Bavarian cooking is tasty, filling and not exactly for weight-watchers. Restaurants known as Gaststätten are the best places to enjoy it. Equally popular with the natives are the beer halls, which offer real atmosphere and portions of meat to challenge the hungriest of appetites.

Munich’s specialities include Weisswurst, a boiled white veal sausage usually served with a pretzel or bread and sweet mustard. If sausages aren’t your thing, try Leberkäse, a spicy meatloaf served in very thick slices. Even more substantial is the porky Schweinshaxn knuckle of pork washed down by a litre mug of beer. Further hearty fare includes Rippchen (ribs), Schweinebraten mit Knödel (roast pork with dumplings) and Krautschnupfnudeln - elongated fried dumplings dished up with boiled cabbage and fried bacon.