L'Osteria Künstlerhaus restaurant in Lenbachplatz in Munich was a welcome surprise. It was recently converted from a high-end boutique café/shop that specialised in serving and selling gourmet ice cream and other related food items, to an Italian restaurant that serves excellent Italian food. There is a time and place for ice cream, but good, authentic Italian food is fashionable at almost any time.
The place has an ambience, favourable to fine Italian dining. Frescos, painted columns, wall sconces, grand chandeliers, large loaves of bread, and strung bunches of pepper on display lend it just the right touch. An open galley kitchen labelled 'cucina' makes unmistakable what the place purports to be.
Pizzas are huge, as in humongous, and are bigger than a thirty-centimetre dinner plate. To put it in perspective, three grown men at a nearby table shared one pizza. The size is not all either. I tried the 'Prosciutto' and it tasted just like the kind one gets in Italy. 'Bellisima' is the most fitting word to describe it. There are at least twenty-five different pizza varieties on offer and at prices from eight to eleven Euros a pizza, they are an exceptional deal.
Pastas are priced from seven to ten Euros. My 'Pomodoro e Basilico' was simple and delish. The other served pastas on the table looked and smelled as delectable as mine. My companionable sister and niece enjoyed theirs as much as I did mine. A pleasant ambience, delightful Italian food, good wine (and beer), and congenial company rendered it a time to be remembered.
