Last month, my wife Jun and I spent our summer vacation in Germany and Austria. We had been to neither country before, and had a great time in both countries, starting from Munich, then visiting the famed Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (it had forever been on my bucket list!), followed by the Mosel Valley wine country and then wrapping up in Vienna. Our first stop in Munich was Alois inside a popular delicatessen store Dallmayr. We had only one night in the city for a proper dinner, so I went back and forth among a number of leading restaurants, and ultimately settled on Alois. I was particularly attracted to the concept of the restaurant, led by Bavarian native Rosina Ostler, featuring modern Bavarian cuisine with Nordic sensibilities (reflecting the chef’s time at Maaemo in Oslo, Norway). Overall, we had a great meal at Alois, with a few standouts that quite blew us away.

The single tasting menu at Alois (priced at €300 per person on our visit) starts with a number of smaller bites, followed by larger savory courses and then desserts. The series of snacks that came to our table were all thoughtfully prepared with and quite delicious. I was particularly fond of the oyster on top of seaweed cracker and a rich garlic tart with Bavarian wagyu and morel mushroom inside. I had never encountered fried elderflower before and it complemented beautifully with caviar that we could dip on. There was a supplement dish called “Signature Rosina” which we decided to order notwithstanding the hefty €58 price tag; it was a fine delicacy of sturgeon liver parfait and caviar we could put on top of smoked eel brioche. It was in the larger savory courses where the kitchen really put together some fantastic dishes. I was particularly impressed with the way that the kitchen was using sauce from unexpected sources to complement the main ingredient, such as the buffalo milk ricotta to give an extra dimension to the fresh green and white asparagus, or the pea sauce that Jun absolutely loved for the trout dish.

I think it’s safe to say our consensus favorite dish of the night was a playful take on Buffalo chicken wing, featuring stuffed chicken wing with blue cheese washed with port wine. Not only was the chicken’s texture was more or less perfect but the addition of blue cheese gave the dish profound depth that kept me thinking about this dish for a few days after our dinner. If there is an ideal version of modern, deconstructed Buffalo chicken wing, who would’ve thought a restaurant in German was able to pull this off with perfection? Other standouts included the North Sea lobster with grapefruit cream and bacon sauce, as well one of the best lamb dishes we’ve had this year, accompanied by white bean and lamb jus with white pepper. Compared to all the impactful savory dishes, I found the desserts somewhat mixed. The pineapple weed granita was refreshing as a palate cleanser, but the main dessert with sour cream, honey made from Szechuan pepper and plum was a little bit pedestrian. We finished our dinner with honey buns.

Getting a reservation at Alois wasn’t terribly difficult but the dining room was fully packed during our dinner so I would still plan in advance to secure a table. Speaking of the dining room, the polished and elegant décor of the restaurant with colorful walls really enhanced our overall experience. In terms of the ambiance of an upscale fine dining restaurant, it’s hard to beat the restaurant. If you are an wine enthusiast, Alois also has fabulous wine pairing options, with the wine program designed by restaurant manager and sommelier Julien Morlat. We chose the classic version at €165 per person (there were also more two other more expensive options), and greatly enjoyed most of the wines on the pairing navigating not just wines from Germany but from other parts of Europe, especially with Julien’s enthusiastic briefings on each glass that came to us. Sadly, chef Rosina was not at the kitchen on our visit, but nevertheless we had a superb time at Alois. Munich is of course known for beer and hearty Bavarian dishes but if you want a night out at a top-class fine dining restaurant, I highly recommend Alois.

KenScale: 8.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.5/10)

Address: Dienerstrasse 14-15, 80331 München, Germany

Website: https://www.dallmayr.com/deen/delicatessen/restaurant/

Reservation via OpenTable