Conlan's Cafe & Restaurant is a warm place to get food and drink after a hard day on the slopes surrounding Garmisch, Germany. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Conlan's Cafe & Restaurant is a warm place to get food and drink after a hard day on the slopes surrounding Garmisch, Germany. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Irishwoman Marion Conlan-Morich has worked in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area since the 1970s. Four years ago she and her German husband, Hubert, opened Conlan's Cafe & Restaurant in nearby Oberau. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
After a hard day’s skiing or hiking in the Alps, hungry and thirsty visitors to the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, area can find a warm refuge at Conlan’s Cafe & Restaurant.
Conlan’s is across the street from Hotel Forsthaus — a hotel in the town of Oberau popular with Americans. Many of the hotel’s guests find their way to Conlan’s for an evening meal, according to Marion Conlan-Morich, an Irishwoman who runs the restaurant with her German husband, Hubert.
The eatery, which has been open for four years, is also popular with Americans attending functions and courses at the nearby Marshall Center, she added.
On a cold, snowy night, the lights of the restaurant glow invitingly, and once inside, diners pass through curtains screening the front door into a warm wooden interior that looks like a modern version of a traditional alpine chalet.
There, they can choose from a large selection of German and Italian dishes, including plenty of hearty pasta meals that are perfect for carb-loading ahead of another day’s exertion on the mountain. The restaurant also has a selection of fish, game and Mediterranean-style and vegetarian dishes, as well as seasonal specialties.
And if you call ahead, you can order special meals. One group of Americans recently ordered a German specialty — pork shank with dumplings.
There are also children’s portions — including a breaded schnitzel with fries that is still a sizable meal, but at 5 euros is less than half the cost of most adult portions.
To accompany the food, try one of the German beers on tap for 2.80 to 2.90 euros for a half-liter, or sip a wine at 4.50 euros for a quarter-liter. In summer, there’s the option of taking that drink outside in a 60-seat beer garden with views of the surrounding mountains.
When you’re done eating, you can talk with Conlan-Morich about what Garmisch was like in the “good old days.” In the 1970s, she was a waitress at the U.S. military’s former Von Steuben Hotel and worked at the Abrams complex. “The Von Steuben is now a supermarket, and the Abrams is used for housing,” she said of her former workplaces.
She said that while she loves living in the Garmisch region, she feels it’s getting “kind of tacky” compared to the way it used to be. “There weren’t as many chain shops (in the 1970s),” she said. “It was all small shops, but times have to change.”
Location: Muenchnerstrasse 4a 82496 Oberau, Germany.
Directions: From Garmisch, head north toward Munich on the B2 highway. Conlan’s is on the right side of the road, across from Hotel Forsthaus, upon entering Oberau.
Hours: 2-10 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; noon to 10 p.m. Sunday and German holidays; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Food: German and Italian.
Prices: Main courses cost between 11 and 15 euros; children’s meals are 5 euros.
English menu: The main menu is in German only, but there are some daily menus in English.
Clientele: American, German.
Website:www.conlans-cafe.de, in German only but an English-language one is being created.
Phone: 08824-929284
