The Lounge at Mandarin Oriental Munich (Munich, GERMANY) ★★★☆☆

While Jelloman was off to meet her long-lost friend from high school, I had the daunting task of taking care of little nugget for the next hour or so. He has been telling me how sore his legs were and how hot it was walking around the city, so I understood his point: he didn’t want to spend the next hour touring anymore. Instead, he wanted to spend it indoors, watching YouTube.

After sending Jelloman to a bar near Hofbräuhaus München for her reunion, little one and I strolled around the lively Platzl area before finally sitting down for our afternoon tea. Our venue was a highly regarded one for afternoon tea (at least according to online reviews) — The Lounge at Mandarin Oriental Munich. We were hoping it would resemble our experience at Rosewood Munich 24 hours earlier.

Unlike yesterday’s experience, MO Munich was much quieter than any typical hotel lounge. Despite the live performance by a pianist, there were only a handful of us there to soak up the warm atmosphere.

I wasted no time checking out the cakes on display, but disappointingly, I couldn’t find anything I really liked. Still, that didn’t stop me from choosing one for myself and one for my partner in crime.

Vegan Cherry slice (€13) — I thought the vegan layered cake with chocolate and cherry would be a twist on the traditional Black Forest, but it wasn’t. To my disappointment, the layers worked individually rather than harmonizing together resulting in a very ordinary cherry chocolate layered cake, which I honestly didn’t expect from the Mandarin Oriental's talented kitchen.

Cheesecake (€13) — Really soft and airy, but nothing special. 

Even little nugget agreed that both creations were average at best. Yeah, he’s grown into a young man with spoiled taste buds these days.

The only thing I was truly grateful to have from this afternoon tea session was the pot of Assam tea. While it wasn’t as strong as the Hong Kong-style milk tea, it gave me the milk-tea fix I’ve been craving making this hour much more worthwhile.

Food Rating: 5.9/10

Price: €€€

Address: Neuturmstraße 1, 80331 München, Germany

Closest Metro Station: Marienplatz

Tel: +49 89 2909-8829

Website: https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/munich/altstadt/dine/the-lounge

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 11:00pm daily

Isabella Glutenfree Pâtisserie (Munich, GERMANY) ★★★★☆

After missing out on my top-ranked pastry shop, Alexa von Harder at Fünf Höfe (五庭院) over the long weekend in Munich, I decided to find a replacement for my sweet treat tonight. 

Isabella Glutenfree Pâtisserie looks every bit the capable alternative I was hoping for—and it’s just around the corner from where we had our lunch (I was going to type 'enjoyed' but we really didn't enjoy that meal at all).

When it comes to gluten-free desserts, Hong Kong and Asia in general are still a few steps behind. So it was wonderful to see the plentiful vegan and gluten-free dessert options across Europe.

Germany seems especially advanced compared to France in that regard.

The dessert shop has a beautifully decorated dine-in area, but most of the guests seemed to prefer the outdoor seating. For us, though, we simply couldn’t afford the luxury of sitting down for a dessert.

Take-away it is...

Raspberry white chocolate cheesecake (€8.4) — Really light, silky and velvet-smooth. The cheese and chocolate flavors seemed to be well-balanced.

And it’s always nice to enjoy a dessert that wasn’t overly sweet. Pretty nice! 👍🏻👍🏻 

Couldn’t imagine a gluten-free pastry that tasted so good. Love this~~~ 

Food Rating: 6.4/10

Price: €€€

Address: Hackenstraße 4, 80331 München, Germany

Closest Metro Station: Marienplatz

Tel: +49 89 2878-7550

Website: http://www.isabella-patisserie.de/

Opening Hours: 9:30am - 6:00pm (Mon - Sat), 10:00am - 6:00pm (Sun)

Altes Hackerhaus (Munich, GERMANY) ★☆☆☆☆

After visiting the vibrant Marienplatz, it was time to head to today’s lunch spot.

Altes Hackerhaus is a historic, traditional Bavarian restaurant and the original “Stammhaus” tavern of the world-famous Hacker-Pschorr brewery. Located at the pedestrian street Sendlinger Straße, it was located in the bustling heart of Munich's Old Town, just a short five-minute walk from Marienplatz.

The restaurant has three distinct dining atmospheres: A cozy, wood-paneled traditional indoor rooms, a street-side patio seating along Sendlinger Straße and lastly, a quieter inner courtyard beer garden.

When we arrived, there was already a long line outside. Since we didn’t want to accidentally skip any queue process, we asked two staff members in black shirts whether we still needed to queue with an online reservation already secured. Both of them didn't seem to care and simply told us to ask the restaurant manager.

Unfortunately, some people already in line weren’t thrilled. A few guests yelled at us for having “online reservations” and one woman even mocked us with “hey, this is Munich!” (Munich restaurants don't take reservations?).

And there was the restaurant manager. He walked past us a few times but never stepped in to clarify things. So finally, I had enough and decided to go straight into the dining room only to find it completely empty and I showed him my online reservation email.

That’s when we learned that the lineup outside was for some kind of beer fest, completely unrelated to dining. The whole situation was incredibly frustrating and made us realize how poorly the management here was handling things. Still, after debating whether to leave, we decided to stay.

Anyway…

We decided to sit indoors, even though it was pretty hot without air-conditioning or fan.

Half crispy pork knuckle (€23.5) — This came with potato dumplings and cabbage salad. 

I thought the meat was a little rough (didn’t finish) and the dark beer gravy a little too salty for me.

Rösti (€???) — We were craving something crispy, so we ordered two rosti to share among the three of us. This was decent, but I preferred the ones we had in Switzerland before where the potatoes were cut into thinner, finer strips resulting in much better mouthfeel.

A few of us were just happy that this meal finally drew to a close. 

Jelloman shared some good news with me during the meal. She reconnected with a high school friend she hadn’t spoken to for over two decades. Her friend and her husband apparently moved to Munich seven years ago. When she saw Jelloman pinning herself in Munich on the social media, she reached out immediately — and now they’re meeting up at a local bar for drinks this afternoon. Looks like I’ll have some quality time with little nugget while Jelloman’s out.

Food Rating: 5.3/10

Price: €€€

Address: Sendlinger Straße 14, 80331 Munich, Germany

Closest Metro Station: Marienplatz / Sendlinger Tor

Tel: +49 89 2605026

Website: http://www.hackerhaus.de/

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 11:00pm daily