The art of shoes experience - G & I

Munich - G & I stands for high-quality, handmade Italian shoes for women and offers an exclusive community for fashionistas.

The concept of the »G & I«-Lounge is perfectly tailor-made for fashion-conscious women with little time. Each individual client receives her own appointment for a presentation of the »G & I«-collection and consultation in a private atmosphere with a glass of champagne at a time which suits her. Entry to the lounge is by invitation only.

»G & I«-shoes are made exclusively by hand in Italy. Only best Italian leather is used in the production of the shoes, complemented with refined decoration and elegant accessories. Although high heels and stilettos play an important role in the »G & I«-collection, comfort is crucial in the design of each model.

The collection captures a wide spectrum of styles and marks a return to very feminine, classic forms and a strong, self-confident style.

SLIPS Fashion – Tremendous soul and even more style on Munich Gärtnerplatz

The Gärtnerplatz, arguably the heart of Munich when it comes to hipness and style, is home to many trendy shopping establishments and culinary locations. It could be defined as the Bavarian equivalent of London’s Carnaby Street, if there was an urge for an international comparison. Even though, during warm summer evenings, it might seem more like Piazza Navona in Rome, with the vivid crowd socializing until late after midnight. Spot on the Gärtnerplatz is one of Munich’s number one shops when it comes to trendy fashion and lifestyle – Slips Fashion.

If David Beckham was to do some shopping for himself in Munich, he would most likely go to Slips Fashion. So would Pharrell Williams, and many other international fashion pacesetters.

20 years ago, store owner Klaudia Burger made her first steps into the fashion world by opening one of the first ever designer underwear shops in Germany in a boutique location not far from Gärtnerplatz. This was also, as you might have already guessed, the name-giving reason for today’s store name which she has kept through the years and is now the base for their slogan – “slip into our world.” Seven years later, she moved to today’s location right on the Gärtnerplatz, and another seven years later, she doubled the store to today’s size, which she plans on maintaining.



The neutral, light-coloured store offers a wide range of fashion and accessories in a very pleasant shopping atmosphere. The product variety is quite wide but thoroughly selected by the proprietress herself. Brands only seem to be selected to the shops range if they possess a certain level of soul, individuality and quality. The women’s collection features brands like Missoni, Golden Goose or Shanghai Tang. Men will find anything from ETRO to Prps Jeans or Paul Smith’s Main Line. The exclusive women’s underwear is from La Perla, Stella McCartney or Elle MacPherson Intimate. But fashion is not the everything you find in Slips – the variety covers much more like accessories, footwear, cosmetics and even interior design objects.

Recapitulating, Slips is a trendy store for individualists with a tendency to understatement. Mrs. Burger, as well as her employees, are knowledgeable and attentive, yet still relaxed and not trying to sell you something if it is not 100 percent right for you. Munich celebrities of many different kinds find their way through the front door on Gärtnerplatz on a regular basis, so do other people with a sense for trendy, individual fashion and style.

Trek Bicycle Store - Lance Armstrong for a day

Tour Munich with professional rental bicycles from Trek Bicycle Store Munich

For the needs of families, couples and other guests who would like to discover Munich on two wheels, Mandarin Oriental, Munich is well equipped with Mercedes Benz Trekking Bikes for complimentary rental during your stay with us. For the more ambitious athlete as well as bicycle enthusiasts, our concierge team recently discovered a very professional service provider in Trek Bicycle Store Munich.







Trek Bicycle Store is located in the North of Munich, approximately 12-15 minutes away from the hotel, by taxi as well as bicycle. For rental, the store covers anything from a full-carbon road bike to a full-suspension mountain bike as well as the new generation of electronic bikes. The ambitioned bicycle athlete could rent, for example, a professional road bike and her/his partner, the leisure bicyclist, could rent one of the e-bikes and would be able to hold the same pace as his/her partner. What a brilliant idea, after all! If you decide to rent one of their Trek bicycles, plan at least 15 minutes per person for fitting. With newest technology, Mr. Altmann and his team will measure the distances between the crucial body parts, and then prepare the bike for you for the most convenient and comfortable riding position. But be careful, once you have ridden one of their professional Trek bikes, it will be difficult to ride anything less sophisticated, as their level of professionalism is hardly matched.





If you want to stock up on gear or even decide to buy a new bicycle, Trek bicycle store will not come up short towards any of your expectations. For the road bikers, you could buy the closest thing to what Lance Armstrong rides during the Tour de France: The Madone 5.9 for the flat stages, the Madone 6.9 SSL for anything similar to L’Alpe d’Huez or even the Trek TTX series, if shorter time trials are what you excel in the most. If you prefer your tires thicker and your ground less even, Mr. Altmann will be able to put together anything for you, from hardtail Mountainbikes to full-suspension downhill bikes, as ridden by Tracy Moseley and his associates. As mentioned before, gear is available as well, for plenty of tastes!



