Measured against all current nutritional trends, pretty much everything that can be wrong with the white sausage is wrong: it is incredibly greasy, it consists of meat – bad for the heart, bad for the figure, bad for the climate – and it comes with food from a force of white flour carbohydrates in the form of pretzels.
The white sausage breakfast is not for a clear conscience. It’s one to enjoy. Pleasure when eating is very healthy, and the white sausage breakfast also offers an incomparably good basis for one or the other beer. Fat lubricates the stomach, the pretzel absorbs the alcohol.
Of course, a few white sausages are quickly prepared at home. But if you prefer to eat out, we recommend the following places to go for the breakfast classic.
Restaurant Grossmarkthalle
While some Munich residents like to boast that they have never been to the P1 (Schickis) or the Hofbräuhaus (Touris), a Munich resident who has never been to the Großmarkthalle restaurant will keep this secret as far as possible. First and foremost, it’s the institution when it comes to white sausage, and second, it’s an institution for sausage in general. Connoisseurs say they go eat a white sausage “at the Wallner’s”, that is the name of the innkeeper.
Of course, the sausages come from the in-house production in the cellar. A Munich original in Sendling, with wood paneling and a pitcher vault, simple, beautiful and traditional.
Kochelseestraße 13, 81371 Munich, opening hours: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., 089/764531, www.gaststätte-grossmarkthalle.de
Marktstüberl butcher Gassner
Not far from the White Sausage Pope, see above, the butcher Gassner resides on the premises of the cattle yard, also firmly rooted in the city with a tradition going back more than 75 years. Behind the butcher’s shop there is a small snuggery with a rustic terrace: there are daily menus here, on which you can also find traditional Munich dishes such as calf’s head, and of course there are also white sausages, which Gaßner is proud of. Rightly so. However, the Markstüberl is only open during the week. An extended weekend breakfast is popular elsewhere.
Zenettistraße 11 im Viehhof, 80337 Munich, opening hours: Monday to Friday 7.30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 089/7461410, www.metzgerei-gassner.de
Augustiner brewery
The brick building of the Augustiner Bräustuben is a treat for the eye on the otherwise aesthetically neglected Landsberger Straße. And whoever enters the room of the oldest brewery in Munich will also do their stomachs good. Munich tradition is cherished and cultivated here without much ado, which of course also includes the white sausage – which is served until 1 p.m., so it often has to endure the twelve o’clock bell.
On the other hand, hardly any innkeeper sticks to the white sausage 12 o’clock rule anymore. Life and work have become more flexible over the years, and the white sausage has also adapted to the circumstances. Not visible from the outside is the cute little roof terrace on the brick building, a particularly nice spot for a Bavarian breakfast when the weather is nice.
Landsberger Straße 19, 80339 Munich, opening hours: daily 10 a.m. to midnight, 089/507047, www.braeustuben.de
Hofbrauhaus
In times without a pandemic, the Hofbräuhaus is the inn that comes closest to the Wiesn feeling with its mixture of old Munich tradition and tourist madness. Eating white sausage is particularly fun here when you watch the tourists at the next table with a mixture of pity and disgust as they order more ketchup and then eat the sausage with the skin. Or, if you’re a nicer person, if you want to show visitors the right way to make white sausage and pass on the Zuzeln cultural heritage.
Platzl 9, 80331 Munich, opening hours: Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight, 089/290136100, www.hofbraeuhaus.de
imperial garden
Mix a tavern beer garden with the usual Schwabing clichés – and the result is the Kaisergarten. That doesn’t necessarily mean something bad. It just means that there are lots of sunglasses next to splash glasses on the tables in the summer. But it is very nice to sit in the shady green garden, and the interior with its arched windows and floorboards would be an eye-catcher even without the tasteful furnishings and the industrial design lamps.
Of course, as befits a tavern, the weekend breakfast menu also includes white sausages; those from the Kaupp butcher shop. And if the companion is not a fan of the traditional Bavarian breakfast, they could instead order white flour-free spelled bread with avocado cream, lemon, mushrooms and black sesame.
Kaiserstrasse 34, 80801 Munich, opening hours: Monday to Friday 12 noon to 1 a.m., Saturday/Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., 089/34020203, www.kaisergarten.com