A grand address on Maximilianstrasse houses a culinary offering that runs from Weisswurst at dawn to a tableside martini long after dark, and the dining room in between is worth the trip alone.
The name comes from a fish. Specifically, from the Schwarzreiter, a small char from the depths of the Königssee in the Bavarian Alps, said to have been the favourite dish of King Ludwig II. It returns to the menu each autumn at the restaurant that bears its name, inside the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich, on the boulevard that Ludwig’s father, King Maximilian II, built as his city’s most elegant address. None of this feels accidental. At the Vier Jahreszeiten, almost everything connects back to the Wittelsbachs.
The hotel’s culinary operation is larger than most guests realise. Under executive chef Franz-Josef Unterlechner, the kitchen runs three distinct offerings from the same brigade: the Schwarzreiter Tagesbar, a dining room and bar serving lunch, dinner and drinks from midday; the Schwarzreiter Restaurant, a fine dining room operating Wednesday to Saturday evenings; and the Jahreszeiten Bar, one of Munich’s most distinguished cocktail rooms, open since 1960. Together, they cover the full arc of a day, and each does something the others don’t.
Where to stay in Munich: Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski
The Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski has occupied this address since 1858 and carries its history without making a burden of it. The lobby tells you very quickly what kind of hotel this is: a vast heritage-listed stained-glass dome, amber and orange radiating outward from a central medallion of blue and green floral motifs, fills the ceiling above a Rosso Verona marble floor. On the busiest days, around 300 people pass through this room. The Ladies in Red, the hotel’s signature guest-relations team in their burgundy uniforms, manage the pace with warmth and precision. It is, as staff often describe it, Munich’s most beautiful living room, and it is open to anyone who walks through the door.
Across 296 rooms and suites, with superior rooms from €300 per night, the recently renovated Maximilianstrasse-facing rooms are the ones to book. The design is warmer and more contemporary than the neoclassical exterior suggests: walnut headboard panels in chevron veneer, Moorish-style pendant lights on chains, cream walls with white cornice moulding. Ferragamo Convivio toiletries in the bathroom, complimentary Kondrauer mineral water on the desk, shoes returned polished by morning without being asked. The soundproofing is exceptional. And then there is the small matter of breakfast downstairs.
Inside the Schwarzreiter Tagesbar: Munich’s most beautiful restaurant ceiling
Before a single plate arrives, there is the ceiling to contend with. The Schwarzreiter Tagesbar’s most extraordinary feature has nothing to do with the kitchen: dozens of hand-painted Nymphenburg porcelain octagonal plates, every one individually made by hand at the Royal Porcelain Manufactory, are mounted across the white plaster in the shape of a fruit tree moving through the seasons. Spring blossom clusters at the base. Summer peaches ripen near the top. It takes a moment to register what you are looking at, but then it is very hard to stop.
Nymphenburg porcelain appears throughout the hotel. The porcelain is handcrafted by artisans who paint every piece by hand, a process of extraordinary craftsmanship that shows in every detail. In the fine dining room next door, handcrafted porcelain blossoms, cherry flowers, hibiscus and magnolia, are set under the glass tabletops, each branch a unique piece from the same manufactory. The porcupine quill lamp at the bar entrance has its shade assembled from naturally shed quills in a lattice pattern, and the hotel’s appetite for materials with a story runs to every corner of the building.
The Tagesbar itself was renovated in 2019 by designer Colin Finnegan, who also reimagined the hotel’s presidential suites. The result is lighter and more relaxed than many grand hotel dining rooms: a long white onyx bar counter, leather banquettes and parquet flooring. Directly adjacent, the heritage-listed Biedermeier Room, with its original intarsia wall cladding of delicate rose patterns restored and preserved, adds another layer of history to a room already dense with it.
