First of all, I should hope that you all have or had fun with the Foodie Map section of my site. Instead of just regularly posting entries about restaurants that I have been to, I am adding an additional block to the Foodie Map – the Cat Picks Awards. Starting with 2022, I will be awarding Golden, Silver, and Bronze Cats to the top three restaurants of each year.
2022 was an extraordinary year for me. I traveled to six different countries, discovering exceptional cuisine along the way. Choosing just three top restaurants from these experiences was challenging, but I aimed for fairness and hope you will have the opportunity to enjoy these remarkable places.
Let’s begin!
The Golden Cat 2022 goes to Wirtshaus Zum Straubinger! Located in München (Munich), it is the best German restaurant that my husband and I have ever encountered. We went there 6 times the first month we spent in Munich, and we still regularly go back to this restaurant whenever we can.
Straubinger has different seating plans for cold and hot seasons. During Summer, visitors dine at its Biergarten (beer garden) while in cold seasons they are moved back into the indoor area. I found it pretty unusual the first time, but once I was used to it, I actually quite liked sitting in the garden to eat.
When it comes to German food, of course the Haxe (pork knuckle) cannot be avoided. The Haxe at Straubinger is big, crispy and flavorful. But my favorite is the roasted quarter duck: it is less moist than the famous French duck leg, but no less flavorful. The gravy sauce is an excellent add-on to the duck leg, and it comes with sides of Knödel (potato dumpling) and Rotkohl (German red cabbage) for a perfectly rounded dish. My husband and I agree that nowhere else has the Knödel that has the same texture and flavor as Straubinger. While I mostly ordered this duck that I love so much, my husband sampled many more dishes from the seasonally changing menu. About the dish shown in the picture, he says:
“This dish called “Ochsenfetzen” (ox tatters) was a favorite of mine while they were on the specials menu. Tender and tasty beef on a side of toasted vegetables and potatoes, served with an amazing creamy pink pepper sauce.”
The Silver Cat 2022 is awarded to Ristorante Deus Neptunus Ischia, a wonderful Italian restaurant located on the island of Ischia, about an hour off the coast from Naples. I had my best Italian seafood there! While of course many restaurants are able to cook wonderful Italian food, what makes this place special are the little bit of the innovation and the local flavorful ingredients. For example, the orange in the dish I show works very well with the scampi, and those tomatoes and herbs simply blew my mind away. I have not had any such things so tasty and with rich flavor like these either before or since then to date.
Finally, I would like to award Taverne Lithos the Bronze Cat 2022. This is a Greek restaurant, specializing in fresh fish along with classic meat dishes, located near our previous apartment in München. Except for all those delicious garlic pitas, bean/pea pastes and cheese, the fish dishes really deserve a crown. They are tender, tasty and have an excellent balance of everything. While we were staying in München, we kept going back to this place, at least twice a month. During that time, we also developed a relationship with the wonderful staff there. The fact that we talked like friends makes us feel very attached to Taverne Lithos, and therefore, whenever we go back to München, we love to include a stop at this restaurant.
Even though Trattoria Mare e Monti in Reutlingen did not get a trophy this time, it is still among one of our top votes, and deserves a special mention, citing my husband:
“This place is a true gem that we were lucky to find. It is very cozy and beautiful, and both the good and the wine recommended to us by the staff were superb. Departing from my usual habits, I chose to order seafood pasta, and I was rewarded with an amazing dish, so good that it left me in awe.”
First of all, I should hope that you all have or had fun with the Foodie Map section of my site. Instead of just regularly posting entries about restaurants that I have been to, I am adding an additional block to the Foodie Map – the Cat Picks Awards. Starting with 2022, I will be awarding Golden, Silver, and Bronze Cats to the top three restaurants of each year.
2022 was an extraordinary year for me. I traveled to six different countries, discovering exceptional cuisine along the way. Choosing just three top restaurants from these experiences was challenging, but I aimed for fairness and hope you will have the opportunity to enjoy these remarkable places.
Let’s begin!
The Golden Cat 2022 goes to Wirtshaus Zum Straubinger! Located in München (Munich), it is the best German restaurant that my husband and I have ever encountered. We went there 6 times the first month we spent in Munich, and we still regularly go back to this restaurant whenever we can.
Straubinger has different seating plans for cold and hot seasons. During Summer, visitors dine at its Biergarten (beer garden) while in cold seasons they are moved back into the indoor area. I found it pretty unusual the first time, but once I was used to it, I actually quite liked sitting in the garden to eat.
When it comes to German food, of course the Haxe (pork knuckle) cannot be avoided. The Haxe at Straubinger is big, crispy and flavorful. But my favorite is the roasted quarter duck: it is less moist than the famous French duck leg, but no less flavorful. The gravy sauce is an excellent add-on to the duck leg, and it comes with sides of Knödel (potato dumpling) and Rotkohl (German red cabbage) for a perfectly rounded dish. My husband and I agree that nowhere else has the Knödel that has the same texture and flavor as Straubinger. While I mostly ordered this duck that I love so much, my husband sampled many more dishes from the seasonally changing menu. About the dish shown in the picture, he says:
“This dish called “Ochsenfetzen” (ox tatters) was a favorite of mine while they were on the specials menu. Tender and tasty beef on a side of toasted vegetables and potatoes, served with an amazing creamy pink pepper sauce.”
The Silver Cat 2022 is awarded to Ristorante Deus Neptunus Ischia, a wonderful Italian restaurant located on the island of Ischia, about an hour off the coast from Naples. I had my best Italian seafood there!
While of course many restaurants are able to cook wonderful Italian food, what makes this place special are the little bit of the innovation and the local flavorful ingredients. For example, the orange in the dish I show works very well with the scampi, and those tomatoes and herbs simply blew my mind away. I have not had any such things so tasty and with rich flavor like these either before or since then to date.
Finally, I would like to award Taverne Lithos the Bronze Cat 2022. This is a Greek restaurant, specializing in fresh fish along with classic meat dishes, located near our previous apartment in München. Except for all those delicious garlic pitas, bean/pea pastes and cheese, the fish dishes really deserve a crown.
They are tender, tasty and have an excellent balance of everything. While we were staying in München, we kept going back to this place, at least twice a month. During that time, we also developed a relationship with the wonderful staff there. The fact that we talked like friends makes us feel very attached to Taverne Lithos, and therefore, whenever we go back to München, we love to include a stop at this restaurant.
Even though Trattoria Mare e Monti in Reutlingen did not get a trophy this time, it is still among one of our top votes, and deserves a special mention, citing my husband:
“This place is a true gem that we were lucky to find. It is very cozy and beautiful, and both the good and the wine recommended to us by the staff were superb. Departing from my usual habits, I chose to order seafood pasta, and I was rewarded with an amazing dish, so good that it left me in awe.”
Cat trophies designed by SK, based on 2D SVG that was in turn adapted from work by Solar Icons (licensed under Attribution CC BY).