Vienna Unwrapped Inspiration and Planning For Independent Travellers who are visiting Vienna
Michelin Restaurant Steirereck is Austria’s number one gourmet temple for Austrian food. One of two star Michelin restaurants in Vienna, the Steirereck ranks in the first half of S. Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
Chef Heinz Reitbauer has earned his reputation for innovative local food creations by rediscovering rare local vegetables like the Beta Sweet Carrot, a purple carrot that is cultivated in the Higher School for Gardening Education on top of Schönbrunn Palace‘s gardens. To my husband’s delight, he also knows how to accompany his veg with lovely pieces of meat and fish. Steirereck is a member of Relais & Chateau and has been on top of Austria’s best restaurants for years.
What to Expect at Michelin Restaurant Steirereck
Located in the midst of Stadtpark (city park) the Steirereck was the perfect choice for pre-celebrating my round birthday. Michelin restaurant Steirereck’s interiors reflect the taste of its traditional business clientele, while the meals inspire awe.
My warm artichoke salad with herbs lines up in a neat fluffy row on my plate,and my husband’s duck stew (what a mundane word) with pearl barley and cress root prepare themselves to be remembered. What follows is an ongoing delight with grilled alpine ox with gillardeau oyster and icicles (small white turnips), fried lamb with Rosa Bianca aubergines, pandanus and sheep ‘egerlinge’ (a type of local mushroom).
Dessert arrives. I remember my very first Mohnnudeln (sweet potato pasta with poppy seeds) at kindergarten: a plate with chunky potato noodles tumbling one on top of the other and showered with poppy seeds and plum compote. Steirereck’s idea of Mohnnudeln is different. I am presented with neatly lined up slim potato strings covered in the middle with a blanket of poppy seeds, crushed pistachios and caster sugar. They taste every bit as authentic but also as elegantly as they look.
I can’t finish without mentioning the breathtaking choice of different breads, offered in a traditional trough for making bread, the superb selection of cheeses, and the infinitely thinly cut translucent slices of fruit offered with your coffee (see photo).
Steirereck hostess Birgit Reitbauer, the other half of the successful husband and wife team, ensures we feel perfectly comfortable at all times. No surprise she was awarded best hostess out of 500 contenders by Relais & Château.
Steirereck is usually busy as you can imagine. Make sure you book a table, and leave some space to visit beautiful Meierei – the dairy just next to it, facing the Wien river – to chill out.
My tip: For more restaurant tips get the Vienna Unwrapped Food Guide. It comes free with the Vienna Unwrapped Book.
Check my other Michelin star restaurant reviews: Michelin Restaurant Silvio Nickol, Michelin Restaurant Walter Bauer
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