One of our typical Saturday mornings look like this: It is a combination of breakfast & reading, shopping, food shopping and topping it off with one of the best pizzas in town for lunch. Here is our itinerary, buckle up: Sleep in until 8:3o (being early birds, this would be late for us), get up and rush out to catch the tram 19 (said to take the most beautiful scenic route, along Maximilianeum, Isar, Max-Monument, Maximilianstrasse,…). Have a short stop at Bar Centrale (Ledererstr. 10) for a quick espresso. It is a cozy, small Italian cappuccino-bar between Marienplatz and Isartor. Dark wood combined with metallic espresso machines enhance the Italian flair. The smoke, too. Fortunately, during the warm days of the year all windows/doors are usually wide open and breathing is possible ;) Service is attentive and fast, however, this is linearly dependent on traffic. Despite the high Louis Vuitton bag ratio it is really a great place to enjoy an espresso or cappuccino – if you are in the center of the city this place is one of the best options.

Only a few minutes away is Hugendubel, a bookstore directly located at the Marienplatz. Anywhere between 5 and 10 (cook-) books would be a good selection to skim through and see if they’re worth the buck, while either having a coke and carrot cake (N.) or caffe latte and panini (O.) in the upstairs located coffee shop. While the concept of combining coffee and books seems obvious and can be found quite often outside of Germany, we don’t see it too often here. It is a coffee chain, so don’t expect miracles. The early days we clearly preferred, when the Bar Centrale team ran this place, too.

Taking off our reading glasses, we’re off to Kustermann (Rindermarkt 3+4) which is the logical link between theory and practice. Kustermann is a well known and sometimes a bit pricy store for all sorts of cooking related items – you could easily loose track of time here. Friendly and competent service.

Leaving Kustermann through the backdoor brings you straight to the Viktualien Market, merely a step separates us now from a superb market place that allows to shop for all kinds of vegetables, fruits, breads, wines and cheeses; really, whatever your heart desires. Established in 1807, it offers a huge variety of goods and products from over 60 countries and quality does have its price. This time we coincidently found out that the fruit stand we usually shop at (Leo’s Obst-Standl, very friendly guy) also offered “La Ratté” potatoes, which sometimes can be difficult to get. They look similar to “Bamberger Hörnchen” (the potato, not the pastry), a little like bent fingers. The La Ratté, which we had later that night were phenomenal – some of the best potatoes one can have. There are also two larger stalls solely dedicated to potatoes at Viktualienmarkt, however one of them seems more business driven than concerned about customers wishes, so you might end up with a different type than you asked for. The owners perspective, I quote “it’ll be just the same…”. Yes, sure. (We shopped there at least three times in the past and he always acted a little grumpy, or it could have been his Bavarian charm ;)
(The market is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. till 6:00 p.m., Saturday from 7:30 a.m. till 1 p.m.).

Last, but certainly not least, Riva (Tal 44). Easily among our top 3 pizza-places in Munich, you can find the full spectrum from standard pizzas to extravagant creations (for instance with duck-breast or crème fraiche/salmon). A daily menu offers inexpensive alternatives for ~6.90 € each. Always curious about new things, we tried Chinotto, a dark lemonade made of a bitter sweet citrus fruit. Its taste slightly reminded us of Aperol/Campari, less the alcohol. Pretty good.

Service is very friendly and charming, shrewd at times (in a positive way). It is owned by the same people as Bar Centrale, another indication for good quality in food and service.

What to do on Sunday? The Englischer Garten is always a good option…a more dedicated feature will follow.