Food... nothing more or less

Steirereck - Austria's best ranked restaurant

2010-12-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

The Steirereck has 19 Gault Millau points (among 4 Austrian restaurants) and 2 Michelin stars (the only one in Austria now, after Austria was kicked from the list of countries to be reviewed on its own, due to low turnover of the Michelin guide, but Vienna being covered as a capitol of European countries). It is also ranked 30th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine in 2009. Of course I had to go there despite its high prices (at least I found them pretty high before going there, but let's read on).

So we went there at lunch time on a weekday. There weren't many people, which I found quite pleasant as it makes your experience more unique. Anyway, there were many staff available, who were attentive and well trained, as expected. We (my dad, bf and I) looked through the menu and I was astonished to see that they offered a lunch menu for 'only'49€! Well, 49€ for 3 courses and 59€ for 4 courses (or I mixed up the prices and it was actually 10€ more, but surely not more than that, which isn't much higher than what you would pay at other upscale restaurants that lack such reputation). For the lunch menu you can choose things from their à la carte menu, and IMO you save quite a bit if you consider an artichoke salad is 18€ (despite their website claiming it's 24€), a main course is easily 25€+ and a dessert costs around 10€ or more.

However, I decided to have the 6 course menu for 106€, (there was also a 5 course one at 10€ less), if you're there already you gotta try their best... because the meals in that menu were different from the things on the a la carte menu.

So after we had ordered, we got the first amuse gueule (which was already partly eaten due to my greediness...): asparagus and carrot crackers with some other crackers I cant remember (on the right) lol.

Then came the second one: salmon praline, something I forgot, carrot jelly and cheese cracker with fig jam

Then a waiter with free bread came :D the housemade bread was accompanied by fresh butter,

Next Amuse Gueule is Beta Sweet Carrot as you can see on the cards.

Then I got cucumber with crayfish. Ok now I'll stop the bad translation and just let the images speak for themselves.

Artichoke salad from my dad

Wedding soup from by bf

Now comes a course of mine again. Cooked lamb tongue with amaranth and veggies.

Very interesting textures and flavors, loved it.

Fried cod with assorted veggies and fruit :D, never had fish of that same texture, amazing.

Deer with mushrooms and some kinda dumpling. Boy that meat was soft!

Too bad I already felt full by then XD but of course I ate it all ;D

My dad's main course: lamb, which was also heavenly soft like my deer. I don't know how they do it, but they do it damn well!

My bfs main course, classic Wiener Schnitzel with potatoes. Unfortunately he never tries exotic things :P

Here comes my first dessert.

Shaved ice from calpis (a japanese drink), coconut and lime, with slices of palm heart and peach garnished with pearl sago. As a "side drink" you get coconut flavored Ceylon tea, hot of course. Very interesting and tasty concept

My second dessert.

Pancake with some flower's stuff :D also yummy

Bf had to order something boring for dessert :P But the plum sorbet to his right was really delicious.

And finally we could choose a few pralines from a tray. The piece on the right bottom is jelly made from different berries, sooooo delicious, wished I could have 10 pieces of it XD

Now my favorite of all my courses? The cooked lamb tongue, even though everything was great. That dish was most interesting to me as it had the best textures to bite on. I'm a sucker for tongue and crisp veggies.

Verdict? 9.5/10, amazing service, amazing food, might get a 10/10 if they have lobster and oysters again :P

Just some DOTS pictures...

2010-12-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

since I haven't posted them yet. It's been some time ago, but the pictures are better than my previous ones of DOTS :P and the sushi was still divine, especially since I had a large butterfish set. Oh well, I'd be a happy camper if someone would just hand me a fresh, dead butterfish to eat :D

Cool interior, as always.

Gotta love their simple but nice arrangement.

Free, yummy salad :O

Another one XD

A view of the bar.

Very nice lighting. My bf had spring rolls with that chili sauce, well, he was quicker than my camera.

That chicken stuff on pak choi :D kinda overpriced for that size but tasted good.

With some rice... and here comes the butterfish!!!

And a close-up of the yummiest fish ever... *drools*...*happy that my keyboard is covered*

Mangosteen in Vienna - Billa Corso

2010-12-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the not so new anymore supermarket Billa Corso. They had Mangosteen... I was eyeing those fruits since forever and only saw them on my last day in Singapore, in a huge net like 20 pieces... couldn't possibly finish them so I didn't buy them. Well, you can imagine I was over the moon when seeing Mangosteen in Vienna :D It was just an amount of 4 for 3,99€, oh well. Kinda expensive when you think about the fruit inside being so tiny, but oh well, for the sake of trying.

