07-018 Kosher restaurant in Munich

07-018
Kosher restaurant in Munich

26 hours after leaving my home, I was finally inside my hotel room in Munich, having a hot shower. Ever since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Finnair flights were not allowed to fly over Russia. My flight was detoured to follow the old silk road, flying over Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and finally headed north for Finland. After touching down, there were again another 3 hours of transit time and a 2.5 hour flight to Munich, plus an S-Bahn ride. It was exhausting. But there was no time to take any break. I only had 2 free days in the city. After the shower, I rushed to the city center with an empty stomach. I had only one goal, to visit the Jüdisches Museum München, or in English, the Jewish Museum Munich.

I have visited Munich many times before. I know the place. But just that I had never thought of visiting the museum. To my disappointment, it was closed on Monday. I used to think that as a Jewish museum, it should open from Monday to Friday and close on Sabbaths (Saturdays). Instead, they open on Sabbaths and Mondays are their only resting days. Luckily, I have another free day later this week so I still have a chance to visit the museum. But instead of going back to the hotel empty handed, I decided to have lunch in the nearby Restaurant Einstein, the only kosher restaurant in Munich.

Restaurant Einstein

Ever since the closure of Shalom Grill, the only kosher restaurant in Hong Kong that opens to gentiles, I have not had any chance to dine in a kosher restaurant. The closest alternative I can get are those in-flight KSML meals.

Restaurant Einstein is on the ground floor
of the Jewish Elementary school building

Restaurant Einstein is just on the opposite side of the Jewish Museum. But the entrance to the restaurant is a bit tricky. No one can walk into the restaurant from the street level. The only entrance to the restaurant is located in the lobby of the Sinai-Ganztages-Grundschule building, the Jewish Elementary school. To get into the lobby of the school, I need to pass through a metal detector and have my belongings x-rayed. And even x-ray was not enough, the security guard also searched my bag.

A mezuzah at the entrance

“Why do you want to go inside?”, he asked.
“I want to try kosher food. Does the restaurant open to everyone?”
“Yes, it does.”, he answered me reluctantly. He looked at his watch. The time was 1:20 and the restaurant was going to close at 2 pm.

He then asked for my passport. Luckily, I had it with me. He flipped over my passport pages one by one and looked into every single stamp inside. Fortunately, mine was a new passport and the only stamps I had were from the Finnish border control and the Philippines border control. He gave me my passport back and finally said “Welcome!”

At last, I managed to walk into the kosher restaurant. The waiter was a young German guy. I asked him if the restaurant was open for everyone. He said, “No! It opens only for you!” I smiled, and felt relieved.

Inside the Restaurant Einstein

Jewish decorations inside the restaurant

Siddur, Jewish prayer books, on the bookshelf

On the bookshelf, there are also songbooks, periodicals and kippahs.
I don't know what is the reason to have these items in a restaurant.

Restaurant Einstein is overall quite German. Apart from the several Jewish decorations inside, the restaurant does not look anything like the Middle East. Even the food on the menu is mostly German.

The most important thing in a kosher restaurant is perhaps its certificate.
The kosher certificate of Restaurant Einstein is mounted in a photo frame.

I remembered in Shalom Grill, I was taught to wash my hands before eating, with a special jar with two handles. So, I asked if I should wash my hands before ordering the food. The waiter did not know what I meant and only showed me the washroom. It seems they are not that strict in cleaning their hands.

Apart from those Jewish decorations, the restaurant overall is quite German

The waiter asked if I would like to try some of their kosher wine. Without knowing the price, I ordered a glass. I have heard of kosher wine many times and wanted to try it. People say kosher wine has a sweeter taste than normal wine. But frankly, I could not tell the difference.

I was recommeded this kosher wine.
But my camera was already drunk and focused on the rabbis behind.

The restaurant was quite empty. Only one table was occupied by 3 Jewish men.

Photos are allowed inside the restaurant so I took some. Since I had no idea what to order, I just showed the waiter some photos I found on Google map and asked the waiter to bring me the same food. It turned out to be the same recipe I ate on the plane, chicken schnitzel. For sure, it was 100 times tastier than Stogel.

Bon Appétit!

A couple from America arrived later and sat on the next table. We talked for a while. They were very concerned about the political situation of Hong Kong. They also told me how bad the economy in New York was after the pandemic. We exchanged thoughts. We all found that media are trying all their ways to shape people’s minds. But the truth is always out there. Media just do not want us to know.

The bill of my lunch.
The food I had is Schnitzel, Bratkartoffeln & Tageswein rot 0,2 l.

The meal cost me €27. It was a bit expensive for a one course lunch. But as the meal was kosher and cooked by a rabbi, I think the price was okay.

Food served in Restaurant Einstein is overall tasty but not very special. I would not say the restaurant is a must-go attraction. If you like Jewish culture and would like to have some real kosher food, Restaurant Einstein is the place to go. But if you are from Muslim countries, or if you have stamps from unfriendly nations of Israel on your passport, forget about getting into the restaurant. It is not a great loss even though they won’t let you in. Also, if you go, don’t bring any unnecessary belongings with you. They really search your bag thoroughly.

Upon leaving, I asked the security guard if the building was always that highly secured or if it was just because of the recent incidents that happened in Israel. The answer I got was “always”.

Go back to the Lobby ...