Munich · Where to eat

Creative modern
Jan Hartwig's own restaurant on Luisenstraße in Maxvorstadt, opened after he left the Bayerischer Hof and awarded three stars again under his own name. Tuesday to Thursday evenings, Friday lunch and dinner.
Order: Set tasting menus and nothing else; arrivals inside a fixed half-hour window rather than staggered through the evening; a Friday lunch as well as dinner
Why go: A three-star chef who walked away from a grand hotel to run a room of his own three streets from the Pinakotheken.
Locals order: Friday lunch begins at noon and is the only daytime service of the week.
book online; arrivals within a set half-hour window

Modern German-Japanese
A former scribes' house on Burgstraße in the Altstadt, a few steps from Marienplatz, split between the starred dining room and the ground-floor bar. Bar Tatar runs Tuesday to Saturday.
Order: Tohru Nakamura's three-star menu upstairs; Bar Tatar downstairs for tartare variations and drinks; two entirely separate propositions in one Altstadt house
Why go: Three stars in a listed Altstadt house that also runs a tartare-and-drinks bar on the ground floor.
Locals order: If the dining room is gone, take Bar Tatar downstairs; it keeps its own hours and does not need a months-ahead booking.
book online; the bar is a separate reservation

Modern creative
The gourmet dining room of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on Promenadeplatz, reached through the hotel rather than off the street.
Order: Set tasting menus only; two stars held inside the Bayerischer Hof; wine service drawn from a grand hotel cellar
Why go: The most decorated dining room inside Munich's grandest hotel, and you walk in through the lobby to reach it.
Locals order: Ask reception rather than looking for a street entrance; there is not one.
book through the hotel

French contemporary
The 1971 building on Johann-Fichte-Straße in Schwabing, orange carpet and all, restored rather than modernised. Wednesday to Saturday, lunch 12.00-16.00 and dinner from 18.30.
Order: Tasting menus with a signature five-course; a Saturday four-course with wine pairing at 225 euros; a Menu Jeune for under-35s at 150 euros at lunch
Why go: A dining room that has been continuously famous since 1971 and looks exactly like it, on purpose.
Locals order: If you are under 35, ask for the Menu Jeune - 150 euros for four courses at lunch in a two-star room.
book online; elegant dress expected, no sportswear

Creative
Upstairs at Dallmayr on Dienerstraße in the Altstadt, directly over the food halls.
Order: Tasting menus above the delicatessen counters; two stars on the first floor of a food hall; a cellar drawn from the shop below
Why go: A two-star dining room sitting directly on top of one of Europe's best-known delicatessens.
Locals order: Walk the shop downstairs first; the coffee and cheese counters explain a good deal of what arrives upstairs.
book ahead

Contemporary tasting
Third floor of BMW Welt at Am Olympiapark, a small room that opened straight into two stars and Michelin's opening of the year for 2026. Tuesday to Saturday, 19.00-23.00.
Order: An eight-course menu with side dishes, currently Whispers of the Rainforest, at 290 euros; pairings from 140 alcohol-free to 160 with wine; forty-two seats and no more
Why go: Two stars awarded on opening, inside a car showroom, which is not a sentence anybody expected to write.
Locals order: The menu is rebuilt roughly four times a year, so coming back six months later is a genuinely different meal.
book online; phone bookings Tuesday to Friday 10.00-14.00

Classic technique
Christoph Kunz's own room on Hackenstraße in the Altstadt, opened after years running the Alois kitchen. Wednesday evening, then Thursday to Saturday lunch and dinner; closed Sunday to Tuesday.
Order: Five courses at lunch, eight at dinner; a vegetarian version on request but no vegan menu; wine pairings if you ask for them
Why go: A two-star chef who left a famous address and set up three streets away, with a lunch price attached.
Locals order: Thursday to Saturday lunch is five courses against eight at dinner, and is the cheaper way into this kitchen.
book on OpenTable or by phone

Modern tasting
A corner room in Maxvorstadt, university territory, where the bistro framing undersells what the kitchen actually does.
Order: Set menus despite the bistro in the name; a corner site straddling Amalienstraße and Türkenstraße; one Michelin star held in a room of that size
Why go: The name says bistro, the guide says star, and the menu format sides with the guide.
Locals order: It sits between the university and the Pinakotheken - make it dinner after a gallery afternoon rather than a separate trip.
book ahead; small room

