The restaurant critic on his favourite Viennese restaurants and coffee houses, two great Vietnamese places and a very lively farmers’ market
EATING OUT
Gasthaus Pöschl
Weihburggasse 17, 1010 Wien, Austria; +43 1 5135288
“This is a place bang in the centre, just off Kärtnerstrasse, that does great traditional Viennese food.” In this category, Severin also recommends Zum Friedensrichter (Zum Friedensrichter 57) – “good for Wiener schnitzel”.
Nguyen’s Pho House
Lerchenfelder Str. 46, 1080 Wien, Austria; www.nguyensphohouse.at
“This is a great place. You enter and you’re inside the kitchen, all the family is there cooking away. There is often a language barrier at Vietnamese restaurants but the service here is good.”
Steirereck
Am Heumarkt 2A, 1030 Wien, Austria; www.steirereck.at/en
“I’m convinced that Steirereck is one of the great restaurants in Europe. Heinz Reitbauer has his own ideas, he’s not copying anyone. He’s great with his team, keeps his guys for years. Almost all the young interesting chefs opening restaurants in Austria have done time there.”
Vietthao
1010, Friedrichstraße 2, 1010 Wien, Austria; Facebook
“This is the other Vietnamese restaurant I like. The woman who runs it is the most amazing cook, she always looks pristine, she’s in this damp kitchen, boiling away, comes out and looks as if she came out of a make-up salon. She cooks up fantastic stuff, especially if you tell her that you’re coming and she has time to prepare. Also the delicacy of the summer rolls are fantastic. They’re from Saigon.”
Café Engländer
Postgasse 2, 1010 Wien, Austria; www.cafe-englaender.com
“This is a great old coffee house. It’s not one of the big ones but it’s very lively, they have a bar in front where you can stand and still smoke, which must be amazing to western Europeans. It’s a meeting point for artists, media people, with a very good atmosphere. They also have decent cuisine, which is rare for coffee houses in Vienna.”
Café Prückel
Stubenring 24, 1010 Wien, Austria; www.prueckel.at
“A classic coffee house. The 1950s architect Oswald Haerdtl redesigned it and it’s a beautiful place with huge windows. You can sit there with your coffee for hours and read all the newspapers, nobody will bother you.”
Meixner’s Gastwirtschaft
Buchengasse 64, 1100 Wien, Austria; www.meixners-gastwirtschaft.at
We tell Severin that a lot of people have recommended this place to us. “Meixner’s,” he replies, a little surprised. “It’s good. They have great wines, the lady who cooks is a good chef. I like it. It’s a bit off my piste, and therefore I haven’t been for quite some time. They do very nice offal. And there’s one dish that you have to try in Vienna, it’s called beuschel. It’s a way to cook veal lungs, and it’s absolutely delicious. They’d make a ragu of it. If they have it at Meixner’s, you should definitely share one starter portion. It’s something that’s being used hardly anywhere but is a total classic in Vienna, it takes a lot of work to do[footnote]”You have to first boil the lungs in water. They’re so full of air that they float on the surface, so you have to press them down with some roots and stuff. It needs to cool down in the liquid, then you take it out and press it overnight. You reserve the liquid and cut the lungs in thin shreds, then roast them up some onions, garlic, lemon peel, parsley, anchovies and capers, a little bit of flour, white wine (Riesling or Gruner Vertliner) and the cooking liquid. Modern-day cooks add a little bit of cream and julienned carrots and celeriac, to give a little bit more lightness and it’s really good stuff.” [/footnote] but the result is really good.”
Miznon
Schulerstraße 4, 1010 Wien, Austria
“This is a new Israeli place which has branched out from Paris. They opened just before Christmas. It’s fun.”
BUYING IN
Brunnenmarkt (pictured above)
Brunnengasse, 1160 Wien, Austria
“I like Brunnenmarkt and the nearby Yppenmarkt on Saturdays. We have farmers coming, you get good prices and fresh vegetables, good meat also. It’s a very lively atmosphere, and there’s a fantastic Italian place run by a Swiss guy called Raetus Wetter who lived in Liguria for a long time. It’s called Wetter and he does real Ligurian cuisine.” – Severin
L’Orient
Rotensterngasse 22, 1020 Wien, Austria; www.lorient.at/erfahremehr/lorient-kocht/
“The ras el hanout in my spice drawer comes from this small shop in the second district run by an Austrian-Moroccan couple. You have to smell it because, I tell you, I haven’t tried much better – even in the most specialised shops. It’s a rush that hits you, it’s incredible, really good stuff.”
Erwin Gegenbauer Vinegar
Waldgasse 3, 1100 Wien, Austria; http://www.gegenbauer.at/produkte.aspx
When we first get in touch with Severin, he recommends that we visit this master vinegar producer at his factory in the south of the city. (The interview will be out soon.) “He’s doing cool stuff now. Amazing fruit vinegars with a very intense flavour.”