Just a quick note from scorching Munich. We flew in fairly late with a couple of colleagues. Luckily hotel is close to the old town, so we walked out to the lovely balmy night for a late dinner. We found a nice Bavarian restaurant, brewery and beer hall called Zum Augustiner. You would be forgiven if you thought this was a Disney take on a Bavarian brewery kind of a tourist trap because it's just so perfectly Bavarian with the dirndls and lederhosen, but apparently there was an abbey and a brewery there in 1328. So that's authentic enough for me.


We were seated in the back biergarten - a courtyard surrounded by beautiful old walls. The menu was very Bavarian, not necessarily my favourite grub with loads of pork served with pork. Or sausage. Or pork sausage.

But they had some really nice stuff on their daily specials list with lots of chanterelles, I think they are already in season here. They are early mushrooms, so probably.

My colleague had the famous Swabian noodles or Spätzle as a side to her venison

Anyway my eye was caught by some white herring. For a while I was torn between the chanterelles and the herring, but I physically can't not have herring if it's on the menu. The dish was called the Sailor's potato. I was that sailor. Potato and herring with a massive gherkin on the side - right up my pickled and vinegary street. It came with some scampi as well, which are always nice, but really this was all about the herring. And it was lovely. I could eat potatoes and herring until the cows came home. And wash it all down with cold Weissbier. Jawohl!