Steirereck im Stadtpark, Vienna, Austria

To make my landmark birthday in July 2016 even more special, my fiancé and I booked a table for two at the two Michelin stared restaurant the Steirereck im Stadtpark in Vienna, Austria which we knew for about ten to fifteen years and wanted always to try. The restaurant is also ranked 9th in the 50 best Restaurant in the World list.

The architecture of the restaurant is futuristic and there is an organic herb garden on the roof.

When we entered we saw to the right the open kitchen and slightly more to the right Steirereck produce to buy. Straight ahead was the reception, where we were greeted warmly by a very young maître d', confirming our reservation we were brought to our table. It overlooked the Stadtpark and the interior of the Steirereck.

Even so the restaurant was large, it was private. There were walls dividing the space into pods. Two to four tables were sharing one area.

The interior was postmodern as well and we enjoyed the design tremendously.

My birthday was acknowledged by an imprint "Happy Birthday" on the table cloth. There was also a little stand where you could put your handbag which we found a thoughtful addition to our table.

The staff was very attentive, friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. For example we could take the brochure of "Le Grandes Tables Du Monde", where the Steirereck is a member, after asking nicely. The guests at the neighbor's table wanted their mobile phone charged, so that they could take photographs of their meal. Their wish was immediately fulfilled too.

We also liked the uniforms of the female staff, which fitted perfectly with the postmodern design, looked on the one side simple, but was elegant and free flowing on the other.

As drinks we had a bottle of still Voeslauer water, one of our favorites when in Austria, and a mocktail made with mandarin and lime juice. It was delicious, so he had a second one, but there were at least five others available to choose from. They were made right in front of us and the ingredients came on a trolley.

The bread selection was fantastic. There were at least twenty to thirty to choose from. The bread was shown to us and named and had been too many to remember. We both had olive ciabatta. My fiancé took another slice, but couldn't eat them all due to having "bigger eyes than his stomach was" as they say.

Next arrived the greetings from the kitchen, which was four different dishes, that showed by which other nations Austria has been influenced and included chips with potato cheese, falafel with sumac yogurt dip, semolina, roasted corn pudding and cucumber and tomato salad with yogurt dressing. The roasted corn pudding was an acquired taste. We both liked it, but it was the least favorite in terms of taste compared to the other offerings.

We chose a four course meal and started with "Schwarzauer" Mountain Trout with melon, cucumber and etiolated pea shoots and artichoke & veal kidney with radicchio and sweet clover.

Both dishes were delicious and melt in the mouth.

Next were the Viennese soft gulash from Alpine beef with leek -bread roulade and pickled vegetables and Jerusalem Artichoke with Pak Choi, pea shoots and Viennese snails.

The gulash was light-red brown and mildly spicy, while the other dish was the right combination between being soft and crunchy.

Our main courses were Wiener Schnitzel and barbecued sturgeon with kohlrabi, quinoa and elderberry.

Both were very good. The schnitzel was very thin and melt in the mouth. While the barbecue flavor of the sturgeon was strong. The kohlrabi, quinoa and elderberry were a nice counter balance.

Our desserts were cherries with shiso, rice and soured cream and Java coffee with yellow dates, plums and cinnamon flowers. We loved both.

Before we received the bill there was another sweet greeting from the kitchen with a typical Austrian pastry called a kicherl served from a traditional trolley, We had the choice of toppings including nuts, strawberries, dried figs, apricot and cherry jam.

We enjoyed each a beautiful hot chocolate to round up our memorable lunch at this modern gourmet temple in the heart of Vienna, the capital of Austria. The Stierereck has been consitently voted by several guides incl. Falstaff [100/100 points] as the best restaurant in Austria and it shows in our opinion. 

We enjoyed our lunch tremendously, which cost 270.60 Euro (ca. 288.30 USD), and would love to return for another special occasion in our future when visiting beautiful Vienna.

©2017

Rote Bar @ The Sacher Hotel Vienna, Austria

Even so my fiancé and I had decided not to stay at the Hotel Sacher Vienna during my milestone birthday in July 2016, we still wanted to gain some insights and check out if we would like the hotel, so we booked a table for two at the Restaurant Rote Bar for our lunch and hopefully get to stay at this landmark hotel in our future too.

E-mail contact with the reservation team was quick and warm.

Years back when we were the first time in Vienna it was a very formal city and the Hotel Sacher didn't allow people into reception, if they didn't have a reservation at one of the restaurants or bars or stayed there.

In July 2016 it was a totally different environment.

The lobby was now accessible to all and the public spaces could be explored up to the Blaue Bar.