Modern French
Two floors in the Schäfflerhof on Maffeistraße, in the middle of the Altstadt shopping streets.
Order: A gourmet restaurant upstairs and a brasserie on the ground floor; separate menus and separate booking systems for each; French cooking on both floors
Why go: One address, two restaurants, and the star belongs to only one of them.
Locals order: The ground-floor brasserie takes its own bookings and is where people eat when they want the kitchen without the menu.
book each floor separately

Classic French
The second dining room inside the Tantris building on Johann-Fichte-Straße, run as a carte restaurant against the tasting menu alongside it.
Order: A la carte rather than a tasting menu; the Eckart Witzigmann menu as an option; the same building and cellar as Tantris next door
Why go: The only place in Munich where you can order Witzigmann's dishes off a written menu rather than take what comes.
Locals order: Choose DNA over Tantris if you would rather order than be served a sequence; the address is identical.
book online; same building as Tantris

Modern tasting
A neighbourhood-scale restaurant on Zehentbauernstraße in Obergiesing, five minutes from the U2 at Silberhornstraße. Tuesday to Saturday, 18.30 to midnight.
Order: Set menus out of a small kitchen; a residential street rather than a restaurant one; one star held without a view to sell
Why go: A Michelin star held in a residential street with no passing trade and nothing to look at.
Locals order: Take the U2 to Silberhornstraße rather than a taxi; it is a five-minute walk from the platform.
book online; closed Sunday and Monday

Modern sharing
A Schwabing room on Kurfürstenstraße run on the idea that a starred meal should look generous. Tuesday to Thursday from 18.30, Friday and Saturday from 19.00, plus Saturday lunch.
Order: Menus written for the table rather than the individual; a stated preference for abundance over minimalism; Saturday lunch from noon
Why go: A one-star kitchen that argues against the small-plate orthodoxy, in writing, on its own website.
Locals order: Saturday lunch from noon is the only daytime service they run all week.
book online; phone answered Tuesday to Saturday afternoons

Modern Bavarian
A fine-dining room attached to the Hirschau beer garden inside the Englischer Garten, with a veranda and a herb garden of its own. Wednesday to Saturday, 18.00-23.00.
Order: Bavarian cooking with contemporary technique; herbs and vegetables grown on the site inside the Englischer Garten; truffle dinners at 300 euros and winemaker dinners from 280
Why go: The only Munich restaurant that grows part of its own menu, and it does it inside a public park.
Locals order: The beer garden is the same operation; drink out there cheaply one evening and book the restaurant for another.
book online or by email

Seasonal French
Sigi Schelling's room on Werneckstraße in Schwabing, in a building that has held a star under more than one name. Wednesday to Saturday, lunch 12.00-16.00 and dinner from 18.30.
Order: Business lunch Wednesday to Friday at 135 euros for three courses or 155 for four; Saturday lunch at 215 with wine pairing; a five-course dinner at 240
Why go: One of very few starred kitchens in Germany run by a woman working under her own name.
Locals order: The Wednesday-to-Friday lunch is 135 euros against 240 at dinner, from the same kitchen and the same brigade.
book online or by phone; closed Sunday to Tuesday

Austrian
A Glockenbach dining room on Ickstattstraße running a wine cellar wildly out of proportion to its size, with the Garbo Bar next door.
Order: Plain Austrian cooking rather than a modernised version; roughly 1,200 wines from France, Germany and Austria; a long list available by the glass
Why go: Twelve hundred wines standing behind a menu of Austrian home cooking.
Locals order: Drink by the glass. The list runs to mature vintages and they open plenty of them.
book online; small room

Creative bistro
A small kitchen on Alter Messeplatz in Schwanthalerhöhe, on the former Messe site now given over to housing and parkland.
Order: A short, changing creative menu; Bib Gourmand pricing on the old trade-fair grounds; wine chosen to match rather than to impress
Why go: Creative cooking at Bib Gourmand money in a district Munich's restaurant guides mostly skip.
Locals order: It sits beside the Bavariapark - walk over from Theresienwiese rather than coming out from the Altstadt.
book ahead; small room

Bavarian beer hall
Platzl 9 in the Altstadt, open daily 11.00 to midnight with the kitchen stopping at 22.00 and last drinks at 23.30. The Schwemme downstairs is communal and unreserved.
Order: Hofbräu Original, Dunkel and the seasonal beers; Bavarian Schmankerl made with regional supply; the ground-floor Schwemme and the Wirtsgarten behind it
Why go: The most visited beer hall on earth, which is both the reason to go and the reason to be quick about it.
Locals order: Walk straight through to the Wirtsgarten at the back; the courtyard is calmer than the hall and the menu is the same.
no booking needed in the Schwemme; groups reserve upstairs