But here my misery (or rather having luck in a misery lol) starts: after leaving Billa Corso my friend and I spontaneously decided to go to McDonalds to chat a bit. Note, if we hadn't done so I would have gone into the subway and get back home in that creepy weather. But alas, we didn't. I got a cheeseburger and curly fries and decided to try the Mangosteen as a dessert. First I was wondering if the staff would let me eat my self-brought food in there, but after seeing there were so many people inside I could hardly imagine anyone would care (or rather see me). Ok, finished the McDo stuff and started to try (yeah, what a process) to open one fruit ö_Ö You actually gotta cut the thick peel open and then pull them apart. After a lot of cutting around with my tiny pocketknife on a McDo table my friend (who has already eaten Mangosteen before) pulled the thing apart and told me upon first sight: I don't think this is edible anymore. I had to take a closer look and was seeing MOLD! Inside the Fruit X_X Lots of it... oh noes. There goes 1€. So I decided to open another one since I absolutely wanted to eat one now. The second one was fresher looking from the outside and we were able to cut through it faster. But FML, another moldy one inside --_--

Now that was it, I returned the Mangosteen to Billa Corso and got back the 3,99€. Since the other Mangosteen in the store were already moldy on the outside I didn't want to take the risk again. I was so close to trying an apparent yummy fruit (had some Mangosteen juice in S'pore and some candy gummies here, all yummyness), but goddamn mold prevented it --_-- Oh imagine what would have been if I had discovered all this at home: first trying to decide whether the 3,99€ is worth it to get back to the city and once again back home in the dark, windy and freezing Vienna and then most probably taking this ordeal grumpily... so I kind of had luck. Or so

Oh well, be cautionous when trying to buy Mangosteen in Austria. I can't imagine that other stores would have a different/fresher source for them. If you do know one that has unmoldy Mangosteen please tell!

Rant over, next time you'll get something more pleasurable with pictures again lol. Just had to tell about my miserable recent experience.

Cupcakes in Vienna... @ Gerstner

2010-11-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

I was astonished to find a local, traditional bakery suddenly offering cupcakes. It is Gerstner on Kärntnerstrasse, the main shopping street in Vienna's 1rst district. Of course I had to try some flavors and in order to justify buying more than 1 I talked my bf into eating one too, at least partially :D

So here we got a peach cupcake on the left and a chocolate one on the right. Let me tell you: both are delicious! The frosting is lightly whipped butter with some flavor, sooo not good for your health but sooo great tasting. The chocolate cupcake is filled with a bit of hazelnut paste (like Nutella) and the peach cupcake has yummy sweet peach pieces in the dough.

I have a slight preference for the peach cupcake, sind the whole thing goes together very well. The frosting isn't too sweat and the peach pieces add a flavor boost one piece at a time. Me likes :D As for rating: 8.5/10 for the chocolate and 9/10 for the peach cupcake. They cost 3 or 3,50€ I believe. However, I've never eaten an American (original, so to say) cupcake, so I can't really compare how authentic the Gerstner cupcakes are. If anyone has the knowledge please share!

Long time no see again :P

2010-11-20T08:06:00.001-08:00

I promise I'll be posting more regularly again in the future :D I've been busy with an internship for 6 months that ended just some weeks ago. Now I'll have plenty of time to show you more food. What's coming up? Steirereck (yeah, finally went there), Mraz und Sohn (which is kind of a Steirereck Knock-Off IMO), Business Class of China Airlines and much more...

All-you-can-eat teppanyaki in Vienna

2010-03-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of months I got to know 3 Chinese style restaurants in Vienna (you know, the westernized 'Chinese' food that doesn't even exist in China...). All of them with teppanyaki or mongolian barbecue until you can't eat anymore. They are:

- Banyan (in the 9th district) near WU Wien)
- Red Apple (in the 1rst district, near TU Wien)
- Bamboo (in the 4th district, not near any University :P)

Their prices are pretty close, I can only remember Banyan exactly: 9,80€.
While Banyan claims to have Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Malay food their selection is pretty average, not anymore special than other Chinese restaurants. I was pretty disappointed since I'm looking for good Thai and Malay food (the best Thai restaurant I found in Vienna is called Bangkok, the prices are mid high). Ok, enough bashing, the food itself is okay, typical all-you can eat plus the Teppanyaki with average sauces to choose.

Red Apple has a bigger selection of sauces, but they didn't really taste that differently from each other (went there with a couple of friends, so I could try almost all of them) and their 'super spicy' sauce was mild IMO.

The last one is Bamboo, which impressed me most with its dessert selection actually. The main dishes and Teppanyaki are average (even though you have a bigger choice of Sushi there, which doesn't really taste that great, but whatever...), while for dessert you can choose from fruits as well as a wide array of cookies (not typically Chinese...).

My verdict: Bamboo is the winner out of the 3, if I had to rate it I'd give it a 7.5/10, but in general these Teppanyaki-style buffets didn't really WOW me, KWIM? The sauces are mostly bland and the result is not too impressing. Could have done the same at home if I had that many seafood and veggies to choose from.

