Sunday, August 24, 2014

Eating in Vienna

 I came across this virtually unknown restaurant while in Vienna and think it's worth mentioning.  The name?  Zum Blauern Esel.....the blue donkey.  Yeah, I know....it's a strange name.

If you find the Schloss Schonbrunn on the west end of town....there's a major street running east-west in front of it (northside of the schloss), and it runs into Hadikgasse Strasse (street).  So about five hundred feet down Hadikgasse...heading west....there's this dull colored building on the street, with one simple sign over the doorway.  Yeah, it's likely that you might miss it on the first time.  The neighborhood looks like something out of 1955....I admit....but that keeps the tourists away and makes it a bit more interesting.

The restaurant has a open garden in the back, with thirty tables laid out.  It does look marginal in terms of appearance, with tables having pretty severe weathering, and the chairs maybe on the last year of use. You'd almost think about leaving.

So you gaze over the menu, and find a couple of interesting items, and there's this listing for ribs.  That's what I ordered.  It came out to be a five-star ribs dinner, and I was shocked at how much better these were than regular ribs from Alabama or Tennessee.

The gulush?  Five-star as well.

Tourist trap?  No.  I doubt if more than three or four tourists end up there on most evenings.  In the spring and summer, the garden sitting area makes a great place to sip a beer or two after the meal.  Pricing?  Remarkably competitive with most other places you might encounter while in the city (remember, nothing is cheap in Vienna).

So, if you were looking for a decent dinner, away from the crowd and a curious location.....it's all within a ten-minute walk of the schloss.  Note, the subway station is only 300-feet away and you easily make your way to any hotel in town.

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