Vienna is full of cafes, restaurants, and markets. Naschmarkt was my favourite market in all of Europe, a slice of gastronomic heaven in the middle of a lively city.
Our first night in Vienna was a Sunday night, so most stores and even restaurants were closed. We settled on going to a family-run Chinese restaurant with a very diverse (and questionable) menu that included: Chinese food, Thai food, Malay food, and Japanese food.
The next day, we walked through the oh-so-hip MuseumsQuartier, which had a post-modern installation of hot pink blocks that many young Viennese hipsters were sunbathing in, and decided to stop for coffee at one of its cafes.
I had a specialty Viennese coffee, which really didn’t taste any different from regular coffee.
We tried the Original Sacher Torte at the Sacher hotel restaurant. It looks just like a chocolate cake, but the difference is that there’s a layer of apricot jam in the middle that gives it a tang.
We took our time walking through Naschmarkt, which is an open-air market that also has a lot of cafes and restaurants lining its streets, and I found myself in gastronomic heaven.
The next night, we returned to Naschmarkt for dinner. I wanted to try a wiener schnitzel, a traditional Austrian and Viennese dish. It turned out to be exactly what I’d think breaded and fried pork taste like1 – just like the da pai we made in our family except we use a pork chop cut, or like the Japanese katsu (breaded pork cutlet).
Then we had dinner at Deli, a very popular café in Naschmarkt. There were tons of locals there, hanging out with a drink and cigarette. Apparently this is where everyone went in the afternoon/evening.
I had a stir-fry vegetables dish, which came with fragrant rice2. Unfortunately, they fried the rice in butter, which completely ruined it for me. What was wrong with plain flagrant rice?
On our final night in Vienna, we once again returned to Nashmarkt, this time for some Asian food!
I had duck on sizzling platter, a top of bed of mixed vegetables. The duck was so tender and the sauce was delicious. One of the most satisfying meals I had in Europe.
Would I return to Vienna? Hell yes, if not for the art and music, then definitely for Naschmarkt!
- It’s supposed to be veal but I’m almost certain the one we had was pork, a common replacement these days. [↩]
- Can you tell I was missing Asian food? I was missing rice so badly I thought my stomach would go on protest. [↩]