Zur Gruam is my favourite bar in Munich. Having been closed for many years, the dive-bar reopened in September 2011. It used to be the kind of place truck drivers, prostitutes, pimps and ex-criminals hung out, and apart from the people, not much has changed.
It’s the antithesis of Munich’s bountiful über-chic clubs, where people go to see and be seen, to sip Hugos (or are Hugos now terribly 2011?) and to wear clothes bought exclusively from boutiques on Maximilianstr.
Instead, it’s the kind of place you go to at 2am on a Friday night, dressed-down, just ready for a few beers with friends. The Gruam gave me a monster hangover yesterday. I headed there at half past midnight on Saturday night, to meet a friend for one beer. The problem with the Gruam is that it’s never just one beer. I left at 4am, stumbled home and missed my brunch date the next day.
Music is varied, with Quattro Tavoli DJs @OrnellasMutti and Gilberto Friso playing regularly. Gilberto played music from Santana, to sixties soul, to fun nineties tracks.
I LOVE the Gruam. Last summer, I’d cycle past at 11am on a Sunday morning to see people sleeping on the step outside, still with a beer in hand. It’s relaxed, it’s fun and everyone who goes there is nice. The Süddeutsche have some lovely photos of the Boazn.
Having fun has its price. I slept through my alarm yesterday, missed brunch and felt incredibly sore while curling on the frozen Nymphenburger Canal. Ouch.
0 comments on “Zur Gruam”