And from personal experience, Lufthansa does a great job with transporting bicycles through the air without scratching them the least bit.

Talbot Runhof – It’s all about knowing where to stop

On a casual Monday Morning stroll through Munich’s scene quarter, the „Glockenbachviertel“, Mandarin Oriental Concierges Dario and Michael stumbled across a name both have been encountered with on several occasions. Tucked away in a small side street, just moments away from the popular “Gärtnerplatz”, lies the headquarters and showroom of German couturiers Talbot Runhof, internationally known and represented, from Paris Fashion Week to Saks Fifth Avenue. The store director, Madame Carolin Eller, willingly donated a few minutes of her precious time to show us through the premises and give us a detailed insight on Talbot Runhof’s collection.



Behind the brand name of Talbot Runhof are designers Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof, who founded the company in 1992 under the name “All About Eve” and since these humble beginnings, the label counts roughly 30 highly gifted and qualified tailors, each specialized in certain areas of artistry. The collection consists mostly of evening dress and occasion wear, as well as bridal vogue and the recently added basic line for every day formal and semi-formal business and leisure occasions. For the two designers, it is vital to create a delicate balance between fabric, colour and cut, with one of the top priority being the accentuation of femininity to make most of the female form. The collection seems to appeal to the sophisticated woman who embodies a certain level of glamour and individuality.



The garments range anywhere from stunning bridal robes, to glamorous evening gowns as well as less formal dresses, skirts and coats. Furthermore, the showroom stocks accessories such as shoes and purses from non-private brands such as Pura Lopez, Pedro Garcia or LaRare. The two-storey boutique offers generous display space as well as rather large fitting rooms to accommodate a certain level of personal service and privacy. Apart from the Munich headquarters, Talbot Runhof couture can be found in well-known German fashion establishments such as Modehaus Unger in Hamburg, Eickhoff in Düsseldorf or Fischer in Singen. Internationally, the German label is represented at Saks Fifth Avenue, De Keyser London or even Sid Fashion in Jeddah.

As their motto “It’s all about knowing where to stop” implies, they certainly won’t make the mistake to go too far, however, they definitely go far enough to create unique, sophisticated fashion.

Munich’s answer to Savile Row – Max Dietl

Our Concierges Dario, Philipp and Michael had the chance to take an inside look at Munich’s arguably most exclusive fashion store – Max Dietl on Residenzstrasse. The proprietor himself, Mr. Max Dietl, who runs the business in 2nd generation together with his wife, Inge Dietl, spent well over an hour of his precious time showing us every corner of the store and the range of items.





Just a bit off the famed Maximilianstrasse, Max Dietl is located across the opera on Residenzstrasse in what seems to be a quite narrow and small building. Looks can be deceiving, however, and once you step inside the splendid looking boutique, you will realize that it offers more than thought to charm the lady and gentleman customers. On approximately 2000 square feet of display and shopping space, Max Dietl will certainly offer anything a well-dressed individual needs for any occasion possibly though of.
The boutique itself is split halfway in the middle to divide ladies and gentleman, which runs through all four storeys. The product range for ladies runs anywhere from sporty leisure outfits to business attire to the finest evening gowns, including Prêt-à-porter collections from Valentino, Blumarine, Akri, Alberta Ferretti, Jenny Packman, Leonard, Moschino and many more, which will be tailored and adjusted to fit perfectly The mens range runs from finest shirts and accessories to the most exclusives coat to bespoke tailor made suits for any needs. Collections as well as fabrics include well-known Italian names such as Brioni, Kiton, Attolini as well as French manufacture Zilli.
The ground floor welcomes the customers with accessories such as belts, shirts and ties as well as the very exclusive jackets and coats from Zilli, which are put together with the finest fabrics available anywhere and may be worth up to EUR 20.000,-. Those fine Zilli products are only available by Max Dietl, the authorised dealer in all over Germany.





The first floor features designer collections from the remarkable designers named before. As for shoes, Max Dietl only carries finest shoes from Kiton, which are sewn-welted from hand coloured leather. Only 8 pairs of shoes leave the factory of Kiton in Napoli, which justifies the high price of the quality shoes.





