Bardales - South American bar in Neuhausen

Went to the cinema on Nymphenburgerstr last night to see Lord of the Rings. Basically just around the corner from the cinema is Bardales.

Bardales
Blutenburgstr 2, 80636
Tel: 089 12027766

Nice little place and quite unusual in its decor. Basically they've gone for a minimalist approach that seems to hang somewhere around Oriental (are we still allowed use that word?) but without quite touching on it.

The beer of choice is Memminger which they have on draught for €2.80 for the half litre. Not one of my favourites. I'd class it above Ayinger but below the likes of Spaten.

On the food front, they have a display case at the end of the bar with a range of Tapas-type options. A small plate with 8 will set you back €3.50, medium gives you 14 items for €6.50 and there's a large plate of 24 for about €9. The medium plate is a perfect starter option for 2 people. There aren't too many options on the main menu but certainly everyone will find something to suit. Usually I'd prefer a smaller menu of well thought out dishes than something where I'm going to spend half an hour sifting through all the possibilities. There's either a Spanish or South American influence to a number of the dishes. While very tasty, they seem to have put more effort into making the dishes look great rather than the food itself. I know they say that presentation means a lot, but having fancily arranged salad on your plate doesn't cut it if the food is just good. Still, I'd eat there again.

I didn't get to speak to the owner, but I believe that it is 2 women who are running the place. The service wasn't the worst, although it was pretty quiet in the place being a Monday night.

In terms of value for money, it's not bad. The beer is reasonable and the food is about averagely priced. For 4 beers, 2 vodka-bulls, a starter and 2 main courses we paid a fraction over €50. Normally we'd pay about €35-€40 for dinner and a couple of drinks in a bar, but that wouldn't include the expensive vodka-bulls and the starter.

They're open from 11am until 1am, Monday to Saturday, and they're closed on Sundays.

As you go in the door, there's a cool section over to your left with a couple of sofas & armchairs. Kinda section in which I'd like to sip a nice brandy and pull on a good cuban whilst discussing the woes of the world. Certainly I'd recommend the place for a few beers before or after a movie, perhaps with one of the tapas selections for a snack.

Were they talking in the cinema?

One guy to the right of us was, but a quick "Oi! Sssshhh!" put a stop to it before blows had to be exchanged.

bardales would have the distinct honour of beinig my local if it wasn't so quite...

wednesday and thursday nights are the liveliest in there, any other night of the week it is worth walking further down the street to wassermanns on elvirastr... there are a couple of other places down that direction that i have yet to check out... cafe Neuhausen i think???

you are right keydeck, the place is run by two ladies and the meminger does lead to rather spaten-like hangovers... they do some nice cocktails for those who are that way inclined though... and my spanish flat mate tells me it is a south american influence...

i do like those couches... being ever so slightly elevated above the rest of the bar it makes one feel very powerful indeed...

Yeah, that Wassermann's is very good. When I first went to it I said the following:-

Chilled out music of an often Massive Attack nature, beautiful waitresses and a good menu selection make this the kind of place worth visiting. It's split into two sections with the second having a large chandelier which, although looking out of place due to its size & position, seems to fit in quite nicely. Strange that. There's not much interaction between customers as the layout is basically 4 to a table with very few people sitting at the bar itself. So, little chance to strike up conversation with anyone outside your immediate party. One of the barmen there (Michael, very friendly guy) and also at least one of the waitresses (Sabina, very beautiful girl) used to work in the American Bar at the 4 Points Hotel on Schwanthaler Straße.

When the weather is nice the inside is deserted with everyone sitting at the outside tables on the corner of Elvira Straße & Klara Straße.

The cocktail list begins with one drink for each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Most are very nice and not too dangerous, but caution should be exercised when trying the Wassermann (Aquarius) which is an extremely potent mix of Bourbon, Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Southern Comfort, Rum, Cachaca, Zitrone, Grenadine, Campari, Orange juice and Maracuja juice. Enough to make grown men tremble. The fact that it tastes like a healthy fruit drink does not help matters.

If you like a bar with stunning waitresses, good food and drink, nice music and you are out with a few friends, then Wassermann's is certainly worth a visit.

Wassermann is one of my favourite places, and being across the road from me makes it even better!

Also the beer is augustiner, so add that to the good food, nice music and pretty waitresses and you've got a great place to go. And its only 5 min walk from the U bahn station...

Oh, and I should add, for any jazz fans out there, that on a sunday they do a brunch with a jazz band playing. Now although Jazz is ok, its not really my bag, but I can say that the band are very good.

do you not find getting down there b4 3 on a sunday a bit of a struggle?

i've been trying for about 3 months but haven't made it yet...

as a local, what is your take on the other bars/cafes in the area?

From Bardales website...

[img]http://homepage.speedbase-server2.de/muenchen/images/CFUAK026623/03.jpg[/img]

[img]http://homepage.speedbase-server2.de/muenchen/images/CFUAK026623/04.jpg[/img]

[img]http://homepage.speedbase-server2.de/muenchen/images/CFUAK026623/05.jpg[/img]

@Noddy - I used to be able to get up 10/11am...but now Im never home before 6am so that is impossible now... however I do manage to get to Gunthers for 2.30 ...

There seem to be some nice bars around my/our way but unfortunately I havent visited many, mainly due to the fact that I dont know anyone living in my area as my mates live over in bogenhausen so we tend to either go out in town or I go over to them.
So I have to confess that I have only been to wassermann and mangos, Wassermann being my prefered. Mangos is good too though, nice food, good cocktails, ok decor nice little beer garden and relaxed atmosphere...although its never very busy...

If you live round there we'll have to organise a night out, they're all close enough together so we could do a bar crawl of them all!

Café Neuhausen in quite nice and is reasonably cheap, particularly given the size of portions, and it shows Champions League football as well as some Bundesliga games. What is nice is that the tellys are small and the sound isn't cranked up so that if you don't want to watch the game it doesn't intrude. Wassermann is also nice (I don't care what the staff look like though) as is Bardales.
That Mangos doesn't have particularly good service outside though, I've never sat inside there.
We tend to go out our side of the Landsberger Allee though as we are lazy so Ysenegger and Big Easy are our stamping ground.
Katrina

has anybody ever been to the 'workers deli' on nymphenburgerstr.?

it's a few blocks up from CINEMA... looks pretty chic... but is ALWAYS pretty empty...

We walked by on Friday night last. Can definitely confirm that it was empty. The bar staff and waiters were almost begging us with their eyes to come in. The cafe that was there before was just the same. Must be a curse of summat.