Vegan food and non-alcoholic drinks right in the centre of Munich – doesn’t that sound like a perfect dinner option for one of the last warm and pleasant days of the year? Well, we could cope with a glass of wine, but are curious about the Max Pett all-vegan restaurant. When we arrive at around 6.30 pm on a Monday evening we are lucky to get a table without a reservation. The small vegan restaurant Max Pett in Munich is filling quickly and even the tables outside are all already occupied.
Named after a hygiene researcher
The restaurant is named for the hygiene researcher Max von Pettenkofer, or rather for the nearby Pettenkofer Street. During the 19th century, Max von Pettenkofer initiated the first canalization system for Munich as well as a central hygienic drinking water supply in order to fight the Cholera disease.
The menu at the Max Pett restaurant is clean and quickly navigated: A few soups and entrees, one raw vegan dish and a handful of vegan main dishes.
For food, we decide for the raw filled peppers – with a rich nut filling, cashew cream and crackers made from linseed and vegetables – and for the tempeh “Schnitzel”. The texture is somewhat chewy and quite interesting but we guess it helps not to remember what a real meat Schnitzel actually tastes like. The vegan Schnitzel dish doesn’t taste of much at all, which is well enough, and has a yummy breaded crust. All the extras, such as potato salad and tartar sauce, are very good. Similarly, the stuffed peppers and all their side dishes (including a large salad) are delicious and make for a varied selection of tastes and textures.
Wine without alcohol?
To Isa the most interesting item on the menu, however, is the non-alcoholic wine. It is made from real alcoholic wine with the alcohol “carefully” extracted (whatever that means – less careful would leave some traces of alcohol?). While non-alcoholic beer is perfectly drinkable (in Natascha’s opinion), however, the wine will remain a one-off experiment: The “Merlot” tastes like unsweetened grape juice and not at all like wine.
They do leave space for a dessert, though. We try out the blueberry cheese cake and again find flavour as well as texture amazing. As long-term vegetarians-but-not-vegans, we do eat non-vegan cheesecake, too, and this one was very close. And it was absolutely delicious!
As good as the food was, we were not quite content with the atmosphere. On the whole, we found the restaurant not very cosy and a bit noisy once it was busy, with tables so close that we could overhear conversations on the tables next to us and probably too hard surfaces to dampen the noises. The staff was friendly and relaxed, but they tended to take their time, so it’s better not to come in a hurry or hungry.
What persuaded us to write about it as well as to come back in the future was definitely the delicious food!
Would you like to eat at Max Pett or do you have any other recommendations for vegan restaurants in Munich?
Max Pett, Pettenkoferstraße 8, 80336 München, 089-55869119, www.max-pett.de
*** All expenses were paid by ourselves ***
I started a little piece of my friend’s vegan pizza last week, and I liked it. I’m not a vegan, but I think I will try to order vegan now and then for a variety. I would like to try the food at Max Pett. The stuffed pepper looks delicious, as well as the cheesecake. But I think they will need to work out some more on the tempeh Schnitzel.