Dinner at Steirereck, Vienna

Today marks the end of my summer course in Austria, and for the last day I planned to do another nice meal, this time at Steirereck (which I had booked a couple of weeks in advance). This 40-year old family restaurant in Vienna's Stadtpark has gained huge prominence in recent years under the leadership of the current chef Heinz Reitbauer, particularly in the St. Pellegrino world rankings (it currently stands at No. 11, up from No. 22 in 2011). It is now commonly recognised as Austria's best fine-dining establishment. As the name of the restaurant ('Styrian Corner') suggests, the focus is very much on Austrian regional products and specialities. For diners on a tighter budget, the Reitbauer family also runs a more casual bistro 'Meierei' on the floor below Steirereck, serving simpler Austrian classics, with a particular emphasis on regional cheeses (other friends I took there during my time in Austria commented that it smelled like a cheese shop!).

It was with high expectations that I arrived at Steirereck, and the lovely hostess Susanne promptly showed me to a nice table by the window with a full view of the spacious and cosy restaurant, just as I had requested in my reservation:

Loved the ceiling with its leafy three-dimensional designs!

Steirereck offers a very reasonably-priced 7-course tasting menu with two choices for each course, which is pretty impressive. Also, although I didn't go for it, the wine flight is probably the cheapest I've seen in a restaurant of this rank, and features some very good Austrian wines indeed. 

Very soon after I had made my choices from the tasting menu, an array of canapés was served in quick succession. First up, a few poppyseed and smoked salt crackers - a feather-light and savoury start to the meal.

Next came a visually most appealing assortment of treats, plated to look like a bunch of blossoms or a mini forest canopy, and containing (clockwise from top): celery with vermouth, radish with minced calf's head, cucumber with elderflower, red pepper cone with linden flower cream, sea buckthorn cone with Jerusalem artichoke. Amidst the variety of textures and flavours, one morsel stood out in particular: the plain-looking baby cucumber marinated in elderflower essence was so sweet, juicy and refreshing that I was left wanting more - certainly, proof that sometimes simple is best.

Last of the canapés: air-dried ham rolled in with watermelon, served unusually on a rope with a peg securing it (really reminded me of laundry hanging out to dry!). This was executed with utmost precision and the sweet-savoury balance was perfectly achieved. In terms of texture, the meat was surprisingly tender, and subtly enhanced by the moist slice of watermelon.

Bread and butter came next, and these were no less spectacular. On the butter dish, three types of spreads were offered: basil butter (the pretty flowery ball), walnut butter (the quenelle) and plain cream cheese (the strips across the dish). I have a particular weakness for the flavour of basil, and this unusual butter infused with it was so light, velvety and aromatic that my tastebuds succumbed instantaneously. The spreads were all excellent, but I could have the basil butter any time.

My friendly bread waiter arrived with the most stunning selection of breads I have ever seen (more than 10 different kinds!). It was very tempting to try them all, but it was also important to remember that the meal hadn't actually started proper!

Difficult as it was, I ended up choosing 5 varieties: parmesan, bacon, blood pudding, apricot and hazelnut, peach and almond. All fresh out of the oven, warm, fluffy and flavourful, certainly good enough to eat on their own. My waiter actually had to stop me from getting more by politely suggesting that it would be too heavy on my stomach, and reminding me that there was still a lot of food to come!

And so the feast began!

Amuse-bouche: steamed Krause Glucke (sparassis crispa; commonly known in Chinese culture as 'white fungus') with Jerusalem artichoke purée, hazelnuts and basil cress garnish.

The pairing of Krause Glucke (a type of mushroom similar to the morel) with hazelnuts was ingenious - both with delightful crunchy texture and a nutty/earthy flavour that went hand-in-hand with each other. The artichoke purée was a nice balancing element with its smooth, creamy texture and subtly sweet taste, while the basil cress garnish provided a further touch of aromas and spiciness that both cleansed and stimulated the palate for what was to come.

First course: Schwarzauer mountain trout with melon, cucumber and borage.

Sourced exclusively from Peter Brauchl in Lower Austria, the Schwarzauer mountain trout is a largely forgotten variety with a firm, yet tender flesh. The fish stores its fat evenly within its muscles, giving the flesh a melt-in-the-mouth consistency. Still not quite as miraculous as top-grade Japanese bluefin tuna belly (ootoro), but close enough! This delicious raw fish was lightly seasoned with lime salt, highlighting its fresh natural flavours as well as giving it a delightful tangy and savoury edge. True to the fresh and clean-tasting nature of this dish, the complex but well-proportioned accompaniments of steamed and raw honeydew with mint, cucumber pickled with verjus, ginger ale & white balsamic vinegar, lettuce purée with basil oil, acacia honey & cayenne pepper, fermented mung bean sprouts and marinated borage (a herb with a cucumber-like flavour) kept the dish in a perfect, delicate balance.

