Yep, the salt brushing off is what I did with my pretzel experience too, other than that it was really tasty. Oh, but now you are the second person to mention dipping a pretzel in cheese, what is that? I have not heard people doing that here in Europe, at least I was not offered any cheese dip xD
Now I really think I should find a recipe and see what this dipping cheese thingy is about! :)
There’s a bunch of that here in America.
I’m not sure about this recipe but here’s one:
https://www.spendwithpennies.com/beer-cheese-dip/
Spundekas is pretty good though and possibly more normal in Europe:
https://www.foodandtable.com/soft-pretzels-spundekas/
Mustard is awesome too. The whole grain stuff.