Grinzekatze

Stefan picked a restaurant out of our date jar and we made reservations for his birthday dinner at the Grinzekatze. This was the restaurant that was featured on a German TV program called 'Mein Restaurant', where five teams of two in five different cities set out to open a restaurant. Each week people were voted off.

We had met Toby, who was the Munich contestant, last year at a drink mixology course. It just so happened he and his wife were the Munich team that won the entire show.

The Grinzekatze has an Alice in Wonderland theme. The restaurant itself is nice, however the longer we sat there the more I noticed the odd details. Not odd in the Alice in Wonderland sense, but just odd as if it was a set restaurant trying to be a real one. Stefan also commented he wasn't sure what was going on with the decor - it was an attempt at being modern, but with lots of little tchotchkes. The wall paintings were a bit haphazard, which is a shame, because it could be a nicer place. Looks aside, we came to try the food.

The menu is small and the prices are rather high for the quality of the food. Another oddity was that the food looked different from table to table and there wasn't consistency. Some were garnished, while others weren't and the portion sizes weren't the same. I've never seen that at a restaurant.

There was a large crowd and they were turning people away - this was on a Wednesday night. Despite all of the hype, I think this restaurant will go in the same folder as the Gesellschaftsraum. Both are gimmicky and the food was mediocre. It was nice to have tried it, but it won't stand out in my mind as a place to return to.