Zwickl- Munich, Germany

A big goal during our trip to Munich was finding authentic Bavarian cuisine.  This cuisine is the prototypical German fare: pretzels, wursts, schweinebraten, wienerschnitzel.  There are a bunch of tourist restaurants that whip up vast quantities of Bavarian cuisine including Augustiner Keller and Hofbrauhaus.  If your desire is a quick taste of the local fare, these places will suffice.  However, if quality rather than quantity is what you desire, steer clear of the big tourist traps.  As it turns out, Yelp provided us with the best Bavarian fare on our trip. Based on an excelled location and even better reviews, we decided to go Zwicky not once, but twice. Zwickl, a corner bistro at the Viktualienmarkt in midst of Munich’s City Center, doesn’t look like much from the outside. But the second you walk in you are enveloped by the authentic Bavarian feel of the place. A small restaurant, when the weather is not appropriate to sit outside, it only has about 35-40 seats. The staff is small and friendly. There is a bartender/host and two servers. All work together to provide a comfortable and enjoyable meal. The decor is Bavarian rustic, a new personal favorite seeing as how it makes the “rustic chic” look seem more forced than it already is and is much more colorful.   

Zwickl whips up the comfort food you aspire to find outside the major cities and also provides an intimate atmosphere for casual dining.  On the dry warm days the restaurant doubles its capacity with outside seating.  However, to secure an inside spot a reservation is definitely required.  We were fortunate (and early enough) to walk in and secure a spot for 2.  At the conclusion of our dinner we made a reservation for the following night.

The drink menu is standard Bavarian with a healthy mix of cocktails using local favorites, German wine, and of course beer, Schnapps and local whiskey. We tried a little bit of everything with no complaints. The wine and cocktails were especially good.  Whiskey, by contrast, is clearly not a German specialty.  It was quite intriguing but tasted harsh and deadly.  Everything else was simply done without flare or ornamentation. The drinks and food just spoke for themselves. 

The centerpiece of menu of Zwickl are the meatballs.  There are a variety of these delicious spheres on the menu ranging from beef, veal, pork combinations to smoked salmon. Paired with traditional sides that compliment each of them, they also come with housemade mustards that vary with the dish. The pork and beef meatballs served with a potato bean salad appears to be one of the most popular dishes for good reason. The meatballs are well seasoned without taking away from the meat. The smoked fish with spinach and butter potatoes seems like it would be out of place in a traditional Bavarian restaurant, but pair it with the appropriate mustard and you don’t seem to think about it. The smoked fish was flavorful, but quite filling. I probably could have done with a smaller portion. 

Smoked salmon meatballs at Zwickl

In addition to meatball combinations, Schweinebraten was a tender melt-in-your mouth pork tenderloin.  Resting in its own jus it was reminiscent of the best prime rib.  The Kaesespaetzle consists of gnocchi served with 3 regional cheeses with fried onion pieces.  Similar to American macaroni and cheese, it uses cheeses that include gouda and emantaler providing a creamy nutty flavor.  

Kaesespaetzle

The finale is the Kaiserschmarrn.  This dessert has flavor and texture if a pancake and crepe mated.  Even though I can eat this delight with just powdered sugar it is typically served with apple sauce or any kind of fruit compote. It’s like french toast on steroids and flavorful enough not to require syrup. We had it previously on our trip, but this one was much better. 

Kaiserschmarrn

Overall, a great find in the center of the tourist area that had a definite lack of that “tourist-y” feel. While we were by no means the only tourists there, it can be noted that the out-of-towners in this place were all like us-looking for something more than a beer garden/beer cellar carrying the typical fare.  Easy to locate and easy to enjoy, this restaurant has something for anyone looking for traditional Bavarian fare.