It’s time for Bavarian entertainment in Berlin

As a Bavarian I have always found it an embarrassment to visit Bavarian-themed restaurants wherever I travelled. Most of them tended to overdo the Bavarian oompah experience as if the Oktoberfest was the only place Bavarians will go to have a good beer and suck in the atmosphere. I won’t tell you what I let myself in when I visited Mader’s and Karl Ratzsch’s in Milwaukee years ago. In the 19th century Milwaukee probably had the largest number of Bavarians away from home. And the places looked it. Hadn’t seen a pot of paint for decades. Being a journalist, I put these two visits down as “interesting experiences”, best never to be repeated.

That’s why I was pleased to see Augustiner brewery and Markus Wanke have a go at developing their own Bavarian themed restaurants in Berlin. Obviously, Munich’s corporate brewers Löwenbräu (InBev) and Paulaner (Schörghuber/Heineken) have had their beer halls here for a while. But theirs are tourist traps, strong on kitsch, but poor on service and food.

Not so Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt. I must admit I have always been a fan of Augustiner brewery. For journalists they are a nightmare. They don’t talk. They don’t even advertise. Instead they let their beers speak for themselves. That’s an attitude even an inquisitive journalist can admire. In Munich, you know what to expect when you go to an Augustiner restaurant. Good beer, affordable food and all served in a classic 19th century beer hall ambience: dark wood panelling, benches and uncushioned wooden chairs (!). Well, you are not supposed to stay forever and prevent others from getting their chance.

I should add that in Munich Augustiner usually own the property and rumour has it that they take a very close interest in what their publicans do. That way they maintain standards and prevent any sort of trashiness from creeping in through the back door.

In Berlin they do not own the property so they probably have less leverage with the local restaurateur, who already runs several fancy restaurants along the street. Still they have made sure that it looks like a Munich Augustiner restaurant : same décor, nice beer, though pricier food. I am not sure I approve of the Berlin staff wearing dirnl. It feels a bit like carnival when the girls open their mouths and out comes broad Berlinisch. Never mind. The punters who pack out the place Monday to Sunday seem to like it.

Last time I visited I had a brewer with me and he worked out that the place should easily sell 3600 hl beer per year. It must be the beer. Augustiner’s main attraction seems to be its beer that is tapped from wooden barrels. Proves to show that quality sells.

One last remark on the music. As the building is owned by Berlin’s academy of music, student brass quintets seem to visit regularly, probably in exchange for food and some money to bolster their grants. What are they playing? Oompah music? You won’t guess, it’s classical music.

I wish they had that at Augustiner’s restaurants in Munich too.

And now on to Leibhaftig, the other place of interest for punters on the look-out for an iconic (and ironic) Bavarian experience. Naturally, the beer figures prominently. Mr Wanke has his own Bavarian-style beers brewed for him that he serves on tap. What else to expect from a brewer? And there is a mural of a beer production flow chart on the wall facing the entrance, a reminder from his years at Weihenstephan. Apart from that, the small bar sports a minimalist black & white décor and scrubbed table tops, as befits an authentic Bavarian pub. But no dirndls in sight. The menu is a list of clever puns, which I think a really nice touch. Again, what else to expect from a journalist? The food is lovely. All the Bavarian goodies are served without the usual ladle of gravy on small plates. Bavarian tapas bar – geddit?

Restaurant critics would call Leibhaftig a cross-over between a lounge and a Bavarian pub. Since it serves both as a neighbourhood and destination pub – if you care for gastronomic jargon – and attracts a young and not-so-youngish crowd, I think it’s a highly attractive take on the Bavarian pub for our times.