Augustiner Am Markt: Where to Eat in Leipzig (4.3★)

A Munich beer hall facing Leipzig’s Old Town Hall

Look across the square from the door. The long Renaissance front of the Altes Rathaus, built in the 1550s, fills the view, with its clock tower set off-centre. Augustiner Am Markt sits at Markt 5-6, on the busiest stretch of Leipzig’s old centre.

Inside, the room is colourful and bright, not the dark wood cave you might expect from a Bavarian name. The menu keeps to what the beer-hall tradition does well: sausages, cold snack boards, beer and pastries. It is one of the most-reviewed places to eat on the square, and prices are mid-range.

What to put on the table

The kitchen keeps to a short list. This is food for sharing over a beer, not a long tasting menu. Here is what to build a meal around:

• Sausages. These are the core of the menu and the easiest thing to order if you are unsure.
• A cold snack board. In Bavaria this is called a Brotzeit, a plate of cold things meant to be picked at slowly between rounds.
• Beer. The name points to Augustiner, Munich’s oldest surviving brewery, which dates back to 1328. Ask what is on tap.
• Pastries. Leave room for something sweet, especially if you come for a late-morning coffee.

A board plus a round of sausages works well for two people. Order a second round of drinks if the first round does not fill you up.

Timing your table

The doors open at 10am every day and close at midnight, seven days a week. Those long hours make it easy to come at an off moment.

The quietest stretch on weekdays runs from 10am to 12pm. That is the time for a coffee and pastry with a clear view of the square. Try not to arrive on a weekend between 1pm and 10pm, when the place is at its busiest and finding a table gets harder. If a Saturday is your only option, come at 10am opening and you will beat the lunch rush.

A relaxed meal takes about an hour to ninety minutes. A beer and a snack board can be done in forty minutes.

Settling the bill the German way

German table habits differ from those in English-speaking countries. A few of them matter here:

• Seat yourself or wait? At a busy beer hall, staff usually show you to a table. In a casual room, sharing a long table with strangers is normal, so ask “Ist hier noch frei?” (is this seat free?) before you sit.
• Getting the bill. Staff will not bring it until you ask. Catch your server’s eye and say “Zahlen, bitte”.
• Tipping. Round up by roughly five to ten percent. Say the total you want to pay as you hand over the money, or say “Stimmt so” to keep the change. Don’t leave coins on the table and walk away.
• Card or cash. Card acceptance in German restaurants varies more than visitors expect. Ask before you order if you are relying on a card.
• Toasting. Say “Prost” and look the other person in the eye as the glasses touch.

Getting to Markt 5-6

The square sits right above Leipzig Markt station on the City-Tunnel, which S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland trains run through. Take the escalators up and you come out on the square itself.

From Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, the walk south through the pedestrianised old town takes about ten minutes. You could also ride the City-Tunnel one stop to Markt. Coming by car is not worth it, because the old centre is largely pedestrian.

Before and after, within five minutes’ walk

The restaurant sits close to most of Leipzig’s main sights, so it fits easily between them:

• Altes Rathaus. It sits directly opposite and houses the city history museum.
• Mädler-Passage. This covered shopping arcade is home to Auerbachs Keller, the cellar restaurant Goethe wrote into Faust.
• Thomaskirche. Johann Sebastian Bach worked here as cantor, and he is buried inside. The church is a short walk southwest.
• Nikolaikirche. This was the starting point of the 1989 Monday demonstrations that helped bring down the East German state. It lies a few minutes east.

In Advent the Markt fills with stalls for the Leipzig Christmas market. On those evenings the square is packed, so a weekday morning table is even more useful.