Second course: marrow with sweet potato, tomato, almonds and lavender.

When I first saw the description of this dish, bone marrow automatically came to mind (not unusual in fine restaurants) so it was a bit of a surprise to see something completely vegetarian served to me. What I didn't know at the time of dining was that 'marrow' is also another name for squash in British English. Anyway, on to the food: this was acceptable in taste, but the portion was way too large (somewhat astonishing by fine-dining standards) and I felt like my stomach really needed a break after this if I was going to manage the rest of the courses (not the earlier bread's fault definitely!). 

Two huge mounds of grated marrow with Scottish lovage, pepperoncini slices & shaved toasted almonds, mixed with diced marrow marinated with lavender, acacia honey, mustard seeds and lemon juice, were wrapped with steamed marrow leaves, and each mound sat on a slice of sweet potato caramelised with ginger, orange zest and acacia honey. The dressing was a vinaigrette of tomato juice, ginger, green almonds, lavender oil and steamed marrow. 

For this course I found the accompaniments to be much more memorable than the lead ingredient of marrow, which to be honest was a tad bland in taste (despite the complex marinades and mix-ins) and made my stomach bloat with the fibre overload. The caramelised sweet potato slices were certainly a welcome relief - really sweet, tangy and spicy all at once. The presence of characteristic lavender aromas throughout the dish was a real pleasure, and the green (raw) almonds, though hardly as full-bodied in taste as ripe ones, had an unusually juicy and gelatinous texture that was most appealing to the bite - pity there were only 2 meagre pieces on the plate!

Third course: Perlfisch with baby artichokes, pineapple tomatoes and pistachios.

This was a most delightful dish that reminded me very much of home, where my grandmother would similarly pair pan-fried fish with tomato sauce. This was arguably the best hot dish of the evening and, like the trout, came from an extremely rare source. Perlfisch is an extremely scarce member of the carp family that exists today in just five subalpine lakes, one of which is the Attersee, from which the restaurant obtains this fish. Only a small number of Perlfisch are allowed to be caught by licensed fishermen in order to maintain a sustainable population.

Here, the fish was done to perfection, with firm and moist flesh underneath crispy skin. Its naturally fresh and delicate flavour (no muddy odours associated with carp at all!) was aptly enhanced by a superb light sauce made with grilled pineapple tomato juice, tomato vinegar and olive oil - fruity with the perfect sweet-sour balance. The accompaniments were also very well-balanced: sweet, juicy & luxurious baby artichokes confited in brown butter were paired with lightly dried & slightly more acidic pineapple tomatoes. A particularly inspired touch came in the form of a topping of crushed toasted pistachios with salted lemon and Ceylon spinach, atop the dried tomatoes; the nut was a good complement to the slight charred taste of the fish from pan-frying, while the sparing but distinctive strips of salted lemon both imparted a savoury edge (which was somewhat lacking in this dish that contained only fruit and vegetable accompaniments) as well as cut through the understated richness of the dish with its tartness.

Fourth course: braised calf's tongue with rhubarb, salted plums and nasturtium.

A typical Austrian farmer's dish with a posh twist, this prized offal was braised in a sauce made of beer, whisky, salted plums and rhubarb. Vegetable accompaniments included preserved green rhubarb, steamed pak choi, an enfleurage of nasturtium flowers & Argentinian mint (a herb with long, thin leaves and a light spearmint flavour with a slight aniseed aftertaste, plucked from Steirereck's own garden) with salted plums, marinated maca herb (a tuberous vegetable native to the high Andes in Peru, sourced from Michael Bauer in Stetten, Lower Austria), and potato beignets.

I am generally adventurous with my food and have no problems with offal whatsoever, but I must confess to liking this dish the least because it tasted extremely salty and tart on the whole - basically only the flavours of salted plum and rhubarb, at the expense of everything else on the plate. The positives: presentation was incredibly pretty, and the tongue had a delightfully firm and somewhat gelatinous texture.

Fifth course: roasted and braised Guinea fowl with mustard, beans and summer truffle.

Truffles... always good in any dish!

