By Johanna N. Hummel
One can argue about the durability. For some it is the pinnacle of lack of imagination, others settle down comfortably in its shadow, preserving something makes you happy. The Freisinger Hof could be seen as a symbol of stability.
In 1995, Michaela and Karl Wallisch took over the inn from 1875 on Oberföhringer Straße, and the family has run it to this day. She’s refurbished it and made it fine, worthy of the bib gourmand it’s held up for years. Nevertheless, not much has changed since 2008, when the tasters came for the last time: frescoes with costume figurines and exquisite graphics are still on the white walls, the large round tables are still in some corners, everything is laid in white. Since Corona there have been transparent partitions between the tables, which gives a good feeling.
Even the menu doesn’t read much differently than 14 years ago. This is also due to the fact that the Austrian Karl Wallisch has dedicated himself to classic Viennese cuisine, beef cuisine, which you can’t find anywhere else in Munich. It is prepared as if the old Vienna and its Viennese, who enjoyed a leg of meat at lunchtime, had been the godfather. We thought of the CO₂ balance and criticism of the thick steak, but the wonderfully tender ox from the boiling pot weakens the will.
Five types of meat are on offer, not nearly as many as in Viennese restaurants 100 years ago. But they are celebrated like they used to be, whether it’s the fine boiled fillet of beef, so tender you could cut it with a fork, the juicy shoulder loin or the intensively cured tongue. They were served with broth and roots in copper casseroles, along with crispy fried potatoes, good spinach or spicy bacon savoy cabbage, mild horseradish and a fine chive sauce (26 to 28 euros).
There’s only one thing we’d like to know: where the cattle come from. A hundred years ago in Vienna people were further along, and for the legendary restaurant Meissl & Schadn the oxen were fed with sugar beet. But in the Freisinger Hof, the Imperial and Royal rapture does not extend to proof of origin.
Large round tables with white tablecloths. Here you rely on the tried and tested.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Now it’s not just boiled meat that’s on the menu. There are a few daily specials, the standard menu changes drastically with the seasons, and the hearty boiled beef bouillon (7.50) is always on it. The frothed chestnut soup tasted quite sweet, only spiced up by the generous dash of sherry that the waiter poured in (9.50).
The waiters, by the way, are a chapter in their own right: whenever we came in, only waiters served, as if the Viennese coffee house were a model. They were present and attentive, knowledgeable and conversational but never intrusive, we felt compelled to call them all “Waiter”.
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
When the cod fillet with parsley and potato ragout was served, a waiter walking by looked at the plate in horror and said: “The truffles are missing!” He brought slices and black truffle and heaped plenty of slices onto the dish. This was good for the perfectly fried fish and brought us a little closer to the price of 34.50 euros.
We kept our distance from the well-behaved potato ragout, it filled you up, a characteristic that also had the nice risotto of barley barley with roots and Brussels sprouts, the only meatless meal among the main courses (23.50). It was crowned with delicious salsify fried in tempura batter.
However, the kitchen is reluctant to come up with surprising creations. It builds on the proven, the meaty, and many things tasted as good as in 2008, for example the smoked black pudding with apple slices (14) or the juicy organic fried chicken in crispy breading and with a fine potato and cucumber salad (23.50) . There was nothing to complain about with the onion roast, and it is also a tradition that the waiter did not ask whether we wanted the meat well done, pink or rare. It was no different in 2008 (32.50).
Half a farmer’s duck, tender and with crisp skin, lay next to two fluffy dumplings in light gravy (28.50). Only with the Wiener Schnitzel (27.50) did the kitchen crew weaken, perhaps the routine, which sometimes happened, rested heavily on the wooden spoon. The breading was dull and cool, the potatoes had a few crumbs of parsley on them.
In 1995 Michaela and Karl Wallisch took over the inn.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Austrian has priority, also with the wine. In the back dining room there is a wine cabinet with a nice selection. The wines by the glass came mainly from the Stift Klosterneuburg winery and they were all pleasant, whether the fresh Grüner Veltliner, the interesting Zierfandler-Rotgipfler or the typical Blaufränkisch (0.2 liters 6 to 7). The beer comes from the Freisinger Hofbrauhaus (Half Urhelles on tap 5.20).
No meal without a pastry and we fainted over the sumptuous caramelized Kaiserschmarrn with apple sauce and roasted plums (14.50). But the pancake (9.50) proved that a sinful delicacy can be made from almost nothing: wafer-thin pancakes, spread with fine apricot jam, hot and floating in butter, wonderful. By the way, he’s always been on the menu too. Long live consistency? Sometimes yes, even if regular guests don’t have it easy. Unless they stick with the old Emperor Franz Joseph. He wanted to see boiled fillet on the dining table every day.
Freisinger Hof, Oberföhringer Strasse 189-191, telephone: 089/189 082 400, www.freisinger-hof.deOpening hours: Monday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight, all samples can be found at sz.de/thema/Restaurants