During my recent stay in Vienna for my day job, I passed by Paul every day on my way to work. It was pretty much at the midway point: 5 minutes’ walk from my hotel near St Stephen’s, 5 minutes from the office near Wien Mitte. Ranking and Atmosphere As usual I had read up on all the local eateries way before my departure from London. So I was fully aware that Paul was at or near the top of almost all rankings out there. I don’t know what took me so long to visit. I waited nearly until the last week of my stay. Prior to that I mainly went for more traditional places, or, at times, for something foreign like an Italian or a Greek. I’m guessing that Paul simply does not fall into a category I typically choose. It is a level below proper fine-dining (another category […]
Dining in a giant wine cask or under antlers – Gasthaus Puerstner, Vienna
Located in a grand (1900) turn-of-the-Century building where once the saddlers went about their business, the high-ceilinged rooms at Gasthaus Puerstner are covered in hand-painted wooden panels with rustic furniture and décor. In one room, aptly named the “Cask Room”, you can even be seated inside halves of giant wooden wine casks that have been attached with their bottom to the walls, what’s not to like. Each room has its own character. The Schankraum (“Front Desk Room”) in the entrance area next to the bar appears to attract a fair few regulars, some of whom seem like they have put up their tents here several decades ago, metaphorically speaking. Like most good restaurants in the centre of popular tourist destinations there is a very high percentage of tourists among the guests, which is fine in our book. We are not locals either, as it happens. A large number of positive […]
Plachutta Restaurant, Vienna, our Review
We had heard many good things about this gem of the Viennese culinary scene, but somehow only managed to visit for the first time yesterday. In typical Viennese form, the waiter who guided us to our table did not go to extreme lengths to make us feel welcome, but that’s what you expect in this town. Vienna is our favourite city in Austria and we do love the locals, but it has to be said: they are sometimes a bit rough around the edges, and that’s fine. I’m from Bavaria, which borders to Austria, and we are said to sometimes lack the effort to go the extra mile too. One of the most popular Bavarian jokes goes: A traveller is strolling through one of the local towns and politely approaches two passers-by, saying in fluent German (Austrians as well as Bavarians speak German as their first language) “Excuse […]