David R.
Yelp
The Viktualienmarkt is an attraction in itself, but it is also a great spot to go for lunch in the middle of a day of Munich sightseeing. There are plenty of options, so you can find something to suit everyone in your group. Even horse sausage.
True story:
My friends and I had entered the market only a few minutes before, staggered by all the choices, trying to figure out what to get, when out of the diminutive shop in front of which we happened to stand--not much more than a glorified shack, really--stepped a small old woman. Her face was very wrinkled, but practically beaming, as she approached us to offer her absolutely unsolicited advice. Unlike with most Müncheners, there was a severe language barrier, but in the course of a few moments' conversation, between her very broken English and my toddler-grade German, her message emerged: "Go in here. Get the horse sausage. You won't regret it."
Eh? Horse sausage? We shuffled our feet and drawled equivocatingly. Then I figured "Eff it. When in Rome, brother." So my buddy Amit and I stepped into the shop while our three more timid friends remained outside.
It looked just like any butcher shop--a long glass cold case full of chops, steaks, sausages, ground meat, etc. None of the clerks spoke any English, as we stood there asking "Horse? Horse sausage? Cheval? Horse? Anyone?" Thankfully there were some buddies of one of the clerks hanging out there, one of whom spoke English and cheerfully stood to our rescue. "Which is the horse sausage?" I asked. The friend translated. The clerk, looking confused, asked a similarly phrased question back to the friend. "Ja," said the friend. The clerk turned back to us and swept his arm across the entire store. "Horse. All horse."
Wow, we were in an all-horse butcher shop. I knew then that this was going to be one of the most sublime experiences of my life. I felt like a total rube, but inside I was smiling enormously.
So we asked for whatever horse sausage the old lady was talking about, and what they dished up was actually a mega-sweet deal--for two euros we got two short, fat sausages out of a crock pot, with a crusty roll and some mustard on the side. It was a damn cheap lunch and of course the story is priceless.
And how was the horse sausage? I wouldn't eat it again, at least not with all the other excellent and tasty choices in the Viktualienmarkt, but it wasn't bad. The sausage was soft and light-colored, similar to weisswurst in look and texture.
But anyway--whether or not you visit the horse butcher, do not miss the Viktualienmarkt. Cheap, quick lunches abound, and you cannot beat the atmosphere.