Munich: Marko Huth opens the bar-restaurant “Oskar” in Schwabing – Munich

The eyes of those passing by are always caught by the chestnut-lined beer garden, its colorful fairy lights and the red brick of Bismarckstraße 21, where the “Oskar” bar-restaurant opposite the eponymous Oskar-von-Miller-Gymnasium celebrates its opening on Monday evening. After two years of on-off operation, host Marko Huth, who originally wanted to open the “Oskar” in spring 2020, welcomes around 100 guests to the concept-change-you location, formerly known as the “Alte Burg”, where the Spider Murphy Gang played their first gigs.

Huth knows his way around walls steeped in history, in the “Oskar” he has uncovered the old castle walls of the guest room down to the foundation stone, as he did before in the “Golden Kalb”, his first project as a gastro career changer, which he launched in 2011 at the site of the former hipster meeting place ” Kay’s Bistro” opened. With the steakhouse concept of the “Golden Calf”, Huth has proved he has a good nose, with the “Oskar” he now wants to dare “one last dance” as a restaurateur.

In addition to the post-pandemic reopening of the “Oskar”, Florian Gandlgruber in particular is the focus of this evening and the self-crowned “Prince Regent” likes to do that. Apart from the architect, musician and artist, His Majesty is primarily a native of Schwabing and therefore appreciates neighborhood bars “with heart and soul”. His commitment to the preservation of the “Rheinpfalz” was, for example, “a pure instinct of self-preservation”.

With the “Oskar”, Gandlgruber has gained a new favorite bar, several times a week he sits at the bar and writes poems. Now, for a while, he is also part of the interior with his photographic self-portrayal “Munich Self-Portrayals”. Photographed by his friend and neighbor Adalbert Adaszynski, Gandlgruber realizes his own ideas for the picture, saying he is “in a way a child of Helmut Dietl” and doesn’t allow himself to be interfered with. Around a pointed caption, Gandlgruber stages himself, sometimes socially critical, sometimes ironically, as the center of the photographs, as well as the center of the vernissage that evening, through which he tirelessly tows interested listeners like a city guide.

“I wouldn’t have labeled them, but I think they’re mostly successful. There’s a lot of humor in there,” Luise Kinseher comments on the photographs. The cabaret artist came to the “Oskar” for the first time that evening and is leaning at the bar with a drink created by the South Tyrolean distillery “Villa Laviosa”. Normally she would not cycle from the Westend to Schwabing for dinner, she likes the “Oskar”. but good. Like Kinseher, many of Gandlgruber’s friends are among the invited guests, as well as regulars from the neighborhood, restaurateurs who are friends with Marko Huth or old companions such as presenter Florian Fischer-Fabian, whom Huth knows from his days as an event manager at ProSieben.

Despite all the chic past of his locations, Huth tries to be down-to-earth in the “Oskar”, both in terms of ambience and cuisine. “We don’t do anything with posh,” he says, presenting himself as warm and approachable, casual in shirt and sneakers like many of his guests. His love of food, he says, also stems from his Croatian roots, which is reflected in the Mediterranean interpretation of “Oskar’s” Alpine cuisine.

Executive chef Ivan Prjaduhha (formerly “La Boheme” and Schuhbeck’s “Fine Dining” at Boettners) cooks up unpretentious, sophisticated dishes with an emphasis on good quality and provenance, like beef tartare with quail egg or anchovies in stracciatella, tomatoes and croutons. You can also choose from a wide wine list or try in-house beverage creations such as the “Heu Sour” made from hay schnapps, served by a team in a good mood, but manageable due to the pandemic. Despite all the initial difficulties and current uncertainties, which he is still noticing in the consumer behavior of his guests, Marko Huth started his last dance with momentum, the Schwabinger parquet should thank him.