Beer garden and Wirtshaus
Arnulfstraße 52, between the Hauptbahnhof and Hackerbrücke, with one of the city's largest chestnut gardens behind the building.
Order: Augustiner drawn from wooden barrels; Bavarian Wirtshaus cooking indoors; a self-service section out in the chestnut garden
Why go: Munich's beer arguments end here more often than they end at the Hofbräuhaus.
Locals order: Use the self-service half of the garden rather than the waited tables; Bavarian law lets you bring your own Brotzeit to it, and people do.
reserve for the restaurant; the garden is first-come

Weissbier Wirtshaus
Tal 7 in the Altstadt, the original Schneider Weisse house and trading for over 150 years. Daily 09.00 to 23.30, hot food to 22.30.
Order: Weisswurst breakfast served 09.00 to 12.00 daily; Kronfleisch and offal cuts from the house butchery; Haxn
Why go: Weisswurst before noon, in the room where Schneider Weisse was first poured.
Locals order: Sunday's Weisswurst breakfast comes with a brass band; every other morning it is just the sausages.
book online or by phone

Dumplings and beer
Lilienstraße 51 in the Au, trading on beer and dumplings since 1901. Weekdays from 17.00, weekends and holidays from 10.00, with the kitchen open through to 22.00.
Order: Knödel of every kind, savoury and sweet; Bavarian dishes built around them; a dumpling cookery class in the same building
Why go: A Wirtshaus that made the dumpling its entire identity and then started teaching it.
Locals order: Weekends open at ten, the only time you can eat Knödel here before lunch.
book through OpenTable

Bavarian Wirtshaus
Residenzstraße 9 by the Odeonsplatz, open daily 10.00 to midnight, with vaulted rooms seating anything from ten to 150.
Order: Weisswurst with the house mustard; Löwenbräu on tap; the Frühschoppen served 10.00 to 11.30
Why go: The Weisswurst here is the version Munich points at when it wants to settle the argument.
Locals order: Order the Weisswurst inside the Frühschoppen window before 11.30; after midday the room becomes a lunch restaurant.
book online; separate rooms for groups

Bratwurst Wirtshaus
Frauenplatz 9, in the shadow of the Frauenkirche, open daily 10.00 to 01.00 with a beer garden and several upstairs rooms.
Order: Nuremberg-style bratwurst grilled over an open beechwood fire; Schweinsbraten and schnitzel alongside; Augustiner on tap
Why go: Beechwood-fired sausages two minutes from Marienplatz, which is not where you would expect to find them.
Locals order: Eat at the Schänke counter rather than taking a table; the grill is in front of you and the turnaround is faster.
book by phone or OpenTable

Bavarian and fish
Residenzstraße 12, facing the Nationaltheater across Max-Joseph-Platz. Ground floor daily 11.30-00.30, upper floor to midnight.
Order: Bavarian and Austrian classics on the ground floor; a fish-led menu upstairs; Spaten on draught throughout
Why go: The pre- and post-opera table in Munich, and the two floors work as two different restaurants.
Locals order: Ground floor for the Bavarian carte, upstairs for the fish and the window seats over the opera square.
book each floor separately through OpenTable

Viennese-style cafe
Brienner Straße 11, a Munich cafe since 1888, with a glass-roofed Palmengarten room off the main floor. Monday 08.00-20.00, Tuesday to Saturday 08.00-22.00, Sunday 09.00-20.00.
Order: House-made pralines and confectionery; coffee taken at the counter; Alpine-region cooking at lunch and dinner
Why go: The surviving fragment of Munich's grand cafe era, still making its own pralines on the premises.
Locals order: Sunday from ten there is an orchestra playing through breakfast - go for that specifically, or avoid it specifically.
reserve for the Palmengarten; walk in for coffee

Beer garden
Hirschgarten 1 in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg: 500 seats inside, 1,200 waited seats outside and 7,000 self-service places, which the operators call the world's largest beer garden. Daily 11.00 to midnight, kitchen to 22.00.
Order: Augustiner poured out in the garden; Bavarian Wirtshaus cooking indoors; a deer enclosure at the end of the tables
Why go: Seven thousand self-service places, and a herd of deer at the far end of them.
Locals order: Take the S-Bahn to Hirschgarten and go to the self-service counters; the waited section charges more for the same beer.
no booking for the self-service garden; reserve the restaurant