Next up is the vegetarian restaurant, this time with pics again!

Long time no see...

2010-03-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't eaten anything exciting lately, thus the lack of posts. However, some days ago I went to an interesting eatery, organic, veg and cheap... will be posting pics and a review soon. In addition I had my third Teppanyaki style all-you-can-eat experience today... It was a restaurant called Banyan, the other ones are Bamboo and Red Apple. Stay tuned for detailed reviews.

Weird food combinations

2010-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

reading a thread on a forum made me think about this again. Here's the initial question:

Are there any things you like to eat together that really don't go together or most people find weird?

Well, most stuff I eat people find weird. Sometimes I eat desserts before the main dish... but aside from that, here are my favorite weirdo-combis:

- banana slices on a peanutbutter toast
- blue cheese with figue jam and roasted pumpkin seeds on bread (that's actually how one gourmet cheese restaurant serves it. loved the combination ever since)
- pickles and ham
- French fries with regular mayonnaise
- breaded deep-fried chicken with mayonnaise (baked in fat, dipped in fat, love it)

That's all I can come up with right now. Next time I'll post pics again

Trying to eat less calories...

2010-01-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Looks pretty healthy, eh?
Forget it, I was offered some cookies afterwards and couldn't say no...

And guess what, I even ate more cookies than pictured :D

Other lunch options

2010-01-12T11:43:00.001-08:00

Working fulltime leaves little time to cook, so I've been checking out the Bagels by the Roast. Today I got the Thai chicken-coconut soup again (yummy, just wished it was spicy and costs less). Last time it had soy sprouts in it though, this time only chicken, carrots and mushrooms. The bagel was a pumpkin seed one, I think it's kinda random with that soup, last time it was either the oregano or tomato bagel, while dishes like chili con carne scream for an onion bagel... And I had the blueberry bagel (not pictured) for dessert. But I like the raisin-cinnamon one (next pic) better. Still have to check out the chocolate bagel.
Here we have the pic of a different day. On the left is raisin-cinnamon, right is poppy seed and bottom is onion bagel. The last is still my favorite out of the salty flavors. I was surprised 2 of them would keep me full for several hours. Good value for 1€ each.
I might need to go to the weekend brunch at that place, quite pricy at 17€ (I think), but endless amounts of bagels...

Just some take-away Chili con carne...

2009-12-22T03:28:00.000-08:00

that I ate last week for lunch at work. It's available at The Roast for 5,90€ and includes an onion bagel, which was delicious (and unfortunately isn't in the pic).
The Chili con carne is moderately spicy, has loads of minced meat, some beans and some corn in it. I was full from half the cup and the bagel... so the price is pretty ok. I just wished it came with two bagels haha, but you can buy an extra one for 1€ anyway...

Maredo... like 3rd, 4th time?!

2009-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

I went there relatively often as you can see... their food is good and something besides Pizza that my bf likes.
So here is another piled up salad. They never change the range of salads though. Even though I love what's there I'd be happy to see a new noodles salad or something every once in a while.
My rib-eye steak rare, with sourcreme and french fries. Nice meat, but I still prefer the much tender filet.

My bf's rumpsteak an wedges.

Fried veggies as side dish. This wasn't that good though, mainly onions and peppers. Wouldn't order it again (actually my bf ordered it).

Well, I'd recommend you going there for lunch (between 11 AM and 5PM) since they have special prices for the steak+salad+potatoe side. The 180g filet steak is ideal for my and the whole menu 'only' costs 12,80€, while you usually (dinnertime, weekend and holidays) have to pay 18€ (I believe) for the filet steak alone.

Luxemburgerli

2009-12-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, this week has been really busy. I had visitors, started working fulltime and finally I have time to post some new things. Let's start with the Luxemburgerlis that my friend brought with her from Zurich. You usually can't get them anywhere else besides Switzerland, they need to be eaten on the same day (or at least the following day), BUT they are the swiss version of the french Macaroons, just a tiny bit smaller and with different flavors.

The glittering one in the bottom row middle is light champagne. Yes, it really shimmers, as if they dusted some golden shimmering pigment (MAC Vanilla ^^) on it. The pink one is raspberry, the dark brown chocolate (obviously), the orange tastes like mandarins and the other ones are cinnamon, hazelnut, coffee.
Had to show you the shimmer up close. It doesn't only look great, but also tastes great. There are other flavors to choose from when you're in Switzerland though. The one that intrigues me most is the Grand Cru (Black with gold dust...). Will definitely try that one if I have the chance. I'll also get several gold champagne ones since they taste really good.

All in all they're quite expensive from what I've heard, but really tasty. Not comparable with the so-so Macarons in Vienna... but I have yet to try more French Macarons. I ate some years ago, but can't remember if they were Laduree or not.

