Spago by Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck invented the celebrity restaurant. Not in the sense of attracting famous patrons — though Spago Beverly Hills has done that since 1982, feeding the Academy Awards crowd annually and defining what it means to be seen at dinner in Los Angeles — but in the deeper sense of creating a cuisine so distinctive that the chef's name became the brand. California cuisine: lighter, brighter, ingredient-forward, unafraid of Asian influence or wood-fired technique. Spago was where it was codified.

The Munich iteration, within the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on Promenadeplatz — one of the grandest civic addresses in Germany — carries that heritage into a different context. The Bayerischer Hof itself dates to 1841; it has hosted royalty, heads of state, and the international press corps assembled for every major event in Munich's modern history. Spago occupies a room that connects to the hotel's pool terrace, a sun-drenched outdoor space that transforms the dining proposition in Munich's brief but intense summer into something genuinely Californian.

The menu reads like Puck at his most assured: wood-roasted dishes that demonstrate the chef's commitment to live-fire technique; smoked salmon pizza that has been on Spago menus since the 1980s (it is the pizza that first made the original Beverly Hills location famous, credited with putting smoked salmon on a pizza in California and arguably changing American eating habits); and a wine list selected for the sun-forward, fruit-driven profile that suits the cuisine's register.

Bavarian ingredients appear without apology — Alpine dairy, local game during autumn, regional produce that the kitchen treats with the same respect it accords to Californian ingredients. The menu changes seasonally. The wood-fired oven is the kitchen's centrepiece, around which the most interesting dishes rotate: flatbreads, whole fish, roasted vegetables coaxed to a depth of flavour that proves restraint and intensity are compatible.

The room is warm and convivial rather than formally austere — Puck has always understood that the best restaurants should feel like someone's home if that someone had very good taste and a professional kitchen. Service at Spago Munich takes its cues from the Bayerischer Hof's five-star standards while maintaining the Californian ease that makes the brand distinct from European fine dining conventions.

Spago carries name recognition that elevates a birthday dinner from pleasant to memorable before the menu has been opened. For guests who know the Puck brand — and in international business circles, they invariably do — dinner at Spago Munich is a statement. The poolside terrace setting in summer adds a visual dimension that photographs beautifully; the cocktail programme built around the Bayerischer Hof's bar team is strong. For a birthday where the room needs to reflect the guest of honour's taste and ambition, Spago positions correctly.

"The smoked salmon pizza is exactly as the legend suggests. I had it in Beverly Hills in 1998 and here it was, unchanged and perfect." — J.L., Returning guest

"The terrace in June. The wood-fired sea bass. The Grüner Veltliner from the wine list. Munich showed me California that afternoon." — S.M., First visit

"Took a client from LA here knowing they'd recognise the name. They upgraded the meeting to dinner on the spot." — M.K., Business dinner