Normally you go to a bar to have a good drink and to a restaurant to eat well. Both are possible in the smoke and mirrors in Schellingstraße. Right in the student district and in the immediate vicinity of the LMU, there is always a lot going on here, especially in the evenings.
Spontaneously getting a seat with a larger group on a Friday evening is almost impossible. But that doesn’t matter, after all, the beer also tastes good standing up. It also gives you more opportunity to look around and soak up the atmosphere of the bar, which is also a bistro in a way.
Rocked-down furniture, cool bar
The interior is deliberately kept simple. A dark parquet floor, partly covered with tiles, leads into the interior of the shop. A character bar like the Schall und Rauch doesn’t need any elaborate neon billboards or designer furniture to exude its special charm. Sometimes less is more, in the bar there are simple wooden chairs, wooden tables and bar stools. The furniture looks a bit rocked down and pretty cool at the same time. An unexcited nonchalance is finding its way here.
Even if it’s louder – the bartenders always try to interpret their guests’ drink requests correctly.
(Photo: Florian Peljak/Florian Peljak)
Orders are placed at the long bar counter, from which the experienced employees – some of whom have been working here for many years – do their best to fulfill every customer request, regardless of the background noise.
A real traditional pub
The Schall und Rauch has been around since 1998. Next year is an anniversary: 25 years. Such a birthday makes a bar in the student district pass as a real traditional pub. A big celebration isn’t planned, though, and that probably wouldn’t fit so well either.
The audience is clearly dominated by students, especially in the evenings. Guests of different ages gather in the mornings and afternoons. Due to the proximity to the university, it is not unlikely that students will find their lecturers or professors reading the newspaper over a coffee.
Two reasons for the success and the long existence of the bar are certainly the good food and the varied selection of drinks. In addition to various pasta dishes, the menu also includes many Indian dishes such as chicken vindaloo or lamb polak. Of particular note is the chicken tikka roll with marinated chicken fillet, Marsala and mint sauce. And the vegetarian offer is now also large.
If you want to drink a cocktail or long drink instead of beer, this is the place for you. There are 20 types of gin alone on the drinks menu. Perhaps the bartenders are thinking of the students’ rarely well-stocked wallets when they mix their drinks – in any case, they don’t skimp on hard liquor. Because of the attractive location in the student district, it makes sense to move on from smoke and mirrors to party. Then the next evening you can sit again at one of the simple wooden tables.
Schall und Rauch, Schellingstraße 22, 80799 Munich, telephone: 089/28809577, opening hours: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 a.m.