Dots Lounge - Fabulous Sushi again!

2009-12-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Dots again with an old friend who is reading this blog frequently :D She loves butterfish too... so we went here again, around dinnertime.
The pics here are only of a small part of the lounge. There are several rooms at the back which seem to be for bigger groups (we saw them while looking for the restrooms).

For drinks I had a passion fruit lemonade (on the left) and my friend had a strawberry lemonade because they ran out of raspberry sirup... both tasted fruity and sweet without being overwhelming. We actually got bigger sizes and only paid what was stated for the 0.25l (2€).

Next came prawn crackers with a mayonnaise-dip for appetizers. They are included in the cover charge (2,90€) and came out cold, but crispy.

Finally our Sushi Mixed Sets arrived. I had butterfish, salmon and tuna (4 maki, 6 nigiri, 6 sashimi).
My friend had the butterfish-only set, also 4 maki, 6 nigiri and 6 sashimi.
Both Sets cost 19,90€ and is a decent price for what you get. The fish slices are generous, fresh, juicy and oh so yummy! The rice is well seasoned, the maki more complex than your average maki, the carrot and radish stripes under the sashimi is moist/fresh (not dried out as at other places), the wasabi has a good strenght and never came out stinky, like I already experienced at other places.

So Dots is staying my favorite place for sushi right now. Not only is their butterfish to-die-for, the tuna and salmon are delicious as well. If only they were cheaper... then I'd probably eat more often there (get fatter), but perhaps a lower price would give you not-so-nice quality... so my real hope is that the food simply stays the way it is ^^.

9/10 overall, upgraded because I love the butterfish so much... I ordered the mixed fish set since I didn't wanna order all the same things as my friend XD and to see whether their other fish would be as great too... they are, but I'll take the butterfish set too next time since it's my all time favorite. Salmon comes close, but it's just not the same delicious taste. And tuna is totally different, good in it's own sense, but doesn't have that buttery fattyness I love.

Haribo Frogs...PEACH???

2009-12-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

I was munching on some of these
(pic from worldofsweets.de)
When I looked up product info on them. So according to Haribo they should have a peach taste... WOW, after 23 years I finally get to know they should actually resemble a fruit taste... I mean I always liked the way they taste, but the brigh green color was always most intriguing. So I'm pretty surprised those bright green froggies have the taste of an orange-red fruit... well, random thoughts.

Go grab a bag of Haribo Quaxi! They're only 11 calories a piece (yeah, counted the frogs in my packet and did the maths...).
pic again from worldofsweets.de

Cookie cutter results and a recipe

2009-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Remember my post about new cookie cutters? Well I have been experimenting with not so stable dough (chocolate cookies and oat cookies), but finally tried a receipt again, with slight modifications. It gives you a dough which is perfect for cookie cutters.
Here is the batch of what I call 'Spekulatius with a hint of orange'. They can be stored for quite some time without losing their flavor or shape.

The following recipe will give you about 1.5 times the amount of what is pictured.

- 100g butter

- 50g white sugar

- 25g brown sugar

- 200g flour

- 50g grated almonds

- 1/3 teaspoon of baking powder

- 9g Spekulatius spice (I use the Kotanyi brand)

- 5g grated orange peel (you can buy it packed by the Dr. Oetker brand)

- 1 pinch of salt

- 1 egg

Mix the butter with the sugar, then add the egg for a creamy mixture. Then mix in all the other ingredients and knead it thoroughly, but not too long. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Then roll it out (3-4mm thickness) and play with the cookie cutter... place the cookies on a baking sheet and let them bake for ~15min in the preheated oven at 180° Celsius.

Feel free to coat them with a sugar glaze or a dark chocolate glaze (would suit them better than milk chocolate IMO).

The easiest Oreo-Shake...

2009-12-01T12:16:00.000-08:00

consists of 3 ingredients:
- 250ml cold milk
- 4 oreo cookies
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla flavored mass gainer OR sweet white chocolate powder OR sugar (then I'd use less than a full tablespoon lol)

Ok, the mass gainer sounds funny, but it's one of the few vanilla flavored things I have at home that isn't vanilla sugar or even vanilla itself. If you happen to have vanilla or milk ice cream at home you can leave out the spoonful of whatever and add a scoop of ice cream to the milk and Oreo cookies. The sweetness depends on your third ingredient. Mix thoroughly with a (hand) blender and enjoy! Even though Oreo cookies are a bit expensive in Austria it's still more affordable than the Oreo shake at the Coffee Shop, around 4€ and so easy to recreate.

Maredo with pics and how to load a plate...

