If you want to open a restaurant near the Opera, Residenz and Wittelsbacher Platz, you don’t need a chef, you need a good investor. Briennerstrasse and Maximilianstrasse also form Munich’s most important luxury axis from the point of view of restaurateurs, which, as is well known, does not mean that it is also consistently about an axis of good taste. And as different as the individual restaurants here are, many have in common the ambition to really do everything right, from the choice of well-known interior designers (glamorous retro chic still dominates) to the menu, which is strictly geared to the target group, to the winning PR . How quickly a grave of millions can open up behind small initial blunders in this noble Bermuda triangle in view of particularly astronomical rents, many a host has already painfully reported.
The “Aimy” restaurant, located in a courtyard of the Palais Arco-Zinneberg, fits well into this chic environment. Also because upscale Southeast Asian cuisine – Thai fusion dishes with Vietnamese, but also Indian, Chinese or Japanese influences – is still rare on Munich menus. And apparently a lot was done right at Aimy, too, because despite opening during the pandemic, it was difficult from the start to get a table at short notice on some days; Reservations are a good idea, especially on weekends.
As soon as you enter the restaurant you feel comfortable, which – here the professionalism shows – is less a question of personal taste. Because even a guest who wouldn’t be a fan of exposed brick walls, Asian carvings, floral patterns, red and gold lighting (very pleasant!) or stainless steel mirrored wall panels would have to admit: everything works perfectly. It wouldn’t be surprising if a brigade of Feng Shui consultants worked their way through the Aimy right away.
Open brick walls, Asian carvings, pleasant red and gold light: Was it possible that a whole brigade of Feng Shui consultants were at work here?
(Photo: Friedrich Bungert)
The service is friendly and quick. Well, maybe mineral water doesn’t necessarily have to be refilled every two minutes, but can you seriously blame a restaurant manager for caring? At that point, a look at the menu already whetted our appetite for the evening, for example the selection of Asian tapas, the daily specials (Massaman curry with quail!) or the promising range of vegetarian dishes and seafood.
The cocktails are fun too, we recommend the “Akashi Carda Chili” (Akashi blended whiskey with notes of chamomile and honey, cardamom liqueur, chilli and rice foam, 15 euros). The wine list, which is interesting in itself, is likely to grow in the lower and middle price segment. A striking number of positions, such as the Château Lafite Rothschild from 1986 at 2000 euros, are more likely to be aimed at prestige drinkers than at those wanting to accompany their curry.
A strength of the Aimy are the tapas, salads and dumplings, whereby the plate with the mixed starters (“Amy Starter Collection”, 18 euros per person) gives a nice overview: crispy spring rolls, two kinds of tartar (beef and avocado with quinoa), dumplings , delicately spicy salad with mango, papaya and wild beans and fantastically seasoned Iberico pork in wild pepper leaves with lemongrass and Szechuan sauce. Also excellent was the tuna tartare, which came in a Mexican tortilla, with tomato salsa, kimchi cream and black walnut (20 euros), a great pleasure of crunch, sweetness, acidity and well-integrated spiciness.
The cocktails are fun at “Aimy”, for prestige drinkers there are also precious substances such as the Château Lafite Rothschild, vintage 1986.
(Photo: Friedrich Bungert)
Also recommended: Traditional Laarb Gai (14) – corn chicken mince with roasted rice, Asian herbs and citrus dressing. The “Angel Hair Shrimps” (16), shrimp in crispy filo pastry. And the wonderfully fluffy dumplings, the version filled with ground beef and kimchi (13) appealed to us more than the version with scallops, shrimp and black truffles (14).
What is striking in the Aimy is the consistently high quality of the products, although this also indicates a problem. Because when it comes to quality, the kitchen also means classy trend products that, on the one hand, are not needed everywhere to achieve a great result, but on the other hand do not automatically guarantee such a result. Some of the dishes here simply deserve a little more depth. For example, sesame and macadamia nut add little to the flavor of the peanut-based chicken curry (22) other than further sluggishness. Even the tame Massaman curry – with fantastically tender lamb (32) – remains aromatic in the approximate.
And the perfectly grilled Iberico pork in Asian spices (28) with its mild flavor fully reinforces the suspicion that Aimy is all too often about mainstream cuisine at a very high level. Nothing against fine, al dente cooked vegetables such as asparagus or snow peas; it doesn’t have to appear in every dish, however, because the audience may only be expected to do things that they identify as classy, well-known and photogenic.
The restaurant review “Kostprobe” in the Süddeutsche Zeitung has a long tradition: it has been published weekly in the local section since 1975, and online for a few years now and with a rating scale. About a dozen editors with culinary expertise from all departments – from Munich, science to politics – take turns writing about the city’s gastronomy. The selection is endless, the Bavarian economy is just as important as the Greek fish restaurant, the American fast food chain, the special bratwurst stand or the gourmet restaurant decorated with stars. The special thing about the SZ taster: The authors write under pseudonyms, often with a culinary touch. They go into the restaurant to be tested unnoticed about two or three times, depending on how long the budget given by the editors lasts. Iron basic rules: a grace period of one hundred days for the kitchen of a new restaurant to familiarize itself. And: Never get caught working as a restaurant critic – to be able to describe food and drink, service and atmosphere impartially. SZ
We liked the fish plates better than some meat dishes. The noble “Green Seafood Curry Tan Yong”, for example, with fish cooked in coconut water and its great integrated heat (30). Or the flambéed Black Cod “Nachaburi Style” (40) with caramel glaze and wild broccoli. Here, the fine vegetables and the subtly spiced yellow curry foam went well together, because they accompanied the delicate taste and the fantastic meat texture of the ‘cabbage’, one of the noblest types of fish, rather than covering everything up.
Vegetarian dishes are also wonderful, such as the marinated cauliflower with pumpkin puree and crispy roasted tofu (20). Whether expensive black honeydew honey was needed in this dish is another question. Now that the Aimy has done so much right, his kitchen should be less concerned with false wow effects and demand a little more from his guests, then we’d rather come back.
aimyBrienner Straße 10, 80333 Munich, telephone: 089/45212755, opening hours: Monday to Friday 11.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 6 p.m. to midnight.