Monday, October 19, 2015

Zum Augustiner and Schweinhaxen in Munich #Germany #travel #food




My friend, Tina Heiter, who lives in Switzerland, alerted me that Munich's specialty food is pork shank cooked like crispy pata in the Philippines.  It's called schweinhaxen in German.
Crispy pata is something sinful - pork roasted so the skin turns brown and crispy. I couldn't wait to try schweinhaxen. 




From our hotel we walked to the city center and found a restaurant with an adjoining beer hall, Zum Augustiner. For late October, I was surprised to see the place packed with tourists, who shared long tables. We sat with an American couple from Montana and after they left, with a couple of Spanish-speaking young men (Argentinians?).  


Since the restaurant was clearly a touristy one, I had low expectations. However when my schweinhaxen appeared, I felt elated. A huge half-a-shank lay on top of gravy with a tennis-ball-sized potato dumpling and white saurkraut on the side. The pork had been cut from the bone so I didn't have to wrangle with the bone as we do with crispy pata in the Philippines. The skin was crackling like chicharon, and the meat was moist and tender. The meat was not gamy at all and had a wonderful flavor. I thoroughly enjoyed it with the gravy and saurkraut.  I ignored the dumpling; I've never liked rubbery dumplings.

Later, Tina emailed me the name of a Munich restaurant famous for its schweinhaxen, but we had had our dinner, and I felt quite happy with what I ate at the Zum Augustiner. The pork shank I had there was the best I ever had. The "beer hall" atmosphere of the place gave you enough of the
Oktoberfest feeling. Last night was the final night of Oktoberfest celebration at that restaurant, by the way.

We later walked around the city center all the way to the Marianplatz. It was chilly but we were properly dressed. There were some people about but the place was not crowded, which was what we wanted and which was why we came late in October, to avoid the mad tourist season.


We will be seeing more of Munich and this old area tomorrow, but what I saw last night gave me the impression of the wealth and stature that Munich has had throughout its history. The buildings were huge and impressive; the old ones had lovely intricate architecture. I picked up good vibes from the place.

I am looking forward to learning more about Munich, Germany. Stay tuned for more updates, dear Readers.




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