2009-11-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

As promised I'm posting pics of my second Maredo visit. This time I knew better and loaded my salad plate to the fullest (you pay 4,50 or 4,95€, can't remember, for loading your plate as full as you can). I'm skilled thanks to our Mensa, have the same programm, with less salad choice and lower price. Below you see how my plate looked from above.
Doesn't look that much until you realize how high it was piled up. After taking several mouthfuls my plate looked like this:

And I didn't turn the plate or something. All of that hidden below... ok actually that was just my sides. Bf wondered if I would be able to finish the salad at all. A few minutes later came my lamb steaks, rare of course. They were tender and juicy, not as soft as the beef filet from last time, but quite good.

My bf, his bro and mom ordered a plate intended for 2. It's called Argentina-Plate and gives you 2 rump steaks (I believe), 2 spare ribs, 2 pieces of pork and chicken. The sides are wedges, fries, corn and grilled veggies. You'll get 3 kinds of sauces too (all for under 34€).

Even though I had quite some stuff on my own I got some bites from the mixed plate, just to know how it is... The spareribs stood out as the best, tender and nice flavor. The pork was surprinsingly tender as well (even the left-over pork that I baked again in our oven to warm it up was softer than what I usually make out of pork pieces... wow). The rump steak and the chicken were on the tough side though. The corn was overcooked for my taste, very, very soft and nothing like the corn I'm used to (cooked for 5-7min. in boiling water...). The potatoe sides were delicious, crispy and full of flavor.

Now to the final:

We had the mixed desserts (9,70€) with chocolate mousse on cake with cherry sauce (on the left), pancake filled with curd and raisins, topped with dulce de leche-caramel sauce (top middle); frozen caramel and chocolate cream topped with caramel-flakes (bottom middle), frozen orange sorbet (bottom right) and 2 scoops of ice cream (strawberry, walnut). Now the outstanding thing was the frozen caramel and chocolate cream (the brown thing that looks like a piece of cake in the middle). Delicious caramel and nuts flavor. Not to sweet, just so pleasant everyone was spooning at it in the end. The walnut ice cream was also great, full of flavor, melting in your mouth with some pieces of crunchy caramelized walnuts. The filled pancake wasn't so great as the filling didn't have much taste, the chocolate mousse had the kind of chocolate taste that I don't like and fruit ice cream is not my thing, but I think they're pretty good if you like fruity ice creams.

So the verdict this time: 9/10 again for overall (with last time included), even though the service this time wasn't as good. Had to wait for a waiter to come by whereas last time one would come before I even blink.

I'm giving the mixed plate a cumulated 8/10, the lamb 8.5/10, salad 8.5/10, mixed desserts 7.5/10 (the frozen cream cake piece would get a 9/10 on its own, same for the walnut ice cream).

So, go there even if you only want to eat mixed salads until you're full...

Oh, concerning loading your plate: I place solid things like noodle or potatoe salad on the bottom, then fill with some small pieced salad like corn or beans. Then comes a layer of more fluffy stuff like green salads, soy sprouts, then again some solid, bigger chunks (radish slices) to press the fluffy down, then finally top with things that might fit somewhere and won't slip off the layer below... the art of loading more than you can/should eat...

Maredo again

2009-11-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to Maredo again to celebrate my bf's mom's birthday. This time I loaded the plate with salads and got a lamb steak. Additionally I got some bites from the Argentinia plate (intended for 2 persons, but actually makes 4 full...). Pics will follow soon!

Self-made pizza II

2009-11-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

I've already written about self-made pizza here (click me). Now I'll deliver the pictures. The dough I posted in the recipe will be enough for 2 persons, as you can see in the pic...
Next up is the pizza in the oven. You have to take a certain sequence into account when garnishing your pizza (unless you don't want it to look like a pizza). First spread the seasoned tomato sauce, then sprinkle grated cheese over it, then add the meat and veggies. Sprinkle some pizza seasoning over it, a bit of salt if the dough, sauce and toppings aren't salty enough and some oil if you want.

The finished pizza will look like this.

I don't really know if it's cheaper to make your own pizza (especially counting your own time in), but you have more control over the quality of toppings and it's fun. Today I actually made cookies, some chewy chocolate ones and some oat ones. Both turned out deliciously thanks to the great recipes some users of a cooking platform posted. Will take pics and post the recipes next time.

It's cookie time! Cookie cutter tip included...

2009-11-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas is almost around (at least the economy wants you to believe this), so what could be more fun than cutting, baking and decorating your own cookies.
If you didn't know yet, I love the japanese cartoon character Totoro.

