Mural — Restaurant in Munich

This experience got off to a bad start before we even got to the restaurant and it didn't get any better.

I reserved the 'after 8' menu a couple of months ago for yesterday evening. The price was in the region of 80-90 eur for a four course menu. I got a call from somebody from the restaurant yesterday afternoon who wanted to confirm that I had booked for 8pm a la carte. I was out and about and I couldn't remember the 'after 8' reference but explained that I had booked something with four courses. He treated me as if I was I was talking nonsense. it was surprising that he had no idea what I had originally booked which suggests an amateurish organisational set-up. I should have followed my gut instinct that this wasn't an establishment worth trying and cancelled. Eventually he started shouting to the chefs asking if they could rustle up a menu meal which he then demanded a 110 euros for. I was tired and couldn't be bothered arguing anymore so I agreed. No attempt was made to find out about the original booking and offer similar terms. I was genuinely surprisred that the person on the phone was happy to shout to colleagues while I was on the call. Obviously I was annoyed that my meal price had jumped by 40-60 euros without some kind of warning.

I have to say the experience on arrival was just embarassing. The front of house is run by a very young inexperienced team. What was even more galling is there was no awareness of the steep learning curve required. They have literally no idea what is expected in a one star Michelin restaurant. It was so basic that I have little understanding how this passed muster when the judges came by.Given this state of affairs the menu price demanded is contentious to say the least.

We arrived, no-one greeted us and they left us standing there like two lonely souls. I had to just grab someone and ask if we could sit somewhere. No-one came by with a menu, neither food nor wine. I had to ask for everything. It was like some kind of Monty Python sketch. If any of you out there have done the Michelin star thing you will be aware of the efforts staff make to ensure you feel welcome. This basic concept was not embraced by nearly all of the staff  although there should be a quick mention for the staff member dealing with the wine who did her best to brighten up the evening and showed a modicum of professionalism. Apart from her if you can imagine final year schoolkids on a work experience day then you can get a feel for the experience. Given this environment it was surprising that the food was good but nowhere near the level of the price that was being demanded. There were errors in execution especially in the cooking of the pigeon. It is more of a Bib Gourmand level restaurant. A 60- 70 eur price range would be more the level they should aiming for. As mentioned the sommelier was helpful but only after I complained about the pairings which were of poor quality. They are trying to push wines that got popular in French wine bars about 5 years ago. Orange wine, biodynamic etc but they were too low grade to consider acceptable. And they were distinctly ungenerous with the  wine pours. Bizarrely they have a wine menu that is very expensive, not to mention overpriced, which doesn't seem to match the clientele. It really is a poorly thought out wine menu.

Suffice to say that the evening only got worse with items forgotten  and things served cold. We were just left bewildered.Having expressed my concern with the affair there was no suggestion of trying to meet us halfway with a reduction etc. Even more interesting is that it never even occured to the staff member that he should have broached this. My eating partner was seething when he considered what we could have done with the 400 euros demanded. To give you an example at the weekend I spent only 150euros more for a meal for two in a 1 star Michelin place in Chelsea which had more courses with wildly more inventive food, outstanding service, bottle of Champagne  and some top end glasses of wine. This establishment is way off this...

What an interesting place! To start at the end, I had a lot of fun at Mural and highly recommend this restaurant! The atmosphere is an elegant "grunge meets lounge", concrete tables, a muted sound of ambient music, kitchen and fan sounds. The light makes the industrial chic place intimate and upon sitting down one's interest is awake. The service is pleasantly polite without excess frills snd has great timing through the course of the menu of many dishes. The food: contemporary imaginations of a post-modern French cuisine. Hip textures, surprising while top-level ingredients, a masterful play with multiple sauces and their different textures. Wisely a spoon is presented with every dish to scoop up the remaining bits from the well-composed plates. The vegetables are outstanding. A tasty potato bread is being served on the side. The cuisine is a refreshing nudge into the "right now" of gourmet cooking with the pleasant trimmings of effortless technique. A Michelin star is certainly deserved, and I can see the next one coming. A few criticisms to add to this long review: Maybe salt was applied with a bit much generosity (in fairness, I live in the US where things are generally done less salty). Also the seasoning technique of using salt in combination with acidity seemed to be a signature feature on many dishes, but could appear a bit like a "one trick pony". Lastly, the service should just take all silverware away after each dish rather than leaving possibly unused spoons on the little stone plates. Anyway, I see a very dynamic restaurant here and am looking forward to coming back for new delicious creative surprises. Thank you for a splendid...

Nice, but not great. We were really excited about Mural. The concept of a natural wine focused restaurant is always one we look for. But in this instance we found the story didn’t match the delivery.

1. It was expensive - €500+ for 2 with 6 glass wine pairing and glass of local sparkling.

2. The wine paring started after the snacks and we were suggested to take a glass of sparkling wine to start… IMO if you’re paying for a pairing experience the drinks should start immediately. It just looks like you’re trying to up the average spend. A feeling that was confirmed when we found the standard wine pairing doesn’t cover your deserts and that would be another €80 for two.

3. We went that impressed with most of the wine pairings - definitely subjective, but they seem to go for wines that are not made to compete or even harmonise with the food. They were mostly very lean and short wines that seemed to focus on being a palate cleanser rather than a pairing.

4. The vibe was less fun than we had expected. The music was very low - almost not there. The service was nice, but very matter of fact… (perhaps because we speak English rather than German). But it didn’t have a buzz…

5. Dinner was almost 4 hours. From our POV the pacing often dragged.

6. Some dishes were very salty - especially the egg and mushroom dish.

Overall if felt like a test kitchen rather than a polished service of refined dishes. That would be fine if the price tag was much better value.

I think they have lots of promise, but haven’t found...