In addition to how much I love travel, I love food, and I love exploring all of the great restaurants of the world both dive spots and fancy high end restaurants. I’ve slowly been trying to knock out as many of the top 50 restaurants as I can, which is super difficult being as they are spread out across the globe. Last year Eric and I were able to hit up the 7th best restaurant, Gaggan in Bangkok, and later on during this Europe trip I had Relae booked in Copenhagen, which is number 39. While spending a day and a half in Vienna, I made sure to add Steirereck, the winner of the 10th spot in 2017, to my itinerary.
The drive to the restaurant was a fun adventure, as it was pouring rain, and the restaurant is located in the middle of Stradpark in the city. The concierge at the Le Meridien had told me I’d have to walk, but luckily there was a special lane for cabs to drive up and drop off guests so that I didn’t have to get wet before the meal (plus walking in heels, in a park, in the rain, is just really no one’s idea of a good time).
The table they sat me at was a little awkward for a single diner. It was in the front of the restaurant and my view was just looking at the entrance and into the other side – you’d think for someone who isn’t going to be chatting with other guests, they’d put you by a window with a view of the park. The table however was adorable as it was clearly situated for just a single diner, and had an extension where all of the silver and place settings were kept. As I settled in they came around with an aperitif cart as well as water while you look over the menu.
They do offer an a la carte menu, or the above course options. You can choose between a 6 or a 7 course menu with optional wine pairings. I decided to go with the 7 course and the pairings because you might as well go big or go home when you’re at these spots, plus I treated this as my birthday dinner celebration.
First up, the bread cart came around, and the guy managing the cart had a full 5 minute description of each type of bread, all made fresh. I picked one type, but a lot of the tables were grabbing like 5 different kinds.
The butter it came with was super cute – half regular butter and half herb butter shaped into an adorable little ball. It also came with a small plate of sea salt to season with. The only problem here, was that the butter was really hard, and the plate had no edges, so I kept trying to keep it from rolling off.
Before each course, they brought out a card explaining the dish in detail, along with a bit about how the dish relates to Austrian culture and where the items were sourced from. This first card explained a bit about the eating culture, and you got to take all of the cards home with you at the end to remember the meal by. They’d bring the card around a few minutes before each dish was served so that you had time to read the card before beginning the food.
Next up they brought around a bunch of amuse bouche to try out – I honestly don’t remember what each of these were as they weren’t on the menu, but they were all DELICIOUS and I knew I was in for a good meal after finishing them all.
The first official course was ‘Superschmelz’ Khlrabi with Diamante Albedo, Ice Crystal Salad, and Green Almonds. Each course came out presented on a plate, and there was almost always a freshly made sauce that was spooned over the dish immediately after setting it on the table. It was a nice touch and really emphasized the freshness and uniqueness of each item.
The second course was Green Asparagus with Bergamot, Coral Tooth Fungus & Carp Milt. Asparagus was in season during my whole trip, and MAN do the Germans and Austrians LOVE asparagus. I joked with friends afterwards that the only words I learned how to say in German were “thank you” and “asparagus.” In case you were curious, it’s spargel, and they love it so much that it’s called “Spargelfest” and almost every menu has full multi-course meals dedicated to it.
The Coral Tooth Fungus, which you can see at the top of the asparagus, was super interesting. It had a consistency similar to a mushroom, and they actually brought out a full piece of it before having been broken down and cooked so you could see what it looked like – it seemed like every table around me was asking to see it after eating this dish.
The third course was hands down my absolute favorite. Arctic Char with Moro Blood Orange, Quinoa & Dill – I definitely want to learn how to make this so that I can have it again. The idea of using quinoa as almost a fry batter was super unique and SO delicious. Again the sauce around the char was spooned over fresh at my table.
The courses were more spread out than most tasting menus I’ve done – it would be great if you had a table full of people to talk to, but I was alone. I was texting a lot of people from back home and actually doing some work via Slack, but the woman I guess must have thought I looked awkward so she brought me a magazine in between these two courses. Oddly, they charged me for the magazine on the final bill which I didn’t realize until after I had paid and left without reading it. It did look pretty cool so I wish I would have kept it – had details about where the food is sourced from etc. They also tended to bring the wine pairing out about 5 minutes before the dish would arrive, which helped break it up. Plus I was probably eating a lot faster with no one to talk to. This particular wine was my absolute favorite, and when I mentioned it to one of the women working there, she poured me another healthy glass.
The fourth course was Pig’s Trotter with Wile Chervil, Black Caraway & Woodruff.
The fifth course was Venison with White Asparagus, Fried Onions & Pepperwort. Naturally they had to get asparagus into more than just one dish! The meat was cooked perfectly, and it was after this course that I started to get a little full. They came around a few times asking if I wanted more bread (bringing the whole cart around!), but I wisely declined.
Next up was the cheese cart, which y’all, smelled INCREDIBLE. There were so many to choose from, and I don’t know much at all about cheese, so I was super thankful that the guy managing the cart was not pretentious at all and helped me narrow down which ones I’d like the best. They recommended picking four cheeses and then included some nuts and jam to go along with it.
They did two pairings with the cheese course based on which types of cheese you ended up choosing. For me, one was a local non-alcoholic juice and the other was a great red wine that went with the more pungent cheeses. They order it on your plate in the order in which you should eat it, and this was probably my second favorite course after the Arctic Char. This cheese cart put every other cheese cart I’ve ever seen to shame.
The dessert course was a Cox Orange Apple with Chamomile, Canihua & Salted Apricot. It was great because I don’t tend to like chocolate, so I enjoyed having a fruit dessert with ice cream. Again, the sauce was poured over table-side.
The last course was an extra dessert course made almost entirely of Rhubarb. There was a rhubarb covered with chocolate, a rhubarb soup, a wafer with rhubarb on top, a fruit roll-up type rhubarb, and my favorite, which sort of resembled a cheesecake. This was the only course I didn’t finish, just because I was nearing complete fullness by the end. Overall, an absolutely incredible dinner and a restaurant I would 100% recommend to anyone who happens to be traveling through Vienna! I headed back to my hotel completely satiated, and slept in before heading to my next stop, Bratislava!
