There was no way I was leaving Munich (read more) without enjoying some traditional German fare at The Original Hofbräu Haus. I got just what I expected, a good time with great atmosphere and ok food. And they got just what they expected. A drunk tourist buying too much at the gift shop on the way out.
When we first walked in through the main doors, I had a moment of panic that it wasn’t going to work out. That first blast of hot, noisy, stale air was powerful and pungent. I think we either got used to it over time, or the main doorway is just a logjam. Either way if you want to sit in the main beer hall, just grab a seat at any of the long tables and somebody will be right with you. On this day there were people singing, plenty of bachelor and bachelorette parties, and a traditional band playing some great music.
There is a beer garden outside as well, and on this beautiful day it was a welcome relief to the craziness of the main hall, and still plenty of fun. I got the original beer, a liter of golden magic the size of my head. Jen tried her first Radler, a mix of beer (white beer in this case) with lemonade. She really enjoyed it and I was lucky enough to help her finish it. Future places we went on the trip did a Radler with a lager beer and sprite, and it was never as good.
For food we definitely ordered a little too much. They had an Obazda Cheese with onion rings which sounded great to us. What came out, however, were 2 scoops of Camembert, and actual slices of onion. Technically rings, but without the batter or fried-ness, I don’t know how you can really call those onion rings.
We also got a bread basket and some pretzels, but nothing was too great there either. The pretzels off the menu are small and hard, which must be their way of doing pretzels in Bavaria. There were servers walking around selling giant pretzels table to table but we passed on those since we had plenty of carbs already.
For lunch I got the HB Fried Sausage on sauerkraut, which was good but not great. I think that’s probably the norm for most things on the menu – traditional dishes but made for millions a day so nothing is super.
Jen got the Original Brewmaster Steak, since we assumed steak meant beef. Of course what came out was pork, just like the menu said, in English, but who has time for all that reading?
I actually thought her steak was the best thing on the table, with the exception of the au gratin potatoes that came with it. So good that we got a second order of them.
We made it through both beers, most of the food, and rolled ourselves to the gift shop where I got a big stein, and a sweatshirt, because who doesn’t need one of those in the middle of summer in Europe?…
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