Beer garden
Englischer Garten 3, run by the Haberl family since 1974, with green wooden tables ringing a wooden pagoda. In fine weather from 11.00 on weekdays and 10.00 at weekends; otherwise the kiosk only, from noon.
Order: Ox-roast rolls and Obazda from the self-service counters; Hofbräu poured by the litre; a brass band playing from the pagoda
Why go: A brass band plays from a five-storey wooden pagoda while you queue for your own beer.
Locals order: The band plays Wednesday from 16.00, Friday from 15.00, Saturday from 14.00 and Sunday from noon; outside those hours it is simply a beer garden.
no bookings; self-service

Beer garden
Isarauen 8, a few steps from the Flauchersteg footbridge on the Isar, open daily from noon when the weather holds.
Order: Ochsensemmel, Fleischpflanzerl and Schweinshaxn from the kitchen; Brotzeit boards; chips and a Flaucher bowl for the non-traditionalists
Why go: The beer garden Munich uses after swimming in the Isar rather than after sightseeing.
Locals order: Cycle in along the river rather than driving, and note that Sundays and holidays the garden turns over to live music.
no bookings; walk in

Food market
The Altstadt's daily food market, moved off Marienplatz in the early nineteenth century, with a maypole and fountains between the stands.
Order: Butchers, a North Sea fish hall and fruit pavilions; a beer garden set in the middle of the stalls; Weisswurst breakfast at the market restaurants
Why go: A working market that never turned into a food court, with a beer garden sitting in the middle of it.
Locals order: Buy from the stalls and eat at the beer garden benches; the self-service tables take your own food, only the beer has to be theirs.
no bookings; stalls and benches

Soup counter
A soup counter on the Viktualienmarkt trading on speed and price rather than on seating.
Order: Soups and stews made on the Viktualienmarkt; a list that rotates daily; further branches in the Westend and Laim
Why go: The cheapest hot lunch in central Munich that is not a sausage.
Locals order: Go at midday. The place is built around the lunch rush and the list is at its longest then.
no bookings; counter service

Fried pastries
Prälat-Zistl-Straße 8 at the edge of the Viktualienmarkt, four pastries on the board and nothing else. Monday to Friday 09.00-18.00, Saturday to 17.30, closed Sunday.
Order: Schmalznudel, the flat fried doughnut the place is named for; Rohrnudel and Striezel; Krapfen
Why go: Four fried pastries, made continuously, in a room that has not altered its offer in decades.
Locals order: Eat it standing and straight away; a Schmalznudel that has sat for ten minutes is a different object.
no bookings; queue at the counter

Bakery and cafe
Marienplatz 18, the flagship of a family bakery founded in 1883 and now in its fifth generation.
Order: Breads, Brezn and Semmeln; cakes and tortes made in house; a breakfast counter looking onto Marienplatz
Why go: A 140-year-old family bakery holding the best window on Marienplatz.
Locals order: It is a bakery counter first and a cafe second - order at the counter, then find a seat, not the other way round.
no bookings; counter service

Butcher's counter
A Munich butcher since 1902, now in its fourth generation, with branches across the city and a hot counter in most of them.
Order: Leberkässemmel, the standard Munich snack, sometimes on offer at 1.80 euros; sausages and cold cuts sold by weight; hot food from the counter
Why go: The cheapest properly Bavarian thing you can eat in Munich, sold by a butcher rather than a restaurant.
Locals order: Ask for the Leberkäs warm in a Semmel with sweet mustard and eat it on the pavement; that is the entire transaction.
no bookings; counter service

Organic beer garden
Königinstraße 6, opposite the university veterinary clinic at one of the main entrances to the Englischer Garten.
Order: A fully organic menu, which is unusual for a Munich beer garden; snacks from a kiosk counter; self-service tables under the trees
Why go: The one beer garden inside the Englischer Garten that is certified organic end to end.
Locals order: Come by bike or on the U3 or U6 to Universität; there is no guest parking inside the park.
no bookings; self-service

Fishmonger and bistro
Westenriederstraße 13 beside the Viktualienmarkt, a fishmonger since 1984 with a small dining area behind the counter. Monday to Saturday 08.00-18.00.
Order: Fish sold over the counter and cooked in the same room; hot food from 11.00; a menu that follows the day's delivery
Why go: The fish counter cooks what it sells, which is why the plate costs what it does.
Locals order: Turn up after eleven when the hot kitchen starts; before that it is only a shop.
no reservations; walk in