By Johanna N. Hummel
Goethe is wrong here: a name is not smoke and mirrors, especially not if it belongs to an inn. The name is stuck in your head, even if you don’t know where it came from. Why, for example, is the restaurant on Betzenweg called Weichandhof in Obermenzing?
Many people in Munich would have known that in 1935. The folk actor couple Josephine and Philipp Weichand were well known and at that time they bought a farm on the Würm, transformed it into an inn with a stage and named it after themselves in an effective way. The venerable house name Samerhof disappeared after almost four hundred years. When Philipp Weichand died a little later, his wife remained the landlady. Nazi giants also came to the inn and, after the war, friends from the Bavarian party of their brother August Geislhöringer, then Bavarian Minister of the Interior. The Weichandhof later became famous through Evi and Peter Hiebl, the guests came from far and wide to eat game. After Peter Hiebl’s death in 2010, the house became quiet.
Michael F. Schottenhamel and Peter Kinner, once Munich’s youngest star chef, wanted to change that. After the Schwaige in Nymphenburg Palace, the two took over the Weichandhof in 2017. They had the listed house, which was first mentioned in a document in 1755, carefully restored, the wide east facade looks like on the postcards from 1935. The way to the front door leads through a pretty beer garden with a safely fenced playground towards the street, parents love that Restaurant for that reason. Comfort was emphasized in the dining room, beams and wall paneling are made of dark wood, a few pictures hang on the walls, everything is bathed in pleasant light. The adjoining rooms have also been lovingly decorated, a tiny electric flame flickers in the mighty brick fireplace. And we swallowed the teasing sayings in the niches like “For husbands and other unlucky ones” as tolerant food probers.
The focus here is on comfort: the restaurant of the Weichandhof.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Apart from a few current offers, the menu changes with the seasons. On the autumn menu, some prices have been increased a little, which is currently the norm. Kinner and his head chef Martin Lipfert want to serve upscale Alpine cuisine, and the pumpkin soup, garnished with sour apple chutney cubes, tasted beautifully unaffected (6.40). The goat cheese, which was served with lettuce in mustard dressing, was perfectly melted, and was appetizingly decorated with pumpkin ragout, beetroot and sweet mini peppers. It could also pass as a pretty vegetarian main course (14.80). Now the Weichandhof is more of a temple of the well-groomed Sunday roast pleasure. Fish appeared at the edge, vegan and vegetarian dishes a little more frequently. And the vegan burger was not to be despised, the roll was crispy, filled with a pleasantly tasting, slightly crumbly patty, probably made from pea farce, with a mild BBQ sauce and wonderfully hot chilli cucumbers (16.10).
The fried and boiled food is served up powerfully, with a number of dishes also available as small portions. During a visit, a waiter looked sadly at the half-full plate and said in a friendly way: “You shouldn’t have eaten soup.” Yes, the waiters. They were quick, always present, helpful and funny without being intrusive. Children preferred them mercilessly. The six-year-old at the table was asked about his first school experiences, and they made sure the children didn’t have to wait for their food. That was star-worthy.
The schnitzel couldn’t really convince.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Peter Kinner has not been interested in stars for his food for a long time, the whole thing is too stressful. His alpine cuisine is based on traditions, less on experiments. The tender roast pork with finely sour coleslaw had a crisp, well-grown crust, the loose dumplings were surrounded by pure gravy (15:30). The juicy fried chicken, wrapped in a crispy, spicy breading, couldn’t be better in Vienna. And the potato and cucumber salad with it was good to sit in (14.60). If we found something to complain about, it was little things, apart from the rather tough Wiener Schnitzel in a bland breading (23.80). And the kitchen loves port wine sauces. It was served with a luscious, overcooked roast with carefully fried and melted onions (25.80), and it was served with a lovely pink veal liver with an interesting quince chutney (19.80). The fact that the port wine did not attract attention was more of a gain.
There is no port wine on the drinks menu, but there is a decent selection of wines by the glass such as Grüner Veltliner or Pinot Grigio. The Chardonnay and the red Cabernet Sauvignon from the Celliers Jean d’Albert in Languedoc were quite remarkable (0.2 liters 6.40 to 7.40). The draft beer comes from the Tegernseer Brauhaus (Halbe Helles 4.30).
The Süddeutsche Zeitung’s restaurant review “Tasting” has a long tradition: it has been published weekly in the local section since 1975, and for several years also online and with a rating scale. Around a dozen editors with culinary experience from all departments – from Munich, Knowledge to Politics – take turns writing about the city’s gastronomy. The choice 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 tasting: The authors write under pseudonyms, often with a culinary touch. You go unrecognized about two or three times to the restaurant to be tested, depending on how long the budget set by the editorial team lasts. Iron basic rules: a hundred days grace period until the kitchen of a new restaurant has settled in. And: Never get caught working as a restaurant critic – so that you can describe food and drink, service and atmosphere in an unbiased manner. SZ
One thing you absolutely have to do at the Weichandhof: keep an eye on the dessert, namely the Kaiserschmarrn (12.80). It came on the table with fruity stewed plums, as it should be. It tasted like lots of eggs, fine vanilla, sinful butter, was sprinkled with roasted almonds and torn into bite-sized, all-round caramelized pieces. Franz Joseph would have appointed the cook to the court. If you start counting the calories with this Kaiserschmarrn, you can only advise to stop at such a pancake.
Weichandhof, Betzenweg 81, phone 089 – 8911600, www.restaurant- Weichandhof.de, Opening times: Mon.-Sun. from 11 a.m. to midnight, hot meals 11.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., all samples can be found at sz.de/thema/Restaurants