Next was a substantially better poultry course. Like the marrow dish, the portion was extremely generous but at least the individual components were well-proportioned, so no complaints here. The roasted fowl breast was amazingly tender & succulent (quite a mean feat for naturally leaner breast meat!), and the slithers of skin between the slices of meat were feather-light & perfectly crisp, with no signs of fat underneath - how does one do that?! The braised component (leg) coated with sesame and linseed was similarly excellent and came with a nice aromatic crunch in every bite. The naturally subtle flavour of the meat was enhanced by a full-bodied roasting jus with wholegrain mustard and tarragon oil, which to be honest was a tad too saltish but certainly not unbearable. The vegetable accompaniments (close-up photo) were delicious and consisted mainly of crunchy beans (long beans, broad beans and fine beans), concealed under translucent slithers of Crystal Apple cucumber (a variety native to New Zealand and now cultivated in Steirereck's own garden, with a more rounded form, pale & thin skin, and flavourful & succulent flesh) pickled with verjus and elderflower (again, yum!). The cucumber was then topped with a range of aromatic treats - the fragrance of summer truffles was unmistakeable and particularly intoxicating. Sautéed oyster mushrooms, pickled pearl onions and marinated watercress completed this rich, tasty and deceptively simple dish.

Sixth course: iced pericon with medlar, bee balm, cucumber and blue gin.

Pericon, a herb very similar to tarragon with subtle hints of anise, was infused into a substantial chunk of iced guimauve (French marshmallow) and dollops of crème fraîche (below the orange pieces of medlar). This was aptly paired with medlar (loquat) preserved in pineapple and apple juice, and beansprouts marinated with bee balm (a herb with a taste of mint and bergamot) syrup. Finally, a juice of cucumber and gin & tonic was poured generously around the dessert at the table. The whole dish was incredibly refreshing, delicate, and aromatic - a welcome relief indeed from all the indulgent savoury courses that had preceded it.

Seventh course: raspberries (raspberries filled with jellied fermented raspberry juice, ice crsytal leaves marinated with raspberry juice, raspberry vinegar and stevia) with pandan cake and ice-cream, white chocolate and coconut sorbet.

Another dish that reminded me of home - who would have expected to find pandan (a tropical palm leaf with a delightful fragrance akin to a mix of vanilla and coconut) in a Viennese restaurant?! I knew I had to try this dessert as soon as I saw it on the menu. The pandan components of this dessert - in the forms of an ice-cream atop a warm, thin layer of cake - were extremely successful; kudos to the kitchen for getting them right! The white chocolate and coconut sorbet was also a very pleasant pairing for this tropical leaf. What I didn't quite understand was the over-generous inclusion of raspberries, which seemed at odds with the tropical inclination of this dessert, and more importantly, upset its flavour balance with the fruit's characteristically tart flavour. There was certainly no doubt regarding the quality of each component on the plate, but more consideration really needs to be given to their combination (or at least their proportion) within the same dish.

Having finished the meal, a very young and friendly lad (and I mean VERY young - could he be Chef Reitbauer's teenage son?) came over with an impressive trolley of mignardises prettily laid out as if they were part of some jewellery shop's display. I couldn't resist asking for one of each type of confectionery, which he happily obliged and served to me on a jewellery viewing tray.

In no particular order, I tried: blackcurrant marshmallow, white & red currants; white chocolate pearl; boysenberry & passionfruit marshmallow; cherry and marzipan cream; apricot, saffron, white chocolate; red currant, rose blossom, dark chocolate; blackcurrant & campari orange; pecan nut and cereals; salted plum & sea fennel. Tasted pretty good overall, though the plating looked somewhat haphazard. Standouts for me were the juicy whole cherry filled with luxurious marzipan cream in place of its stone, and the two wraps of apricot and red currant, infused with subtle aromas and containing rich chocolate fillings.

I took more pictures of the spacious restaurant as I was about to leave. The toilets in the basement are an experience in themselves!

Huge cosy armchairs just outside the toilets

Colourful washbasin area - doesn't this remind you of a garden in full bloom?

Peek into the kitchen near the entrance

Summary notes: food was generally very good, using fresh native produce wherever possible. The restaurant is obviously proud of its ingredients and their provenance, and provides a little information card (in English or German) with every course in the tasting menu, containing details of the components in each dish, and explaining rarer ingredients where necessary. Steirereck remains the only restaurant I know of to do this for their clients - a very helpful gesture for anyone who might be more interested in the intricacies of each dish. However, for some courses, more deliberation over certain flavour combinations and/or proportions of individual components in a dish would be helpful for a truly convincing overall effect.

Service was not bad too, particularly from Susanne who received me and took my orders at the beginning, and the very friendly waiters for bread and mignardises. In between, I found my waiter for the actual courses to be professional but somewhat cold and reticent, serving the dishes without much apparent enthusiasm. I couldn't be sure if that was because he wasn't quite comfortable in English, or because he thought that the little information cards had already done the work for him. Also, the restaurant forgot about the single glass of wine that I had requested from Susanne to accompany my last dessert, but as I was already quite full by the end, I didn't kick up a huge fuss about the sommelier's absence.

With some tweaks to the food and service, this restaurant could certainly aspire to even greater things in the future, and I wouldn't mind returning whenever I am in Vienna again.