So much I even make cookies looking like them... if only there were ready-made cookie cutters shaped like them... if you can't buy it, make your own! So I took the shape of my very favorite plush Totoro, drawed one half on a once-folded paper (see the folding line on the shape on the left) and cut it out. Then I put the paper figure on a sturdy (but cuttable with a scissor) piece of plastic (used the lid of a huge dairy box). Draw the whole shape with a suitable pen, and cut it out. Make sure to wash the color off again with dishwasher or something, we don't want non-foodsafe color on our future cookies...Then you just take the plastic piece, put it on your rolled dough and cut around the shape with a knife... can take a bit of time and will make the butter in your dough warm up again, so only take little dough at a time for 1 or 2 figures. Look, so many Totoros ^^

Now to some classic cookie cutters. I went to Interio today to get these wonderful cutters I saw a couple of days ago:
The snowflakes were sold in a set and I almost didn't get one. The first shop was already sold out of them as they're really popular (I'm sure you understand why lol), but the nice sales assistants managed to locate a shop with a couple sets left. Thank god, or once again I'd be kicking my own ass for not buying instantly... (they're 6,90€, not that exp. for 5 pieces, but still, I don't wanna make impulse buys I regret later lol).

If you want the snowflakes too: Interio on Mariahilferstraße still had two sets when I went there a couple of hours ago. The cat is still widely available though. Got that one and a cookie tin at the first store in Ringstraßengallerien first.

Now I only need to find a great cookie recipe... then you'll get some cat- and snowflake-shaped cookie pics too... suggestions much appreciated!

Grape Jelly

2009-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's jelly time again... I recently tried this japanese white/green grape jelly that I bought in Taiwan. It's definitely not gelatine-based, as the liquid gets a jelly consistency as soon as it is cooled. Since I can't read japanese nor chinese I'll never know if it's konjac or agar agar... if you know please write a comment!
Anyway, you just boil 300ml of water, then let it cool down to 80° and then mix in the powder. After cooling for a few hours the jelly will look like this (when cut with a spoon already lol).

Here it is on a plate. Nice color...

Look at that piece! It feels harder than gelatine based jellies too.

I could stare at jelly all the time, probably because they look like huge raw gems ^^ However, this one also tastes very nice. It has the typical Muscat flavor and the sweetness is just right. It's also chewy, which I prefer to the melt-in-your-mouth quality of gelatine-based jellos.

As far as I remember the powder wasn't too pricey either, so I'll give it a 9/10 and would buy it again for that grape fix in jello form. I also have another package, but blue grape flavor. Will report on that one too once I make it.

Maredo@Opernring

2009-11-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

Remember the last post about bad steak? Here comes another steak review, but this time a good one... last night bf and I went to Maredo@Opernring while he had an hour off. I was curious to see if their steaks were really good.
Besides steaks they also offer many other (mostly Argentina-inspired) dishes based on meat. In addition there is a nice selection of salads at the salad buffet where you can choose between loading your plate as full as you can once (4,50€) or all you can eat (6,70€). Right now they also offer the first option for 3€ if you get one of their beef steaks. Anyway, I got a beef filet menu with salad and potatoe wedges. I didn't load my plate since I thought I had the all you can eat actually until my bf wondered why I took so little... Oh well, I'll know it for next time. The salads are fresh, you have many different ones to choose from (noodle salad, yummy ^^; thuna, olives, eggs, cheese and all kinds of vegetables).
Then you get some soft baguette as side.
Soon after finishing the salads our steaks with sides came, pretty quick (perhaps because I had my steak rare ^^). I only took potatoe wedges as side since I wasn't too hungry. They came with a sourcream dip.
Now to the meat... I first cut a piece on the side, fearing it might be medium and it looked medium until I took a second cut/bite where nice red flesh was peeking out ^^. Sooo the first impression is good, and the second: whooaaa the meat is soo tender. Almost melts in your mouth (beef can be tough like leather if made wrong) and is very juicy. The only (minor) gripe, the outside wasn't crispy. I don't know if it can be crispy anyway as a rare steak, but my bf's well-done rump steak was crispy although it was tough in comparison to my filet. You trade in one for another I guess... oh well, look at the blood :D sorry for the bad pic lighting, but I don't use flash in order to avoid shocking other guests lol-Before I forget: the wedges were nice tasting, the sourcream too, but I prefer some kind of garlic mayonnaise for wedges. Shoud try the garlic dip next time (they offer a nice variety of sauces too). In summary I'll give Maredo 9/10 this time, will definitely go there again since the food is great, the service is attentive, nice and quick and we got 15% coupons... and I still have to try a dessert with dulce de leche. The prices are a bit steep, comparable to Aston's, but better quality. Since I still have the receipt I'll list down for you:
- Bionade Litschi 2,70€
- Beef filet steak 180g including salad bar once and wedges 17,90€ (this is a promotion price, you usually pay 18,90€ for the filet alone)
- Beef rump steak 250g 14,90€
- Potatoe wedges 2,70€
- Garlic bread 1,55€ (2 pieces)

Until next time...

