DAS ESSEN

HEADY MEMORIES

We ate like Hobbits in Austria - missing no opportunity for a meal or a snack. 

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MEALS DRINKS

BREAKFAST

...a veritable feast...

breakfast always consisted of: cold meats such as speck sat beside locally made cheeses, boiled eggs with brightly painted shells, fresh fruits, yogurt, and a herbed butter to spread on the grainiest slices of bread this side of Sweden.

SECOND BREAKFAST

...more is more...

and if that wasn't enough, there were also the pastries - danish inspired creations of butter, slathered in plum jam.

ELEVENSES

...brettljause...

an Austrian version of the ploughman's lunch, named after the wooden board on which it is served. A selection of cold meats, traditional sausages, cheeses, and pickled tid-bits.

...or perhaps a selection of fruit...

from one of the many small fruit stands all over the countryside. These run on a system of trust, where one pays the stated amount into a small coin collection, and picks out a tray from the bountiful displays of fresh apricots, peaches, strawberries and plums! There was nothing so heavenly as the smell of a peach that summer, and the juice running down our chins.

LUNCHEON

...a late luncheon...

could be had at one of the various Biergartens, where workers gather after a hard day, where beer is served by the pint, and songs are sung after a few pints go down. Plates of smoked meat, frankfurters, schnitzel, all served with sauerkraut and thick doughy dumplings - these are the best accompaniments to three pints of lager.

AFTERNOON TEA

...something more sophisticated...

or, if one is in the vicinity of Vienna, it is only proper to partake in the coffee culture - setting up with friends in a cafe, ordering cakes and hot drinks, and socialising the way any good member of the intelligentsia should: speaking of poetry and of Brahms.

DINNER

...meat, broth, and wheat...

my most memorable meal in Austria consisted of a plate piled with raw meats, set beside a bubbling broth in a fondue pot, skewers at the ready, and dipping sauces round-about.

SUPPER (OR TIME FOR DESSERT)

...the best meal of the day...

Austrians save the best for last. The variety of cakes and desserts seems almost overwhelming, and I was worried I would not get to try them all. So, I prioritised a little, and made sure to include desserts in my daily meals. I will never forget my first kaiserschmarrn, eaten at a tiny wooden hut in the mountains after a long hike in the rain...

...kaiserschmarnn...

soft raisin pancakes, ripped into small pieces, dusted with icing sugar and accompanied by apple sauce or compote.

...eispalatschinken...

another pancake, except this time it is filled with jam, sugar and ice cream, and wrapped like a french crepe around itself.

...apfelstrudel...

a flaky pastry filled with apple and raisins, and served hot with a side of thick cream. Apple strudels are forever ruined for me, after I tasted the incomparable and utterly heavenly strudel at cafe Munding, where they have been serving strudel since 1803.

COFFEE

...coffe culture...

in Austria coffee is taken very seriously, and there are many different types of coffees peculiar to Vienna alone:

großer schwarzer

a double Mokka

kleiner brauner or großer brauner –

single or double Mokka plus milk

verlängerter

"lengthened" (i.e. diluted) Mokka with more water plus milk

melange

half Mokka, half heated milk, often topped with foamed milk

franziskaner

Melange topped with whipped cream and foamed milk

kapuziner

kleiner Schwarzer plus whipped cream

einspänner

großer Schwarzer topped with whipped cream, typically served in a glass.

wiener eiskaffee

iced Mokka with vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream

HOT CHOCOLATE

...viennese hot chocolate...

a rich, velvety concoction of real chocolate and thick, heavy cream.

BEER

...beirgartens...

beer is essential to social life. Find yourself a good lager or wheat ale at any biergarten, and sit outside in the shade of a tree, talking the afternoon away.

SCHNAPS

...alpine bliss...

imagine, if you will, a fruit brandy - not sweet or cloying, but clean and crisp and bright. This is real schnaps. I vividly remember the bottle we drank, Oliver and I. It was made of alpine berries, and left the faintest tinge of pine or cedar on my tongue.

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THREE GREAT EATERIES:

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1. AUGUSTINER BRÄU-STUBL | SALZBURG

A 600 year-old brewery, where the beer brewed is by monks, then poured into a giant ceramic mug by the pint, and slid across the bench to you, spilling the foam all over the place. An indoors market of-sorts, where you are served meat, dumplings and sauerkraut. And a beautiful garden, where you can enjoy your meal, then stay for seconds and thirds, and ever more conversation.

2. MUNDING | INNSBRUCK

The best apple strudel I have ever tasted. Probably the best I ever will. 

3. ZOLLWIRT | ST. JAKOB IN DEFEREGGEN

Recommended to us by a friend of my mother's, this restaurant is situated in a teeny-tiny village between the Alps. Patronised by all the locals, run by waitresses wearing traditional dresses without a touch of irony, and with a menu full of Tyrolean specialties written out in German and Italian, this place was the most authentic eatery of our entire trip. On top of that, the food was amazing.

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