The entrance to the Restaurant Rote Bar was in the lobby and the space is relatively small. It didn't look like an official entrance. I was sure this was where we had to go in. My better half  thought otherwise, so we checked with the bell captain, who confirmed it was the entrance.

As the name implies the Restaurant Rote Bar was furnished in red damask with classic paintings and chandeliers. The restaurant was cosy and felt special.

The maître d' brought us to our table in the conservatory, which was also part of the Restaurant Rote Bar. We had nice views over the Vienna Opera House and passers-by, who could look in too, but this didn't hinder us to enjoy ourselves here at this landmark address.

The cuisine was traditional Viennese and was beautifully presented.

Two waiters took care of us. One was a young lady with a similar haircut as mine, the other an older gentleman. Both were charming, efficient and service oriented.

Most fellow diners were older than us - I guess from sixty onwards. One other party also celebrated a special occasion.

There were couples and a few small groups.

We ordered a bottle of still Voeslauer water, two orange juice and one hot chocolate with "Schlag" (cream). 

A bread selection was brought to our table and included a tasty amuse-bouche. It was delicious.

Our starters were the original Sacher goose liver tart and the watercress and pea soup. Both were very good and the goose liver tart was smooth. Equally, I liked the different textures and being able to taste the ingredients of the well balanced soup.

Our main courses were generous portions of Wiener Schnitzel with parsley potatoes and mixed salad and braised beef roulades with vegetables, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumber and mustard. 

There were extra helpings of the potatoes and the escalopes, which my fiancé enjoyed. 

The roulades and the Schnitzel were melt in the mouth and both come highly recommended as mains.

The combination of velvety mashed potatoes, gravy and the tanginess of the mustard were heavenly.

I hadn't had roulades since my childhood and this were the best so far.

We still had room to share a dessert, which was Valrhona chocolate and cherries. At first we thought the cherries were harmless, but they had been dunked in kirsch schnapps and the flavor of the alcohol built slowly up until it burst into full flavor and was long lasting. A beautiful and indeed memorable dessert.

Before settling our bill we also received a tiered stand with pralines/chocolates which was a wonderful and tasty touch to remember.

We enjoyed our lunch tremendously. The quality was high, service excellent and the surroundings sumptuous. We would return for more when visiting Vienna again in our future. 

©2017

S'Parks @ the Hilton Vienna, Austria

During our two stays at the Hilton Vienna in July 2016 we had each evening dinner at S'Parks.

The chef is Gerasimos Kavalieris and S'Parks has received 84 out of 100 points at the Falstaff Guide.

The restaurant is on the ground level of the Hilton and has a lot of space. It can be cleverly divided into smaller sections if necessary and makes it much smaller and intimate during dinner than it is during breakfast.

During the summer months outdoor seating is available too. We decided to sit inside, since it was air conditioned.

The interior is modern and there are very high floor to ceiling windows.

We were accompanied to our table and given the menu.

We ordered on both occasions a large bottle of still water and Preiss juices. The producer is Austrian and the fruits used are organic. We tried the two varieties available: apricot and Williams Christ pear.  Since we loved the juices we looked for them in different shops in Vienna, but couldn't find them. S'Parks has a program to provide diners with specialities and rarities from Austria, called Genuss Region Oesterreich. Preiss juices belongs to it too.

On one of the evenings we had two hot chocolates.

We received different bread rolls and typical Austrian bread spreads.

We had two course meals, since the portions were generous.

Starters we tried were braised artichoke, tomato salad and mozzarella and scrambled eggs, Styrian organic pumpkin seed oil and meadow herbs.

Main courses were pan fried char filet, peas and romaine lettuce salad, tomato and mint, Krautfleckerl (cabbage pasta), a typical Austrian/Bavarian speciality I already knew from the home cooking of my mother, with green salad and Wiener Schnitzel with green salad and parsley potatoes.

Desserts we enjoyed were Kaiserschmarrn with plum sauce and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream. The Kaiserschmarrn could be made without raisins, since my fiancé is allergic to them.

Costs were ca. 80 Euro (ca. 87.50 USD) on both evenings.

We loved the quiet upscale atmosphere - there were other couples dining with us - but the majority wanted to sit outside, the attentive staff and the excellent quality of the meals.

When we will stay at the Hilton Vienna in the future we will eat at S'Parks again.

 

©2017

 

Restaurant Quarre @ The Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Germany

During our stay at the Adlon Hotel Kempinski in Berlin in April 2016 - please see review - , we booked a table for our dinner in advance at Quarre which is the casual, yet upscale brasserie at this famous landmark hotel.

Quarre is in a corner location. One side offers views over the Brandenburg Gate. It also has outdoor seating, which was in high demand, during our stay as the weather was sunny and people enjoyed the outdoors.

