“Grüß Gott!” her voice resounded from behind. I turned to find the waitress smiling a soft smile to me and wearing the traditional bayerische Dirndl with two menus in hand. “Grüß Gott!” I replied and, after a while looking at the menu and understanding only half the words contained in it, I asked her if there was any traditional dish she could suggest to me. In that Biergarten, there seemed to be nothing but traditional dishes, and yet she still pointed towards a Jägerschnitzel with Spätzle, Preiselbeeren, and Rahmchampignons. As she explained, that dish is found in Biergärten throughout the whole region of Bavaria and consists basically of pork with a mushroom cream sauce together with Spätzle and lingonberry. Since I had never tried any of the components of the dish before (although there is lingonberry in the U.S and even Spätzle in Notre Dame!), I just looked at my boyfriend with the question stamped upon my eyes: “So…?” and he answered the waitress with his beautiful and deutliches Deutsch: “We would like to try that!”
As a Vorspeise [starter], we went with Semmelknödel (bread dumpling), which we have already eaten 3 times: two times in Munich and one in Innsbruck. Knödel and Knödelsuppe are traditional Vorspeisen for a region extending beyond Germany (we ate it in Austria, for example!), but this name “Semmel” [little bread] makes it clear that we are in Bavaria, for everywhere else a little bread would be called a Brötchen in German.
For a Nachtisch [dessert], we had perhaps the most mainstream possibility: an Apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream, and yet, I was happy that I got to eat my first Apfelstrudel in the most authentic place to eat it. I think it was one of the most delicious Nachtische I ate in my time here!
One more little story in another restaurant: at my first attempt to eat a traditional dish here in Munich, I asked a waiter for a traditional dessert and, finding only common types of ice cream in the menu, I pointed to an ice cream with Eierlikör (egg liquor) and asked: “Is that something unique or traditional from here?” and he, with a smile barely containing his laughter, just went away saying: “Eierlikör? Kann man sagen, kann man sagen…” [egg liquor? I guess one could say that…]
