January 2000
Toast of the Town
Café Neuhausen
Blutenburgstr. 106, Munich
Tel. (089) 1 23 62 88
Hours: daily 9:00am to 1:00am
Be warned: everyone and their uncle wants to be one of the well-heeled throng breakfasting at this trendy café, and, whether you like it or not, you will rub elbows with other hungry Münchner. Reservations are an absolute must at this always-crowded neighborhood favorite.
Café Neuhausen’s breakfast, or more accurately, brunch, is awe-inspiring. Though “Frühstück 1” to “Frühstück 10” — listed in ascending order of elaborateness and price — may not be creatively named, that’s the worst of their failings. Servings are more than ample and end up putting a smile on the face of even the most irascible of codgers. Frühstück 8 (DM 16.80) is the continental breakfast of champions: a basket of freshly baked bread accompanied by butter, fruit preserves, honey, nutella, three kinds of cheese, homemade Kräuterquark (CN’s delicious version of light, herbed cream cheese), müsli with fresh fruit and your choice of a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice or prosecco. If you choose the king of the Café’s breakfasts, Frühstück 10 (DM 19.80), be prepared to crave nothing less than thinly sliced roast beef and smoked salmon each morning for the rest of your life. Spoil yourself a bit more with a frothy Milchkaffee (DM 5.20), which comes served French-style, in a bowl. This all adds up to a pretty penny for breakfast, but you certainly won’t think of eating again until evening.
Food 10, Service 7, Atmosphere 7.
Ysenegger
Ysenburgstr. 3, Munich
Tel. (089) 16 27 97
Hours: daily 10:00am to 1:00am
The staff at the Ysenegger (pronounced “Eezenayger”) is what sets this place apart from other breakfast joints. Friendly is an understatement, and if you utter the word coffee, it is probably already on its way to your table. I would call the attentive waitresses “telepathic,” but I don’t want them to sound like freaks.
Now to the grub: the eleven selections on the weekend breakfast menu range from Spartan to spectacular. For starving model types, the menu boasts the elegantly simple Pariser Frühstück (DM 6), comprising a piping hot croissant, butter and jam. For those of us who like to shovel it in with a John Deere backhoe, there is the celebrated Amerikanisches Frühstück (DM 11.50). “Country” potato wedges, golden-brown toast — not soggy and not burnt — lean bacon fried until crisp (how many times must we suffer the gray, jiggling mass on our breakfast plate?) and a fluffy heap of scrambled eggs are lovingly presented with “the Ysie’s” homemade marmalade. The equally artery-clogging Englisches Frühstück (DM 9.90) features the classic trio of fried or scrambled eggs, bacon strips and molasses-kissed baked beans. A particular delight, and hidden among the so-called “extras,” is the house French toast. Gloriously “eggy”, as the true, American adaptation should be, it is bathed in Canada’s finest: real, Grade A maple syrup. This à la carte item is the star of the Ysenegger morning show.
Food 10, Service 10, Atmosphere 10.
Café Atlas
Innere Wiener Str. 2, Munich
Tel. (089) 4 80 29 97
Hours: daily 9:00am-1:00am
Though Atlas is jam packed with cell-phoning folks who always look as though they took a little too long to get ready to go out to breakfast, it is nonetheless a worthy destination. The restaurant’s best feature is its outdoor patio, an area almost impossible to penetrate on a Saturday morning.
Atlas enjoys a fine reputation for its flapjacks alone. Two giant blueberry pancakes (DM 10.50), so thick they barely fit into their oval serving platter, are garnished with whipped butter, sweet melon slices and syrup. Bagels with cream cheese (DM 5.50), bagels topped with a delectable avocado egg salad (DM 10.50) or the New York standard, bagels with cream cheese and lox (DM 13.50) lend credibility to Atlas’s wish to be an American-style eatery. Nirvana, however, is only achieved when the Atlas Favorite (DM 23.50) arrives at your table. Succulent prosciutto, smoked salmon and roast beef, an icy shrimp cocktail, glistening fresh fruit and a variety of breads are a gourmand’s feast — it may be that life, provided the caffeine has safely made it to your bloodstream, doesn’t get any better than this.
Food 9, Service 10, Atmosphere 9. <<<
