The charming Spittelberg neighborhood is the home of Matiki, a modern tiki bar that has truly outstanding cocktails. We visited early on a Friday and passed the outdoor seating to decide to sit inside. There are some sparse tiki displays inside plus windows, so this isn’t a dark tiki bar. Nonetheless we enjoyed our visit thanks to the service and craft cocktails.
Tutti Flirty
Every tiki bar decides to emphasize specific things, and Matiki’s is the cocktails. Some really interesting menu items here, including a section of highballs, and each tiki drink comes in a specific mug or glass. There were a few classics and several more inspired originals including the Tutti Flirty with gin, amaro, port wine, falernum, and juices. That cocktail was garnished with a candy and a little love note where you could add your telephone to give to new friend. Mrs. Mai Tai also liked the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a with gin, orgeat, lemon, and Peychaud’s. She liked the mug so much we even bought one.
Meanwhile, I was totally blown away by Matiki’s amazing Mai Tai. Billed as having rhum agricole and Jamaica rum, I pretty much got the same Appleton 12/Smith & Cross notes I’ve had at other tiki bars – and sure enough that’s what they were using in addition to Saint James aged agricole. One of the best Mai Tais of 2024 so far. I also loved the If You Like, a petite colada variant with cream topping, and also Pu Er Sour with gin, brandy, amaretto, and Pu Er Tea syrup.
Mai Tai
Matiki had some of the highest quality and varied cocktails that we’ve had in a while. Some savory popcorn is also provided when you sit down and overall we really enjoyed the vibe inside and talking to the friendly staff who understood by my Aloha shirt that we were not there by accident. We exited and soon found a wonderful Austrian restaurant to have dinner outside in the square. This one a wonderful evening in Vienna.
We had a great time at Rumpus Tiki Bar in Budapest’s inner city area, and this place is doing a lot of things right by any standard. We were seated in the entry bar area at a table and had a great time interacting with the friendly staff and seeing the flow overall. The venue is very large, including more interior seating plus a second floor with two additional rooms and one additional bar.
The overall design leans into caricature tiki designs that aren’t my favorite, but would probably be more recognizable to the average Hungarian. Some of the decorative elements including skulls and Hawaiian designs seemed more organic and authentic, and there are nods to Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic behind each bar. The mugs tended to follow this caricature tiki design mostly. So, if you’re a purist this won’t check all the boxes.
That said, we had a pretty nice time with our cocktails starting with reasonable Mai Tai made with Appleton and served in a cute banana mug by Niki’s Tikis. Niki is the daughter of the owner, Tiki Mamma, and there are number of her designs on sale in the bar and online if you dig the design. The Three Dots & The Dash was also pretty good compared to others I’ve had. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed her drinks as well. There’s a pretty reasonable rum collection here, so I scanned the shelves and asked for a Mai Tai made with Appleton 15. This Mai Tai was served along with a giant skull bowl of dry ice, which clouded our entire table! Even better was the fantastic Mai Tai with that Appleton 15 yr rum. That was truly a great Mai Tai.
Mai Tai and Skull Smoke
The bar was pretty active during our early Thursday evening visit, and the staff was so impressed with my gift of an Ultimate Mai Tai sticker that they put it out on the front door. There’s another Rumpus Tiki location by a lake about 20 miles out of town and plans to try and franchise the concept. I wish they’d use more authentic tiki designs, but overall we were impressed by Rumpus Tiki and definitely recommend it to any tiki traveler.
Niki’s TikisDownstairs LoungeMore Mugs for SaleCocktails with dry ice effects
Mrs Mai Tai got me a little aging barrel for Christmas which I used to age a blend of unaged rums that was mostly the infamous Overproof Jamaica rum Rum Fire. That batch turned out great and came out quite dark, though I lost more than half to the angel’s share.
This time I refilled the barrel with Don Q Cristal rum from Puerto Rico. This lightly aged rum is filtered to remove color and like Bacardi doesn’t have a ton of flavor. After three months in the barrel I still lost half to the angels but the residual Rum Fire taste is mildly present and you can see that the liquid is a light gold color.
I made a Mai Tai with this rum and found the funky Rum Fire notes to still be present and quite nice in the cocktail. A Mai Tai made with this style of lighter rum highlights flavors from the orange curaçao and orgeat.
Not sure there’s much left in the little barrel. If you’ve used these more than twice, leave a comment with how it worked.
Szimpla Kert is one of the original Ruin Bars that are somewhat prevalent in Budapest. The concept is that these bars take over a building that is falling into ruin and they decorate it with found items, artwork, spray paint, and more to make for a space for people to gather. There’s a courtyard in the back, plus a second floor with additional seating. Our tour director warned us these were fly by night operations and potentially unsafe, but Szimpla has been in business for many years and seems to be very well trafficked and very “permanent,” and even has a Wikipedia entry. The building doesn’t look totally solid, though, one reason why we didn’t venture upstairs.
Szimpla is a vast space with at least four different bars inside, offering a variety of drinks. We kept things simple, ordering an Aperol Spritz and a shot of Unicum, the Hungarian herbal liqueur that is described as “thick, black, goopy.” Mrs Mai Tai couldn’t stand this but I thought it was nice enough to consume since I was drinking like a local. After a long walk through the streets of Budapest, this was a relaxing afternoon stop.
Just as we were leaving we saw a grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter wander through Szimpla’s patio. We also so several taxis drop people off and even during the day this place was quite active. We’re glad we got to check out one of Budapest’s unique cultural treasures, the Ruin Bar.