On the second floor, a rather large Brioni display catches the customers eye. This floor is home to the Prêt-à-porter suits and jackets from Brioni and Kiton. Max Dietl prides himself in always having numerous suits in each size on display, ranging from bright, exotic shades to your standard navy blue blazer. This ensures that the costumers will have plenty of options to look at. And even if he will still choose the navy blue blazer, he will have seen other options to strengthen the thought that the plain blazer is just the right thing for him. Furthermore, Mr. Dietl does not think much of weasons and will have anything stocked all year. Business people often travel all around the globe through various climate zones, therefore it is never 100 percent of one of the four seasons for those type of customers.





Another flight of stairs to the top floor, this is where true tailor magic happens, the Haute Couture section of Max Dietl’s marvellous empire. With a clean view to the Munich Opera, you can choose the fabric your bespoke tailor suit will be made from. Hundreds of fabrics are on stock, hundreds more may be ordered for the perfect, one of a kind suit. Fabrics may be chosen from numerous different colour shades, as well as fabric grades and weight. Again, Max Dietl offers anything to please the costumer up to the very peak of exclusivity, with, for example, Scabal’s Super 250 fabric or Loro Piana’s most upscale fabric gained from the queen of Andean animals, the Vicuna, priced at EUR 8.000,- per linear metre for the raw fabric.







The 100 percent tailor made suit from Max Dietl includes 60 hours of tailor’s work and three fitting sessions for the customer until the final product is ready to wear. Quite a long process if you consider how fast-paced everything has become nowadays. However, buying a tailor made suit at Max Dietl is money and time well-invested as the end product will be 100 percent perfect and exclusive. That’s why celebrities such as Andre Rieu and Michael Douglas have chosen and will choose Max Dietl again and again.







Closing, we wanted to summarize the two main arguments, in our humble amateur opinion, for deciding to purchase a suit tailored at Max Dietl.
ONE – Your suit will be fully tailored to every party of your body and will fit perfectly in each body position and will be perfectly adjusted to the conditions it will be used in.
TWO – Your suit will be a one of a kind piece of Art which will be unique and certainly won’t be spotted one somebody else’s torso.

Dean & David - „Because it tastes better that way…”

Dean & David is a great spot for a quick and healthy lunch during your business day. The company’s philosophy establishes around the core concepts fast food, healthy, light and high quality. Being a very stylish franchise, Dean & David’s food is not only delicious but also a place to sit and enjoy.

Dean & David is situated very close to Mandarin Oriental inside the Fünf Höfe center, and offers a variety of tasty salads, sandwiches and soups.

I personally recommend the salad creation Indian Summer which is a fantastic combination of grilled oyster mushrooms, green onions, goat cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, sunflower seeds and topped with a tasty French-Herbs dressing.

For more information be sure to visit http://deananddavid.de/

Munich's beer and the Hofbräuhaus

Munich's beer and the Hofbräuhaus – they have all belonged together for the past 400 years. Since the early 19th century, the famous beer cellar at the heart of the city, next to Mandarin Oriental, Munich, has been a magnet for the people of Munich and travellers from every corner of the world.

Duke Wilhelm V on September 27th 1589 founded a brewery on the site of the Munich residence. The first Hofbräuhaus lasted till the year 1808 and was only a few steps away from today’s one. Soon afterwards, there were plans to build a second Hofbräuhaus opposite the old Orlandohaus in the small square called the Platzl. Maximilian I, Bavaria’s new ruler, built his ducal Weissbier brewery in 1607, thus laying the historical foundations of today’s Hofbräuhaus.

For lovers of filling Bavarian food, the Hofbräuhaus is the paradise on earth.
The tasty crackling on the suckling pig and the joints and knuckles of pork are the pride of the chef, who bases his inspirations on ancient Bavarian recipes passed down over the years. At the Hofbräuhaus a special delicacy is the world famous “Weisswurst”. As far as the seasoning is concerned, each butcher has his own, very secret recipe. To be honest the ones at the Hofbräuhaus are especially delicious.

From the past until today the main attraction is the delicious Hofbräu beer: The classic “Hofbräu Original” lager beer epitomises the special atmosphere of the beer capital Munich.

The Hofbräuhaus has become a magnet for national and international visitors. Its proverbial “Gemütlichkeit and down-to-earth image have made it the most famous beer hall in the world.
But the Hofbräuhaus is far more than just a beer hall – it’s a typically Bavarian experience.

Welcome to Mandarin Oriental, Munich "Concierge Blog"

We are proud to announce a further part of the Mandarin Oriental, Munich Online Community: The Concierge Blog.

Here you have the possibility to receive first-hand tips directly from our concierges at Mandarin Oriental, Munich. On a regular basis you will find interesting information on Munich's restaurants, clubs, bars and sightseeing opportunities. Stay tuned to plan your perfect next trip to Munich with some great inside information by our concierges Dario, Sotirios, Philipp and Michael.