As promised, here’s a little recap on what we ate on holiday. I’m only going to talk about the foods that I think of as typically German (although a few of these are generally from the South of Germany and possibly also Austria and Switzerland). I always think Germany is great at comfort food and tasty treats that you’ll want to eat all through winter. Just think of mulled wine and you’ll know what I mean!

Breakfast at Cafe Münchner Freiheit

This well-known cafe attracts locals and tourists alike, and is just a few minutes away from Munich’s main square, Marienplatz, if you take the underground. It’s not too far to walk either, but we were too cold for that!

Right next to Munich’s craft market, this cafe serves coffee, a great selection of cakes, as well as a whole host of traditional dishes. We went there for breakfast on our first day in Germany.

I had a big bowl of Bircher Müesli (above left), and my boyfriend had Kaiserschmarrn (above right).

Bircher Müesli is prepared a little differently to your normal müesli, as the oats are soaked overnight, in juice and yoghurt for example. This makes the oats very soft. You can adapt Bircher Müesli however you want, adding spices or chunks of fruit. It’s really filling, which makes it the ideal start to your day of sightseeing!

Kaiserschmarrn is essentially a very fluffy pancake, which has been shredded and dusted in icing sugar, and is then usually served warm with cold Apfelmus (similar to apple puree) for dipping.

Chocolate fruit at the Christmas market

Quite a common sight at German Christmas markets is stalls selling chocolate covered fruits and even chillis.

My favourite by far is strawberries covered in dark chocolate, and this time I opted for one with added chilli flakes. I was a bit worried it would be too spicy, but it actually just gave a good kick that really complemented the dark chocolate and the sweetness of the strawberries.

German pancakes

We opted for a crepe at the Christmas market at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) in the English Garden.

The staple flavour in the UK is lemon and sugar, but in Germany it’s cinnamon and sugar, and it tastes amazing!

Käsespätzle

Spätzle is difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t had it before, but it’s a little like an eggy pasta.

Käsespätzle is Spätzle with cheese and fried onions. It’s very much a comfort food for me, but I do also find it difficult to eat too much of it – feels like it needs salad on the side so you can get a break from all the cheese!

The German version of macaroni and cheese perhaps?

Sachertorte

Sachertorte is a rich chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam and covered with chocolate ganache and I knew I had to find some while I was on holiday – it’s one of my favourite cakes and I’ve yet to find it in the UK. I suppose one answer to this would be to learn how to make it myself but it hasn’t happened so far…

Marzipan

Marzipan is a big thing in Germany – so don’t be surprised to find animals and other things made out of marzipan as gifts, or marzipan-filled chocolate that are hard to find in the UK. Here are just a couple of examples that we came across while we were there.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of German food!

See you in my next post!