888 — Vienna's register, Bavarian discipline

Jan Hartwig's three-Michelin-star laboratory in Maxvorstadt

The Käfer family's 1930 Bogenhausen institution — gourmet rooms above the delicatessen

1898 game institution; Bavarian hunting fare under Hubert Buckl.

Munich's fine-dining legend — 2 Michelin stars under Benjamin Chmura

Same house, looser register — 1 Michelin à la carte

Jugendstil mosaic floors, Modenese aceto, pecorino-marjoram ravioli that's been on the menu since 1999

Mario Gamba's 'cucina del sole' — one Michelin star, holding it for 25 years

Two Michelin stars, 35 seats, modern French-Mediterranean on the Au-Isar edge

The university's Wirtshaus since the 1920s — Schwabing-Maxvorstadt seam

Munich's oldest beer garden, 1812 — 5,000 seats under the chestnuts

Ayinger brewery's first own Wirtshaus — Mariahilfplatz, wooden barrels, Mühlbach garden

Munich's first proper tapas bar, on Amalienstraße since 1995.

The Englischer Garten postcard — earns the slot

Franz Marc and Thomas Mann's old table — 1887 literary café, restored

Au-Isar cornerstone since the eighties — riverside brunch and rotating art

The Pinakothek-quarter museum café

An untouched 1955 café interior — Maxvorstadt time-capsule

Leopoldstraße's 46-year-old patisserie

On the English Garden edge, looking onto the university riding school

Bogenhausen's reliable Lebanese — full mezze table, halal grill, late hours.

Authentic Mexican tacos and quesadillas at Münchner Freiheit.

Munich's oldest ice cream parlour — Sarcletti family on Nymphenburger Straße since 1879

Donnersberger old-school coffeehouse — Turkish mocha, Greek mocha, Viennese melange

The largest beer garden in the world — 8,000 seats under chestnuts, since 1791

Schwabing steakhouse on Leopoldstraße — top-50 in Germany.

Munich's serious Afghan kitchen since 2001; cardamom, lamb, and pumpkin borani.

Bookstore-café-stage — the quieter heart of Schellingstraße

Scandinavian-inflected roastery on the Maxvorstadt-Neuhausen edge — one of two Loring roasters in Germany.

MVSM's flagship roastery café — light-roast specialty coffee since 2014.

Bavarian Wirtshaus on the palace canal — deeded by Elector Karl Albrecht in 1730

Schwabing Lebanese with the proper meze register, near Münchner Freiheit.

Mediterranean glamour on Wittelsbacher Platz — Riviera-meets-Italy in Maxvorstadt.

King Max I's 1820 palm house, behind Nymphenburg Palace — fifth-generation innkeepers

The palace-restaurant inside Schloss Nymphenburg — the only address with this view

Lakeside Bavarian on the Kleinhesseloher See — the refined garden

Chef Jianguo Zhang's Sichuan fine dining; Munich's first serious Chinese room.

Standing-only wine bar since the 1930s — Franconian whites, no chairs

Munich's largest schnitzel — the Maxvorstadt classic since 1995

World's Best Wine Bar 2025 — 900 wines by the glass via Coravin

Tatami sushi and seasonal kaiseki tucked inside the Amalienpassage.

Olga Polizzi's botanical garden five-star in Maxvorstadt

Royal-court Indian fine dining in Schwabing-West.

1825 protected villa, reopened 2023 as an Amalfi-coast Italian — handmade pasta, fresh seafood, walled courtyard

Schelling's own room near the English Garden — one star, full conviction

The Knödel institution Munich locals actually book