Steirereck
2010 Weingut Bründlmayer Brut Reserve
Beet Macaron, Jerusalem Artichoke Tart, Carrot pickled as Blueberries, Bread, Butter, Salt
Bacon Bread, Chorizo Bread, Double Sourdough
Blood Sausage Bread, Malted Rye, Walnut Bread
Salad Greens / Leek Veloute, Dill
Alpine Char, Blueberry, Birch, Walnut Leaf, Sorrel, Sour Apple, Radish
Viennese Wedding Soup with Beef Consommé, Lovage, Semolina Dumpling, Veal Liver Dumpling, Stangeri, Chives, Minced Spleen Toast
Osetra Gold Caviar, Beluga Lentils, Banana, Bacon, Mushroom, Pistachio, Mace, Pine
Perlfisch, Tomato, Sweet Potato, Lemon Verbena, Eggplant, Kohlrabi
Styrian Beef Gulash with Alpine Beef Cheeks, Pickled Peppers, Shallots, White Bread Leek Slice
Piglet´s Tail, Swiss Chard, Shiso, Black Currant, Cream of Brussels Sprouts, Bok Choy
Sweetbreads, Yacon, Medlar, Aji Amarillo, Almonds, Peanuts, Pea Asparagus Sprouts
Wiener Schnitzel of Milk-Fed Veal, Lemon, Parsley‐Potatoes, Lingonberries
Iced Cedar, Service Berries, Lemon Balm, Grapes, White Currants
Forest Perennial Rye Souffle, Cornell Cherry, Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, Coffee, Gin, Sorrel
Poppyseed ‘Noodles’, Pistachio, Poppyseed Butter, Damson Ice Cream
Citrus Mignardises
Gin Fizz Ice, Lemon Foam
Owned by the Reitbauer family Steirereck seeks to interpret Austria’s cuisine in new ways, a location inside Vienna’s Stadtpark at the same time urban and one with nature such that guests feel transported to the fields, gardens and streams from which their meal is created.
Built in 1904 with a mirrored glass extension added later, and focused on native Ingredients less commonly offered in traditional restaurants, Steirereck’s tasting menu taps into country’s cuisine in novel ways while historic dishes find themselves benefitted by Michelin 2* skills during lunch in a sun-bathed dining room.
Mainly light woods and crisp linens, several courses finished tableside or offered from rolling carts, it is after a Sparkling Wine toast that dining begins, the Bread Carte offering more than a dozen varieties including one impregnated by Blood Sausage while Canapes range from a delicate Beet Macaron and Jerusalem Artichoke Tart to the complexity of a chewy Carrot “pickled as Blueberries.”
Next offered fresh-cut Salad Greens from the Steirereck Garden plus velvety Leek Soup it is henceforth that each dish is presented with a detailed list of its contents, all happily explained by attentive yet affable service that even managed to appease a particularly ‘difficult’ diner at the adjacent table.
Skipping the famous Char in Bee’s Wax, late-winter’s Tasting instead begun by the Fish cooked mi cuit around Almond-Blueberry Cream with textural variants surrounding, a more traditional Lunch started with Reitbauer’s take on Viennese Wedding Soup featuring Lovage-infused Consommé, Veal Liver Dumplings and Spleen Toast.
Arguably Austria’s premier Restaurant, Chef Heinz Reitbauer’s dedication to agricultural research prominently noted in each plate, course two of the tasting sees Golden Osetra Caviar juxtaposing tender Beluga Lentils atop the flavors of Banana and Mushrooms while a follow-up of uncommon Carp from Lake Attersee is served grilled amidst spicy Citrus.
Led by Birgit Reitbauer up front, a recent winner of W50B’s Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award, traditional dishes continue via Styrian Beef Gulash with Alpine Beef Cheeks, Spelt and Pickled Peppers while the tasting menu’s Piglet´s Tail is hidden beneath Tempura Shiso and Swiss Chard with vibrant cooking Jus.
Rounding out savories with classic Wiener Schnitzel and Sweetbreads, the latter served with an indigenous sweet Tuber called Yacon and nutty Aji Amarillo, the immense Cheese Carte was omitted in favor of saving space to enjoy previously unknown Service Berries atop Iced Cedar and the Forest Perennial Rye Souffle with a sidecar of Gin, Cornell Cherries and Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.
Not forgetting Reitbauer’s famous Potato Noodles with Poppyseed Butter and Crumble, nor the icy pedestal supporting Plum Ice Cream, Lunch concluded with myriad winter Citrus including Chocolates, Cookies, dried Peel and Gin Fizz Ice with Lemon Foam as a way of saying auf Wiedersehen.
www.steirereck.at/restaurant
