The Vienna restauranteurs on a traditional gasthaus where offal is king, a very cool Japanese restaurant and a beautiful, old-fashioned grocery in the centre of the city
EATING OUT
Gasthaus Wolf
Große Neugasse 20, 1040 Wien, Austria; www.gasthauswolf.at
When we ask about Vienna’s restaurants, this is the first place they recommend: a traditional Viennese gasthaus where the cooking has a slightly more adventurous approach. “It’s a very nice gasthaus,” says Manuela. “Good for people who like offal,” Konstantin adds. “You can eat eight courses of offal, different kinds. It’s crazy.”
Meixner’s Gastwirtschaft
Buchengasse 64, 1100 Wien, Austria; www.meixners-gastwirtschaft.at
We were recommended this place by many people in Vienna and Konstantin and Manuela agree. “Meixner is one of the best,” says Konstantin. “It’s traditional food but they also serve natural wine. When you go there maybe you ask him for Altwiener Backfleisch. Normally it’s a beef steak; you coat it with mustard, then you make it like a schnitzel, but medium inside, and serve with a potato salad. It’s crazy good.”
Mochi
Praterstraße 15, 1020 Wien, www.mochi.at
A Japanese restaurant owned by two young Austrian guys, also much recommended during our time in Vienna. “It’s run by nice people and very cool,” says Konstantin.
Petz im Gusshaus
Gußhausstraße 23, 1040 Wien, Austria; www.gusshaus.at
Manuela and Konstantin regale us with stories of chef Christian Petz’s unique temperament – “You hear him screaming a lot” – but they agree that the restaurant is a great experience.
Bitzinger
Various locations, Wien, Austria; www.bitzinger-wien.at
“There are maybe two places you can get good Kasekreiner [Austrian cheese sausage] – everywhere else, you die after.” This sausage stand, according to Konstantin, is one of them. By coincidence, we had enjoyed their wares at the stand next to the ferris wheel in Prater park the night before.
BUYING IN
Julius Meinl am Graben
Graben 19, A-1010 Wien, Austria; www.meinlamgraben.at
An upmarket grocery in the centre of Vienna, founded in 1862. “It’s a bit like Harrods only smaller and without fashion,” Konstantin explains. Manuela adds: “They became big through coffee, and they had a lot of shops closed down; all of them, except this one really beautiful, old-fashioned shop. They have very special stuff. 200 or more kinds of cheeses…”
Marco Simonis
Dominikanerbastei 10, 1010 Wien, Austria; www.marcosimonis.com
“This is a really nice café-food shop on our street. They do French baguettes filled with stuff you cannot imagine. They also have very good sweet stuff and a nice selection of books and plates.” – Manuela
Kutschermarkt (pictured above)
Kutschergasse 18, 1180 Wien, Austria; https://www.wien.gv.at
When we ask Konstantin and Manuela to mention a good food market in Vienna, they hesitate to recommend the very touristy Naschmarkt, and instead pick this “nice, small” market nearby. We visit the following morning and it is indeed really lovely, with beautiful vegetable stalls, fishmongers and a very good Turkish food stall at the top.
Kasses
Hauptstraße 11, 3842 Thaya, Austria; www.kasses.at
“This bakery is up north near the Czech border. They bring a lot of bread in to special stores in Vienna.”