When in Vienna…

Well, no sooner than I had promised posts about Colombia that I’m now posting (live-ish) from my first day in Vienna! Am staying in the positively marvellous but amusingly-yet-aptly-named The Ring (aptly because it’s on the Kärntner Ring road) where I have been – a la Bill Bailey – impressed by the in-room Nespresso machine but lamenting about the lack of tea-making facilities….

Just as well, considering it’s all about coffee – or more like, coffeehouses/kaffeehaus, where the atmosphere and surroundings are infinitely more impressive than the brew – it’s not Italy, afterall.

Rewinding a bit, after flying and making my way to the hotel and consulting my itinerary (which was not crafted by myself, mind you), I decided to forgo the boring option of lunching at the hotel’s At Eight restaurant and set off towards Kärntner Strasse – the city’s main pedestrian drag – in search for some grub. I hadn’t had much time to plan my trip, but one place that stood out was Trzesniewski.

Luckily, it was relatively easy to find… once you turn down that road, look for it on your immediate left. The exterior is so unbelievably nondescript I managed to head about a hundred yards down the road before I realised my bearings didn’t really match up to the map in my hand… so back I went, clocked the slate grey walls and lone door which opened up into a world of miniature egg-based open sandwiches. The ideal tummy filler for me, since by then I only had 2-3 hours before dinner.

Inside, it was just as threadbare and utilitarian as you might have expected from the exterior; just as well, as most customers only have eyes for the glass cabinet holding 20+ varieties of open-faced sandwiches. I was pretty overwhelmed by the choice, and while there’s a useful placard at the front of the shop with English translations of the different types, the identification ‘cards’ in front of each batch of sandwiches don’t. Severe, non-smiling staff had an air of impatience about them, despite the fact it wasn’t very full when I went – so, a little flustered, I just pointed at a few that looked interesting…

Of my selection, the liver was particularly scrumptious, all creamy textures and delicate flavours. Not overly pungent, which always turns me off offal (har har). Herring with onions came a close second, with nice briney fish contrasting with tangy, soft onions. The others were forgettable… Still, it was nice to stand around (there are limited seats) and check out the colourful clientele – everyone from dazed tourists to a particularly gaunt punter who downed his herrings and onions with much gusto, with a man-sized tankard of beer next to him. It’s very much an eat-and-leave place (I’m sure I annoyed the staff to no end by hanging about snapping pics).

After wandering about some more and getting fed up with the gloom and rain, I decided to seek refuge in a kaffeehaus. I’d intended to go to Café Hawelka, but again couldn’t find it (despite it being on the same street!); it’s known to be a very charming mom-and-pop run place (though tragically, Josefine died three years ago) and the intellectual hangout of the 60’s and 70’s. So by chance I wandered past Café Bräunerhof, which had some mighty cosy-looking booths…

I am already in love with the dichotomy between the elegant/opulent surroundings and a fully relaxed, convivial vibe of Viennese cafés. I could have spent my entire evening there, sipping melange and eating my apfelstrudel (could have done with some freshly whipped cream or some vanilla sauce, though!). It’s not hard to see why these places were the favoured haunts of writers, artists and revolutionaries (and the odd poor boy who could take hours of refuge in these formidable institutions for the price of a coffee).

Plenty more cafés to go to tomorrow, which I feel defeats the purpose of the kaffeehaus – I need more langurorous afternoons to fully enjoy them, instead of flitting all about the place!

The Ring
1, Kärntner Ring 8 (+43 122 122/ www.theringhotel.com).

Trzesniewski
1, Dorotheergasse 1 (512 3291/ www.speckmitei.at). Open 8.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri; 9am-5pm Sat. No credit cards.

Café Bräunerhof
1, Stallburggasse 2 (512 3893). Open 8am-8.30pm Mon-Fri; 8am-6pm Sat; 10am-6pm Sun. No credit cards.

happy mid-autumn festival!

It’s tough being away from home, where you know tonight’s mid-autumn festival celebrations would have been ten times more incredible than being in some south London suburb. I mean, where are the shrieking children brandishing candle-lit paper lanterns (or these days, due to ‘health and safety’, irritating plastic incarnations of the popular cartoon character du jour emanating high-frequency music)? Rebels in the parks melting wax in mooncake tins despite the government’s desperate PSAs warning people against it? Eating mooncakes until you feel sick? Oh, wait…

Just kidding! Being the altruistic housemate I am, I shared my bounty out. These babies sure are costly over here… but I couldn’t imagine being without these indulgent, stodgy cakes of sweet lotus seed paste (the best part) and salted egg yolks (I used to pick them out, but now it just seems sacrilegious to!). Since I came over here for uni (always around this time of year) four years ago, my parents would go out and buy me one cake every year before I left Hong Kong again. I never was much of a mooncake fan until I was faced with the possibility of not having one during the mid-autumn festival. Typical!

Om nom nom nom. This really made my night :-)

Oh, and kids? Say NO to snowy mooncakes. Just no. Also, don’t give into cheap marketing ploys and avoid Starbucks’ related mooncakes at all cost. Don’t even think about having anything else other than Wing Wah. Ta!

to market, to market

It’s been a very long time since I’ve touched this blog (though I’ve been duly reading others’… but not always commenting, I admit!). It was summer when I last wrote, and now the season has well and truly changed. A long overdue visit to a farmers’ market this morning inspired me to write again. There are some lovely seasonal fruit and veg out there now, such as beautiful squashes (I was starting to get bored – gasp! – of all the summer berries and salads).

I managed to restrain myself to a respectable (and manageable) haul of:

one gigantic kohlrabi (I could munch on strips of the stuff all day)…

two interesting and rather prickly  ‘crystal apple’ cucumbers (good for pickling, apparently)…

a punnet of the tiniest and intensely flavoured grapes (which amusingly, had no name)…

Oh, and a punnet of the most gorgeous, juicy sweet ’sun baby’ cherry tomatoes. And two yellow courgettes.

No meat or fish, as I had elsewhere to go in the afternoon. The chicken hearts looked very good indeed…!

Those who’ve been following my flickr will have noticed that I’ve recently been to Colombia. I’m still struggling to find the words to do the trip justice, so with any luck I’ll be blogging about that later!

ETA: I’ve also recently moved house – I am in love with the kitchen, and the fact that my flatmates have planted a wee herb garden (basil, mint, thyme, rosemary, etc).

Having lived in skyscraper-tall apartments in HK, I’ve never had a herb garden, so I’m well pleased. The sun baby toms went straight into a pseudo-caprese salad with fresh basil, lovely oozy buffalo mozzarella, sea salt + freshly ground black pepper and fruity olive oil. MARVELLOUS!

I feel so Jamie.