Aston's Specialties@The Cathay Singapore

2009-11-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine has birthday today and is planning on getting steak. This reminded me of my bfs birthday 08 in Singapore, where we went to a popular place to have some steak too. If you've been to the Cathay Building you've probably seen people outside Aston's Specialties queuing. If a lot of people queue, it can only be good, right? Well, we'll see...
For a start we had garlic bread. A yummy appetizer that simply belongs to steak.

Afterwards my bfs steak and side dishes came. Mixed veggies and deep-fried onion rings.

After some minutes waiting my Wagyu beef (rare) also arrived. BUT, it wasn't rare... more of a medium. I like my steak almost raw, but this one was almost well-done.

A close-up of my bfs steak, he had a different one, sirloin or something but I can hardly remember.

The summary: the meat was not as soft and juicy as we expected from such queues. It wasn't bad either, but for the price (my Wagyu was 34S$, around 17€ at that time) I expect much more. Otherwise I could buy some meat from a butcher and go fry it myself. 7.5/10 overall.

I hope the steak place (Maredo) in Vienna is better, but since they import (say frozen) the meat from South America I'm curious if I'll get something bloody, soft and juicy there. Will take pics and tell ya of course.

Oysters and brains...

2009-11-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered some pics that people would usually cringe about... (I just say: brains...). But first I wanna show you some nice raw oysters.

Nice, big pieces served with ice and lime. Each oyster costs around 3-4€. Steep price, but they're sooo worth it, if you like the taste of raw oysters that is. The pics were taken in Taipei, but you can get smaller oysters @ Naschmarkt for 1,80€ already. They cost you 1,80€ if you eat them there (will be opened for you), if you choose to have them at home, you only pay 1€ per piece, but since I have no clue about opening them without hurting myself I'll eat them at the market... The only gripe: they are saltier than what I'm used too in Asia. I'll give the oysters in Taipei a 9.5/10 and those in Vienna an 8.5/10.

Now something more unusual: pork brain in herbal soup. The orange things are a small species of dates. The soup usually contains those dates, some other herbs and some kind of meat (sometimes chicken). Here we have some brains ^^

If you never had brains (no pun intended) you should try some, because it's sooo soft and yummy. The flavor is mild, very much like bone marrow (another thing that might make you cringe... but I'm talking bout beef or lamb bones, so chill).

Nice pics eh? Next time you'll get something more usual again ^^

Chocolate and Soljanka

2009-11-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

I recently bought some Ritter Sport chocolate on sale @ Zielpunkt. It's amazing how many more Ritter Sport variations they have than Billa, a more 'reputable' or better looking supermarket in Vienna... Anyway, each of these cost 79Cent if you buy two or more.
So on the left we have a sort of cookie chocolate, a famous Christmas-cookie called Spekulatius in milk chocolate and some spicy filling. On its right we have 'Olympia', with a yogurt, honey, nut and dextrose filling. The one on the bottom has a caramell and nuts filling. My very favorite is the last one, it doesn't contain the gooey kinda caramel but more of a cream with bits of hazelnut. Everything fits together here (8/10). The Olympia was also cool, but tasted mostly like chocolate and yogurt (7.5/10). The Spekulatius one is the least impressive, it does have a Spekulatius taste, but usually the cookie tastes better and more addictive on their own (6.5/10).

Now one of my very favorite soups: Soljanka, actually a specialty from the former German Democratic Republic. I stumbled upon its recipe by chance and it sounded appealing. You basically cook some Letscho, fry some left-over meat (I always include bacon and a hot dog). Throw them together, add water, beef stock, tomato paste and some spices and let it cook for ~10min. Finally add some chopped pickles, cook for another 1min. and it's ready to serve... very, very hearty and addictive. The fried bacon gives a lot of flavor to the veggies and the hot dog pieces give you some meat to chew on.

It does take around 1 hour from taking out the ingredients to serving the soup, but it's totally worth it. If anyone is interested I'll post the (more or less) exact recipe. 9.5/10 for the third decent soup I can make (the first is garlic cream soup and the second is french onion soup, but I save that for another time).

Salzburg - Sternbräu

2009-11-04T04:53:00.000-08:00

It's astonishing how many food pictures are forgotten between everything else. So this is what I dug up from a short visit to Salzburg in summer. We have some kind of flatrate card for trains which is launched for the summer months and students to explore Austria. Of course I wanted to go to Salzburg (one of 3 cities in Austria with LV and one of 2 with Hermès I believe ... but that's another story). After the 2 and a half hours of sitting hungry on the train we decided to eat something @ Sternbräu which is conveniently located in the heart of the city near the famous shopping streets. However, when we tried to find a seat most empty tables read that one should find another one... WTF, it's obviously a tourist place and the service isn't really amazing when it comes to attention. Oh well, I hoped the food would be nice. So I ordered the plate of the day, ox tongue with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes. It's topped with horseradish and roast onions. The sauerkraut on the top left is a side of my bf's dish, but first I'll tell you about mine: the tongue was yummy, the vegetables a bit too soft for my liking and the potatoes were so so, the roast onions added a bit of taste, but their tough texture (instead of crispy) indicated they weren't so fresh. I believe the plate was around 10€. I'd give it a 7/10, good, but I wouldn't order again.

