Vienna's Restaurants and Dives, Part 1

(September 10th-12th) Let's talk about food, shall we?  Let's talk about what to eat.  Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that were on my plates.  Let's talk about food.  Fitting that the tune in my head while I write this is by Salt and Pepper, in case you needed the extra reference for it to make sense.  Lot's of different dining experiences while in Vienna, some traditional Austrian, some not even European.  Most good, some bad.  Let's begin though, shall we?

September 10th.  After getting off the plane, settling in, and running, I was famished.  So, I headed off to the first of the restaurants I had picked out before the trip.  This one was recommended by Elizabeth's old housemate, Richard, who happens to be from Vienna.  Maybe the way he recommended it was that his friends in Vienna enjoyed it, because it was an odd place to recommend: Mochi.

As the name implies, Mochi was a Japanese restaurant.  Not bad, but not quite up to the standard that I'd expect someone from the states or Canada to be used to...

Pimentos and Paprika

For starters, I went with one of my favorite Japanese appetizers, broiled peppers.  They called this pimentos and paprika, but these definitely weren't pimentos as you can see. The twist that Mochi introduced was that these were tossed in sea salt and paprika.  Mmmm...my sodium craving wasn't sated though.  I always enjoy this dish as the peppers are broiled just long enough for the skin to blister. 

Mochi for One.

My entree was Mochi's self named dish, Mochi for One - essentially a sushi platter consisting of salmon, shrimp, dorade, octopus, a California roll, and a vegetarian roll.  After my run I was craving a bit of rice, so the cucumber rolls were a welcome sight.  The cooked fish, though, eh.  And the whole, uncooked mini-shrimp...interesting texture.  Brought to mind dad exaggeratedly slurping down oysters.

September 11th.  Now that I was getting into things in Vienna, it was time for me to turn to more traditional food.  So, during a break in the conference, I headed down the street from the university to Restaurant Leupold. 

Restaurant Leupold, from the non-smoking (and uncrowded) room.

First course: fig and cured ham salad.  This was a nice dish, but for some reason it was drenched in a sour cream dressing.  This would prove to be the start of a trend that I'd observe in the traditional food of Austria.  Once the sour cream was scraped off, very delicious, especially those figs paired with the cured ham.

Fig and Cured Ham Salad.

My main course was meatloaf stuffed with pumpkin.  Savory, almost not sweet.  The pumpkin was underwhelming as it soaked in the savory flavors of everything else.  The mashed potatoes, though, with crispy onions on top, were fantastic!

Pumpkin Stuffed Meatloaf.

That evening, before the organ concert, I made my way to Patara Thai.  After having that extremely heavy Austrian food for lunch, I made a deal that I wouldn't subject myself to that more than once a day, but I would, nonetheless, endeavor to make it to one meal a day in an Austrian restaurant since that's where I was.

Patara offered a very pleasant alternative to what lunch ended up being.  To start, the house complimentary appetizer was shrimp chips with a coconut curry dipping sauce.  I'm still salivating thinking of it.  This has got to be the way to go to serve and sample curries!

Instead of chips and salsa, Shrimp Chips and Curry!

Next up was a green papaya salad.  Oh so spicey, but soooo good.  One of those things, really, that it was spicey enough to hurt, but you love every second of it.  It was at this point that I was feeling the pain of not having complimentary water to drink...

Green Papaya Salad

Last, and quite possibly the best of all (Vienna that is), pork that had been slow roasted for six hours in a Northern Thai style curry.  The pork (belly) was so tender that it fell apart in your mouth, and the sauce was fantabulous: slightly spicey, slightly savory.

Six Hour Pork in a Northern Thai Curry

September 12th. Coming back to my vow, it was time to return to a traditional Austrian restaurant, and it was difficult to find a more traditional restaurant that Figlmuller.  From what I learned in my research into what to eat when in Vienna, Figlmuller was the place to go for one of the most traditional dishes.  Did someone say Schnitzel?  That's what they do at Figlmuller.  I had to do it while in Vienna, whether I liked it or not!

The road to Figlmuller is lined with tourists like me and Austrian flags.

Figlmuller itself is a tourist destination for everyone trying to try the real schnitzel.  So, I ended up sharing a table with a Swiss couple - the first people that I encountered, really, that didn't speak much English.  We tried to converse, but it was tough going.  Figlmuller takes pride in having an extra thin schnitzel.  It really is an elaborate procedure: they flatten out the pork until it reaches 32 cm in diameter, flour it, batter it, bread it, then fry it.  Too much for both me and the Swiss couple sitting with me, but it was something I needed to do.  Accompanying the schnitzel, I ordered a potato salad with greens and pumpkin seed oil - by far the best part of the meal.

Schnitzel and Potato Salad.

My Austrian food obligation out of the way, I made my way to the Tibet Kulture Restaurant for dinner.  I think this made my list as I was hoping for a reminder of my time in Nepal last year...but, alas, there was no 24-hour Dahl Bhat power here.  The trek there from the university, through the pouring rain and up a hill, reminded me of going to just about any meal while in Nepal.  After adversity, things taste better, and that certainly helped the Tibet Kulture Restaurant that dark and stormy evening!

Chai, Momos, Himalayan Pink Rock Salt Candle Holder.

First up, Chai to warm me up (much like I relied on the Masala Chai in Nepal after I got sick), and the familiar potato momos.  Unfortunately, there was no green chili sauce that we became addicted to while in Nepal, but the momos were good nonetheless.  

Vegetable Curry.

The main course was a vegetable curry.  Spicey as you can tell from the above photo...yet again I was reminded that I couldn't just down as much water as I wanted to without having to order more...but worth it.

I think this post has grown long enough now to be continued in another installment, so stay tuned for my favorite restaurant in Vienna!