Every year in spring when the Guide Michelin gives its awards, Munich's restaurants are showered with stars. However, major cities are also defined by simple cuisine, the culinary discoveries that one can stumble across and enjoy even without a fat wallet. We put the top restaurateur Wolfgang Hingerl on the spot: in which restaurant can you enjoy an excellent meal – without spending more than twenty euros per person?
The last rays of sunshine are sneaking through the gaps between the houses on Dachauer Strasse. On the narrow pavement, passers-by are squeezing past the parked cars – and past the few tables in front of a narrow shopfront. Its windows are covered with photos of plates with domed portions of rice and side dishes that are difficult to identify, with the descriptions in rounded Siamese letters.
Krua Thai is written in easily legible golden letters on a red sign by the entrance door, while intense odours of hot fried food and fresh herbs waft from the kitchen behind the façades. If a tram didn't happen to be passing by, you might almost think you were about to spend an evening in Bangkok.
Until a cheerful man with a short blond beard enters the scene, with three flimsy wine glasses in his hand and a bottle whose label suggests a very old French vineyard. Wolfgang has summoned us here to dine, as the man behind a whole bunch of Munich restaurants that operate more at the top end of the official scale: the Mural and the Farmhouse each have a Michelin star, while his two other places – the Bambule! Bar and Bar Mural – also offer classy regional cuisine.
The challenge: can he convince us that it is also possible to eat well – and with a generous portion! – in Munich for less than 20 euros per person? One of his tricks this evening: he knows that the people at Krua Thai can be persuaded, if asked politely, that it is alright to bring one's own wine. In return for a small corkage, of course. Then you have more money for the food.
Why here, of all places? What could draw someone who normally makes use of ingredients from the Munich region and who is au fait with French and Nordic techniques and traditions to a kitchen that offers Thai street food? “It is actually only in Munich that I got to know really good Asian cuisine,” Hingerl states. According to him, that's the attraction of a major city. “The food is so contrary to what is usually served up with wine. It warms the soul. And I like it when the spice makes me sweat a bit.”
What’s more, there's the value for money that isn't possible for set tables and service. “It's an incredibly small dining area but we still get several hundred guests a day. It works fine.” And furthermore, Hingerl goes on to say, they can cook simply here. Which is what they do, day after day.
”It is actually only in Munich that I got to know really good Asian cuisine,” Hingerl states
We inspect the photos on the window pane. The pad thai is considered one of the best in town, but Hingerl is tending more towards fried rice today. We also order laab ped, minced duck meat with lemongrass and coriander, beef pad kra pao with fried egg and a green papaya salad for its freshness – with red bush beans on the side, also a Thai speciality that provides even more of a punch and a pure raw food touch. Four sharing platters with which we stay within the set budget for three participants in this wonderful experiment.
Everything is made fresh here, so there is time for a question: how well do wine and Asian food go together? “They can be combined well. Because a lot of fruit is used in Asian cuisine. That's not the case at all in our cuisine.” So what should we try this out with?
A 2017 Bourgogne Blanc from the Domaine Pierre Boisson vineyard in Burgundy. “A classical cuvée, a typical blend of wines from different sites that are all planted with Chardonnay,” Hingerl explains. “The 2017 has a pleasant tartness and slight ripeness which can be fun. Sweet and sour is always a bit too much of a contrast for me, but it still has to have a bit of a kick. Salt and acidity are what do this.”
„So I'll just breathe through my ears for a while.”
Aha, do go ahead! “And wine can also handle a certain spiciness well. Unless the rating here has four out of five chillis, but we'll see about that shortly. So I'll just breathe through my ears for a while.” Hingerl has brought a little gem with him to Dachauer Strasse which makes us forget about waiting for the food.
And then it starts. The platters are brought at short intervals. The rice is fragrant, with a hint of frying aromas. Perfect, that's exactly what Hingerl likes about it. The fried egg, more frazzled than fried, curves up at the edges. “How do they manage that every time?” Hingerl asks out loud. And offers us the first forkful. Hot, fresh, delightful.
The laab ped is garnished with curled, fried duck skin and curry leaves. Lemongrass and an abundance of chilli pierce through the wonderfully fatty duck taste. Pad kra pao is also phenomenal. The papaya salad is as spicy as a punch on the nose. But that was what we had wanted, after all. We could have ordered it somewhat milder, the menu does issue a warning. Followed by a forkful of rice, the Granny Smith hints of the Burgundy also come to the fore again.
Hingerl gushes, and it is obvious, that food is not only his profession but a true passion. “This fusion! Sweet, sour, spicy. But also a lot that is pickled, fermented. Garum, fish sauces, I love Thai cuisine!” We swap the platters around, increasingly delighted, interrupted only by Hingerl's rhapsodies. “It is also an incredibly herbal cuisine, it is full of herbs, bunches of them! And then the ginger, galangal, tamarind...” One simply has to agree with him that it is an exceptional journey to the other end of the world. At a price that is more than fair. And by the end we are quite full!
Does it really taste like it would taste at a street food stand in Bangkok? Unfortunately, Hingerl cannot say. He hasn't made it there yet. But it is very high up on his bucket list. When he manages to find a bit of time, alongside his four enterprises.
Until then, Krua Thai has to do the job. And it does. And how.
