What is finding a bar vs starting a bar? To paraphrase the quote “What is breaking into a bank compared to founding a bank?” from Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera when listening to the backstory of The Foundry.
The dentists Oliver Jäger and Patrick Rountree have their experience in this area. When they sorely missed a chic coffee bar in the vicinity of their practice, they opened their own together with bartender Marco Beier from the Padres around the corner almost ten years ago: The Patolli coffee bar at Sendlinger Straße 62, which in the evenings becomes a Cocktail bar mutated. “We put a lot of money into it,” says Oliver Jäger, “friends of restaurateurs said at the time that we would never get it back.”
They will probably say that again now. Because The Foundry, 250 meters as the crow flies from Patolli, has become an all-round classy, very classic bar. And, of course, another project that is close to the heart, which the operators – extended by the fourth partner David Ortner – would like to make their living room.
The Drunken Dragon bar used to be here at Müllerstraße 51, an offshoot of the upscale Chinese Hutong Club from Schwabing. With a generous layout, the Japanese gyoza dumplings on the menu, filled with black pudding, chorizo and green apple (7.50 euros), are reminiscent of the Asian past. Otherwise on the menu, among others: ceviche of salmon trout (13.00), quail wings (12.00), entrecote (26.00) and monkfish (22.00).
The bar has been completely renovated.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The rooms have been completely redone. At the front, people gather on comfortable bar stools around the shiny brass counter. The decorative aluminum grid ceiling paneling arrived just in time by air freight from France, and the small tables at the cozy seating areas made of black velvet sofas also required a bit of improvisation, as Oliver Jäger reveals. But you can’t tell by looking at this bar, where there was a lot of attention to detail. This is also the case with the magnificent mural by the artist Daniela Viveros in the Mexican mural style at the back of the booth.
It shows a factory worker in a foundry. The latter is also the German translation of the bar’s name: The Foundry. “There used to be a lot of foundries in the Glockenbachviertel,” says Jäger, “hence the name.” A friend from the gastro scene even gave the quartet an old ship’s bell for the opening, which is said to have been cast in the neighborhood and is said to have come from a warship from World War II on which the crew had mutinied. “Wild history,” says Jäger, “it’s so good that we’d rather not question it at first.”
On the other hand, it can be said that the cocktails are more than solid. From the fruity Vineyard to the classic Moscow Mule to the Swimming Pool (with rubber duckies!), a nice variation on Charles Schumann’s classic, here with clarified milk, and various Pisco drinks, there’s a lot on offer. Also at more than solid prices between eleven and 15 euros. As you can see, it’s not the case that only dentists can find their favorite bar here.
The FoundryMüllerstraße 51, 80469 Munich, phone: 089/21529517, opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday 5 p.m. to open end