We had originally planned to visit Rum House in Prague, but they were closed for a few days due to the holidays. But our hotel had a bar including a “Mai Tai CZ” which I guess is a Czech twist on our favorite.
The Grandium Hotel’s Mai Tai lists the ingredients as Becherovka, Ferrum reserva, Amaretto, and lime juice. Ferrum is a rum made in Czechia and Becherovka is an herbal liqueur also native to the country. Needless to say this wasn’t a traditional Mai Tai but it tasted pretty good and was plenty boozy. I ended up bring back of bottle of Becherovka and am looking forward to playing with it a little.
There are several Anonymous bars in Prague, themed around the Guy Fawkes / V for Vandetta related Anonymous movement. The Shrink’s Office offers craft cocktails but the selection is unique and compelling.
Rather than being presented with a traditional cocktail menu, the staff hands you a series of cards with ink blots on them. This Rorschach Test is all you have to go on to choose your cocktail, though there’s a two or three word description on the back. That’s it. That’s all you have to go on to order the cocktails.
The Anonymous vibe is in full effect when the drink is brought to your table, though otherwise the staff aren’t masked. They did a good job walking us through the menu and asking if we had any allergies. After we were served they did describe the ingredients of the cocktails, for example the milky coffee cocktail was more than a mere Espresso Martini. This complex drink had sherry and cherry liqueur along with coffee to make quite a nice and different cocktail. Our other two drinks were also really great.
A second menu is available where they provide a portable CD player with some songs to listen to, and there’s a retail component with some very good spirits available. Small bites are also available for order in this basement bar.
Anonymous Shrink’s Office is located in Prague 1, and has a speakeasy entrance inside the Bulletproof Bar. We loved Prague and this was one of the highlights.
We had the pleasure of two trips to Trader Vic’s during our stay in Munich, once for dinner and then the following night at the bar.
Mai Tais at Trader Vic’s Munich
Unlike many Trader Vic’s locations, Munich does not purchase the Trader Vic’s syrups or rum for use in the cocktails. Thus, the finished result differs even when following a common recipe. We tried the Mai Tai twice and the Mai Tai variant Menehune Juice and found all to be good representations of these classic cocktails.
Mai Tai
The sour and sweet components were balanced in all of these, though the ingredients had an overall lighter mouthfeel than the cocktails in Trader Vic’s American locations. The Mai Tai uses Saint James aged rhum from Martinique along with Pampero Especial gold rum, which meant that this Mai Tai comes out lighter than many we’ve had elsewhere where Jamaica rum is the primary spirit. Still, this did serve as a representative example of the cocktail and the two rums did work well together so that you could taste the rich flavors of the Saint James but with a lot of the agricole’s rough edges tempered.
The Menehune Juice was an interesting contrast. This cocktail is essentially a Mai Tai but with light Puerto Rican rum as the sole spirit component. The resulting cocktail had fruity flavors that I didn’t get using the aged rums and this was still very flavorful and extremely satisfying. Munich also has little Menehune figures available, and as the menu states they come home with you.
Menehune Juice
Cocktails at Trader Vic’s Munich
As noted earlier, this Trader Vic’s location doesn’t procure the Trader Vic’s brand rums or syrups, so they definitely have a different taste than I’m used to. Overall, we felt that these were just okay, not nearly as good as other Trader Vic’s locations or most other tiki bars. That said, the vast cocktail menu does include some favorites that aren’t on the menu at some U.S. locations, including the Rum Keg and the overseas favorite Tiki Puka Puka.
The good news is that the spirits being used are pretty reasonable, including two different Saint James Rhum Agricoles in the Navy Grog that include five separate rums. That Navy Grog didn’t have the allspice-forward flavor but definitely was rich and boozy. The aforementioned Tiki Puka Puka is fruity and super boozy, so it’s easy to see why it’s so popular and pricey (€24). Mrs. Mai Tai didn’t love the Bahia, which needed to be shaken longer, but the Koana Puffer was better though still not stellar.
Navy Grog
Dinner at Trader Vic’s Munich
At the Munich location they offer some rice chips as a table starter both for table service and at the. Lightly savory, but not overly satisfying. I thought the Crab Rangoon and the Cheese and Ham Bings were really well done, though. Quite satisfying and adding ham to the Cheese Bings was a plus.
We both enjoyed our Cashew Chicken and Walnut Chicken entrees from the Trader Vic’s wok were very good, and the portions were quite large. Our dinner service was exemplary, featuring a waiter and junior waiter who both were reserved but friendly and accommodating.
Ham and Cheese Bings, Crab Rangoon
Overall Impressions of Trader Vic’s Munich
This location in the basement of the hotel Bayerischer Hof is amazing and seems like a portal back to the 1970s when it was built. There are so many tikis and little nooks and rooms off the main artery of the restaurant. There are dozens of peacock chairs, such that nearly every table has one both in the dining room and in the bar. There are an amazing number of masks on the walls, plus so many jade tiles. It is comparable in size to the Trader Vic’s in Emeryville, though with seemingly even more space and more sections/rooms.
We visited for dinner on Saturday night and the place was a frenzy of activity. There was a birthday party in one of the rooms and at one point they served an entire barbecued pig that included the head that they presented to the birthday boy! The bar was totally full on Saturday but also busy in the mid-evening on Sunday, too, but we didn’t have to wait very long for our food or to order another round of drinks.
There is no merch available here, aside from the take-away Menehune, and our polite ask about procuring an old menu was met with a very German and terse no.
The Trader Vic’s location in Munich is gorgeous and if you’re anywhere near here you must seek it out. We had a grand time in Munich generally, so we encourage anytime to come give this Vic’s restaurant a try.