Sadly, the maître d' didn't make us feel like we were a valued guest and seemed unpleasantly surprised we were joining them for dinner.

Our table was in a more private location, which we appreciated. There was no view to the Brandenburg Gate, though but since we value privacy it was okay for our evening.

The interior felt like a Mediterranean villa.

At first there were only a few fellow diners, but the room filled quickly up with couples and a larger group.

We were given the menu and offered drinks to start with. We chose Liz water and shared two bottles during the meal.

The waiter was professional and efficient, but again lacked somewhat the warmth we had been expecting while dinning at such a famous hotel.

Our dinner included two Brandenburger Buffalo Mozzarella with roasted vegetables, one Wiener Schnitzel, one Pistachio Polenta, mushrooms and lemon and one Rocky Slide Brownie.

The mozzarella was interesting, because it was already melted and added a nice contrast to the vegetables. He said the Wiener Schnitzel was one of the best he had so far and the polenta was nice too.

Together with the dessert we ordered a hot chocolate and green tea.

The Rocky Slide Brownie was not entirely to our liking. It was a bit too sweet for us. It looked great and was creatively presented, though. We would try another dessert option should we eat at this bistro again on another occasion when in Berlin.

The bill came in at 120 Euro / ca. 137 USD.

We enjoyed the atmosphere and the quality of the food, so we would return, but we hope that next time we would receive a warmer welcome/service which actually matches a hotel of this caliber and heritage.

Would we recommend this restaurant to a friend? YES, it's good to be near beside the Brandenburg Gate.
Would we want to enjoy lunch/dinner again at this restaurant? YES, but we hope for a warmer welcome next time and a different dessert.

©2016 

Classic Restaurant @ The Mercedes Benz Museum Stuttgart, Germany

When we planned our visit to the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart (Please see also review.) we thought we would be hungry and made a reservation at Classic. The restaurant is housed in the same building as the musuem on the lowest level and is connected via walkway to the Mercedes Benz showroom.

Originally we thought we could leave the exhibition and have lunch, but realized this wasn't possible, so we decided to have our lunch when we had finished with the museum.

We apologized for our late arrival, but it wasn't a problem. It seems we weren't the first to underestimate the size of the exhibition.

The menu was available online, so we had checked it already and knew what was on offer and had budgeted our lunch already.

The design was like the building, it is contemporary with a lot of glass and steel. Classic is located partly in an atrium and has also an outdoor seating area.

We were brought to our table. It was not directly under the glass cupola and floor to ceiling window. We were glad, because we thought thanks to the hot weather and intense sunshine it would be too hot there, but it was very memorable and relaxing instead.

The restaurant had a few guests sitting by the window, a family with adult sons, and couples.

Classic serves international and regional cuisine.

Our waitress was very friendly and efficient.

We ordered a large bottle of still water, one glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and a Hugo, Wiener Schnitzel, Maultaschen (Swabian Ravioli) and Ofenschlupfer, a Swabian dessert with raisins.

The atmosphere was very good, the food and drink delicious and high quality.

We paid 59 Euro (ca. 65.25 USD).

Of course we would return. It's in fact so good, it's worth going there even without visiting the Mercedes Benz Museum.

©2015    

Brasserie Schiller/Goethe Bar Zurich, Switzerland

During our stay in Zurich we went also a bit of exploring along the lake.

When we were hungry we were looking for a restaurant or bar and found the Brasserie Schiller/Goethe Bar. It's opposite the Opera House and was extremely busy at least outside with every seat being taken. The customers were a mix of locals and tourists, old and very young. Brasserie Schiller made a good impression, so we decided to go inside.

The bar is to the left, the restaurant to the right.

The Goethe bar was understated and elegant, held in dark colors.

We found the bar empty and took a table at the window. There were two members of staff and soon we received the menu. My better half had made up his mind quickly and choose the Wiener Schnitzel (the real deal made with veal), while I wasn't that hungry and couldn't decide for a while what I wanted. I was torn between being a bit daring or eating something safe.

I decided to go for daring and had the Riesling Soup. We both ordered Rhubarb Schorle.

Our Schorle was getting attention from a family, who entered a bit later. The drinks were interesting, not too sour, not too bitter.

The soup was served with baguette and whole-wheat bread. It was creamy, light and the wine flavor was still there. I liked the balance of the dish.

The Wiener Schnitzel was large, relatively thick, but melt in the mouth as it should be. It came with cranberries and potatoes.

Our bill was 70 CHF (ca. 57.20 Euro or ca. 79.25 USD) excluding tip.

The staff was prompt and friendly.

We had a good time and would return when in Zurich.

©2014