Munich’s best hotel breakfast: the Schwarzreiter Tagesbar buffet
The breakfast offering at the Vier Jahreszeiten makes a strong claim to be the best in the city. The buffet is a serious operation: Weisswurst and Nürnberger Bratwürste kept warm in colour-coded Staub cast-iron casseroles, Obazda, sliced Leberkäse, Bavarian ham, Emmental, rye breads, pretzels and fresh rolls. The presentation is impeccable, with gold-rimmed plates, ornate silver tongs and small bilingual labels identifying each dish. It is a buffet that takes the format seriously.
What elevates it beyond the standard grand hotel spread is the à la carte menu running alongside, available from 6am. Eggs come from Fenton Farm and are prepared to order: the Egg Benedict, an English muffin with turkey ham and hollandaise, is the classic option. The Egg Royal adds salmon, spinach and Keta caviar to the equation. The Strammer Maximilian, roasted rye bread with ham, fried egg and chive, is the kitchen’s precise take on a Bavarian staple. The European Breakfast package is €55 per person. It is worth every euro.
What to eat at the Schwarzreiter Tagesbar: the lunch menu
From midday, the Tagesbar shifts into a different register. The menu changes with the seasons, but the register is consistent: modern Bavarian and European dishes built around quality regional ingredients, treated with precision and restraint that runs through everything Unterlechner’s kitchen produces. The caviar menu is a constant, with Ossetra and Beluga always available, served with the full classical accompaniments of egg yolk, egg white, crème fraîche, blinis and shallots. The champagne selection runs to Taittinger across multiple cuvées. At the front of the room, bottles rest on crushed ice beside caviar tins, an early sign of the fun to come.
Schwarzreiter Restaurant: fine dining on Maximilianstrasse
Through an archway, the Schwarzreiter Restaurant operates as an entirely separate proposition. It replaced the legendary Walterspiel, a restaurant that dated to 1926 and long stood among Munich’s defining fine dining addresses. The room is silver and cream: a large antique mirror panel set into the ceiling reflects a crystal chandelier, three of which are on loan from the Wittelsbach family. White tablecloths, quilted champagne-coloured chairs, diamond-patterned wall panels. Unterlechner’s kitchen produces a tasting menu drawing on top-quality regional ingredients treated with precision and restraint. It opens to Maximilianstrasse through its own entrance, which makes it as much a Munich restaurant as a hotel dining room.
Jahreszeiten Bar Munich: cocktails at one of Germany’s great hotel bars
The Jahreszeiten Bar opens at 5pm and runs until 1am on weeknights. It is a room worth staying up for. The interior was inspired by the nearby Munich Residenz, the former seat of the Wittelsbach dynasty, and it carries that reference with conviction: walnut panelling, full-length mustard leather banquettes, lacquered circular tables with inlaid pietra dura and checkerboard detailing under glass, framed artworks by Munich painters Uta Reinhardt and Michele Melillo on the walls. The bar itself is fully stocked, and the cocktail menu runs to 17 seasonal drinks plotted on a Wheel of Taste that divides the year into four distinct chapters.
The bar’s signature is the Jahreszeiten Martini, prepared tableside from the hotel’s own gin and vodka with white vermouth and hand-picked seasonal herbs, delicately floral in spring and deeply warming in winter. Visiting in May, the spring version arrives in a coupe glass with a lemon twist, alongside small brass bowls of chips and nuts. On the evening in question, the bar’s sound system was playing “I’m in Heaven.” It was a reasonable assessment of the situation. The service is warm and entirely without ceremony, which at a bar of this calibre and in a hotel of this standing is the most impressive thing about it.
From the Nymphenburg porcelain ceiling at breakfast to the tableside martini long after dark, this is a kitchen and a bar worth going out of your way for. And for those who want to linger longer, the rooms upstairs, the Marienplatz bells drifting through the streets each morning, and Munich’s old town on the doorstep make a compelling case for staying the night, or two.
The details:
Schwarzreiter Tagesbar and Restaurant
Maximilianstrasse 17, 80539 Munich, Germany
schwarzreiter-muenchen.de
Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich
Maximilianstrasse 17, 80539 Munich, Germany
kempinski.com/vierjahreszeiten
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