In Munich apartment buildings, fireplaces are similar to bathtubs. They’re rare wellness supplements that you don’t really appreciate until you don’t have them anymore. One is all the more grateful for public places with fire warmth in January. In the fireplace bar in the Eden Hotel Wolff at the main station, for example, you can take a wonderful warm bath in front of the crackling fireplace, while professionally prepared drinks stir up the inner embers.
Already on the way to the bar, through the hotel lobby and past the reception, the indirectly illuminated bottle wall shimmers golden in the background, in front of a small solid wood counter. On the opposite wall, the glass fireplace flickers, surrounded by seating areas made of marble tables, leather sofas and velvet armchairs. Autumn colors and dark wood ensure rustic cosiness, while contemporary design and chart-friendly pop music give it a modern touch – mountain chateau meets cocktail lounge. In all-day operation there was even more hotel bar flair near the conference rooms, but since Corona the fireplace bar has opened as an evening location at half past five.
Many new cocktail recipes were created during the Corona period.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
The range of spirits in the bar is manageable and of high quality. The largest is the selection of international whiskeys. In addition, the cocktail menu offers classics such as Bloody Mary, Boulevardier or Martini as well as the house’s own creations (between eleven and fourteen euros), including non-alcoholic versions (around ten euros). Sparkling things to get you in the mood range from Hugo and Lillet Spritz (around nine euros) to the French 75 with champagne, which, however, is a bit thin for 16.50 euros. The Yellow Dot made of Aperol, peach liqueur and Crémant Rosé (12.50 euros) is completely different, well balanced and more exciting than a classic Aperol Spritz.
A highlight is the fresh Mamas Garden, a floral-garnished whiskey sour variation with sage syrup. Like all syrups and pastes in the Kaminbar, the latter is homemade, explains young bar manager Max, who completed his training at the Eden Hotel Wolff and has been in charge of the bar team for four years. He took some cocktail recipes from his predecessors, others came about after a lot of trial and error during the Corona period, he says, presenting a chili paste as a Tabasco substitute for his Bloody Mary and blue spinach extract for the homemade Blue Soda.
Between mountain chateau and cocktail lounge: the interior combines tradition and modernity.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Max’s workforce is small and, unusually, full-time, attentive and professional. During the course of the evening, as she stokes the embers with new logs, the tables fill up. “I’ve even been here when I was waiting for a train,” says a guest from Munich, who takes a seat by the fire. For locals, the reason for visiting is the proximity to the main train station, says Max, otherwise he mostly welcomes hotel guests. And of course regular guests, after all the hotel is a family-run traditional house with a long history. One more reason for Munich residents to stop by the fireplace for a drink, even without a connecting train.
Fireplace bar in the Eden Hotel Wolff, Arnulfstraße 4, 80335 Munich, phone 089 55115720, Monday to Friday 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m