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April 2002

Now and Then

21st century vs. early 19th-- it's a tie!

Café Stör
Rosenheimer Str. 1 (Müllersches Volksbad)
Tel. (089) 48 22 22
Open daily, 10 am–1 am, garden open until 12 pm, warm meals served 10 am–2:30 pm and 6 pm–11:30 pm
A public swimming pool may not be the location that springs to mind when you’re considering where to have lunch, but the Café Stör, part of the Müller’sches Volksbad, has a lovely ambience and good food. The café premises began life as a waiting room and passed through several incarnations, including storage space and milk bar, before becoming the café/restaurant that it is today. Something of this mixed heritage has remained, so while the wooden entrance door with its flowery, curling lines is clearly Art Nouveau in style, the interior is rather ecclectic. Here, diners may choose from low tables, high tables, squishy sofas, barstools and ordinary café chairs. The effect is one of a relaxed and almost intimate atmosphere as there are no windows to the outside, only a large skylight and windows looking into the entrance hall of the Volksbad (though if the weather permits there are tables outside, too). Conveniently located, this is the place to which you will gladly head for a cocktail before taking in a concert at the Muffathalle or Gasteig. A Margarita will set you back € 7.40 or, if you want to keep a clear head, try the alcohol-free Spring Fever at € 5.90. Catch an early film at the Museum Lichtspiele across the street and have dinner at Café Stör afterwards. Most of the restaurant’s main dishes change daily and are chalked up on a board behind the bar: cauliflower soup at € 3.80 or arugula salad with prawns and avocado at € 8.80, for example. There is also a selection of salads on the menu, such as the vegetarian spring roll salad with sweet and sour dip, at € 9.50. Whichever one you choose it will be generous in size and attractively presented. Afternoon tea fans can indulge at the cake counter, where there are usually seven or eight Torten, fruit flans or cakes on offer at about € 2.30 a piece, plus a variety of teas (a pot of Darjeeling costs € 3.40). Finally, if you’ve over-imbibed one night, why not carry your hangover to the Volksbad and, after swimming a few laps, visit Café Stör and tuck into breakfast no. 3, which includes a selection of bread, ham, cheese, salami, jam, butter and an egg, for € 6.40?
FOOD 8, SERVICE 10, ATMOSPHERE 8

Café Kreutzkamm
Maffeistr. 4
Tel. (089) 29 32 77
Mon.–Fri. 8 am–6:30 pm, Sat. 8 am–6:00 pm, Sun. noon–6 pm
This is a coffeehouse with a long tradition. The original café bearing this name was founded on the Dresdner Altmarkt by Heinrich Jeremias Kreutzkamm in 1825. Destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945, the Dresden café—which today is run by Kreutzkamm’s descendants—was reopened. Around the same time Kreutzkamm’s great grandson Fritz moved to Munich, where he opened a café of the same name, in what today is the very heart of the city’s most prestigious shopping area. Despite its long tradition of making and selling cakes, there is nothing old-fashioned or frumpy about the interior of Kreutzkamm’s, which is graced with cream-colored walls, palm trees and pale wicker chairs (look out for the oil paintings of the founders, Mr. Kreutzkamm and his wife, in an alcove). The café opens as early as 8 am, so if you work nearby, why not try an American breakfast with tea, coffee or hot chocolate, ham, eggs, rolls and orange juice for € 10.12, or the slightly more modest continental breakfast, again with a hot beverage, plus two croissants, butter and jam for € 5.88? Like most cafés, Kreutzkamm does serve such small midday meals as soups and salads, but the menu does not change daily and most people come for the delicious cakes. Order the butter-almond cake at € 2.05 or the apple crumble at € 2.45. Or, as an alternative to tea or coffee, why not try a cup of hot or cold Ovaltine, € 3.17? Kreutzkamm’s most famous baked goods are undoubtedly the Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Christstollen (which is sold only at Christmastime and is a yeast-based cake filled with dried fruit and candied peel). When cut, the Baumkuchen, shaped like a stack of doughnuts, reveals alternating dark and light concentric rings like the cross section of a tree, hence the name. The main ingredients include eggs, almonds and a secret mixture of natural spices, which makes the end product light, sweet and filling. Baumkuchen is also available to take away: 700 vacuum-packed grams for the folks back home will cost you around € 26. Kreutzkamm’s is not perhaps the place to bring a group of boisterous youngsters (the atmosphere is decidedly genteel), but if you want to gossip with a friend or peruse the daily paper while snacking on petits fours and coffee, this is the place for you.
FOOD 8, SERVICE 7, ATMOSPHERE 8