My ex-employer's favourite watering and dining hole for the Munich office was Brauhaus zur dicken Sophie (literally 'fat Sophie's brewery house') in Johanneskirchen. Johanneskirchen lies on the north side of Munich on the S8 S-Bahn line to the airport; indeed this Gaststätte is just opposite the S-Bahn station.
'Dicke Sophie' is a very pleasant place to go out. The restaurant has three main areas: one close to the bar, and two roughly equal sized areas on either side of the bar.
My interior photos were out of focus so I picked up the photo above on the internet. The decor is conservative without being outdated and generally uses dark wood. When Mrs O saw my pictures she immediately noted some of the small touches that she finds typical of Bavaria. For example the table decoration shown below:
The candle decoration makes seasonal use of conkers and berries.
I went their last week to meet my ex-colleagues from our Munich office for the last time. We had some beers and dinner together. It was a thoroughly enjoyable but sad occasion as I had worked in that office from 1993-1998 and remained their boss until my redundancy.
The beer was from the Ayinger brewery which I would rate as one of the best in the Munich area alongside Erdinger, Schweiger and Unertl.
The food was very good Bavarian style dishes and over the years I have tried quite a few without being disappointed. Last week I went for the Wiener Schnitzel. You do not have to go to Austria to get a good Wiener Schitzel - they are equally good in Bayern! Mine was huge, completely covering the fried potatoes but was very tender and fried just how I like it. It was served with Preiselbeeren (strictly translated as cowberries but often inaccurately translated as "wild cranberries") and with horseradish cream.
Ex-colleagues ordered some very good looking dishes such as Käsespätzle which are a southern German noodle served with melted cheese, fried onions and chopped parsley. Another ordered courgette fritters (Zucchinipuffer) and turkey salad. I dared to photograph my own dish but did not want to disrupt my leaving do with manic food photos...
Service was extremely helpful and friendly; at least if you speak German. Anyway, I can thoroughly recommend "Dicke Sophie" to anybody visiting the north side of Munich - the food is traditional and good with good value for money.
Excellent review and I bet your colleagues will miss you deeply. x