My bf got the typical roast pork with bread dumpling and sauerkraut. Generous amount of meat one has to say, but one more dumpling instead of the second piece of meat would have done too. The meat wasn't as tender as it could have been, so I only give a 6.5/10. All in all it's decent, but I'm sure there are better places out there serving those dishes.

As dessert we took one huge Salzburger Nockerl together. It's basically baked egg white with lotsa sugar and a hint of egg yolk lol. Sets you back by 4€ I think. This one was fresh from the oven (as it's not possible to serve otherwise) and quite yummy. I'm looking for one with a more complex taste however, I believe some recipes use lemon zest and a tiny bit of flour. So this one gets 7.5/10.

Overall I wouldn't go there again. I believe it's success is tied to its location and history, but the food lacks a bit IMO. I always think something can be better, unless I'm proved otherwise by a heavenly dish, happens sometimes...

Godiva, Fruits and Sushi in Taiwan

2009-11-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

Upon chewing my raw cauliflower I was thinking of more food pics on my hard disk. I knew I had more, but wasn't sure where they were... so I dug up travelling pics and voila! This is from my February 09 Taiwan visit.
If you like chocolate you probably know Godiva. Long story short they have high prices. I was eager to find out if they're worth it. Look at those nice pralines, 1 piece of them costs around 2€... (you can get whole chocolate bars in Austria for 80cent to 1€... from your ordinary supermarket though).

We have some seasonal (hence the snowflake) spice praline, a coconut, a raspberry, a pear and something else... and yeah, I'm too lazy to look up their exact names or rather, they're not really worth to be looked up... let's say you get a few bites off each praline and they taste decent, not too sweet, some more flavorful than the other, BUT not worth the high price tag. Probably I'm too spoilt by European/Austrian chocolates already, as the cheap ones taste pretty decent too (and probably that's the reason why Godiva isn't widely available here).

However, there is something I love by Godiva... the regular Chocolixir, iced chocolate *__* Before tasting it I had the fear it would taste like molten chocolate icecream... don't get me wrong, I love chocolate in general, like it as pudding or cake, but most chocolate icecreams I've tried just taste rotten... dunno how to describe it better, but when given the choice I stay away from chocolate ice cream. This one however, doesn't taste rotten AT ALL, but it's rather rich, straight chocolate taste, a bit sweet, but not overwhelming. The whipped cream goes well with it and the blended ice is evenly distributed. Now this goodness is priced at 4€ (standard Starbucks price, I generally think Starbucks is overpriced in Austria, but the Chocolixir isn't...). Still worth it, I sipped two of that calorie-bombs in September and would also get it again in cold months. That's how good it is... oh well, 9.5/10. I should be thankful we don't have Godiva shops in Austria with Chocolixir, or I'd get even fatter.

Now something healthy... fruit. But they're pretty sweet to. Ever seen a custard apple? They look like the following when sold. Sizes vary, and usually you should let them ripen for a few days until the green peel feels soft and the white flesh is mushy. Then you pick up each 'scale' and eat off the flesh, sometimes more flesh with a dark brown seed will hang there too. Don't eat the seed... well the taste: very sweet, custard like obviously, distant banana-flavor, mild, yummy, but actually not really describable... try one out, it's really worth it (ripened!).

The following is a variation of the above, it's a pineapple custard apple (bad translation probably, sorry) and tastes a tad sweeter, with a touch of pineapple taste added to the usual taste. Well, also very nice... I'll give those fruits 9 outta 10 (and am wondering now what would actually deserve a 10).

Next up is a sushi meal I had at Dean & Deluca @ Breeze Center Taipei. It was actually to be closed in January due to financial trouble (sells expensive Euro and US-made groceries, and also some dishes), but wasn't... I don't know why, but was happy I got this nice Salmon-Avocado california roll.

It tasted good and was priced at, I believe 3-4€, ok for me living in hyperexpensive Austria, but in Taiwan you can get a bigger meal for 3€ in foodcourts and -stalls. 8/10
That's it for today... let's see what I'll dig up tomorrow haha

Selfmade Pizza - in the old days + dough recipe

2009-11-02T02:04:00.000-08:00

I tried to make pizza a couple of times, including making the dough myself, however, they always turned out bland. On the one hand I used too little salt for the dough, on the other I overloaded the pizza with stuff, that wasn't salty enough on its own (veggies). Last but not least I didn't realize one needs to use very high heat and bake for a short time... So this is what i looked like back then:
Almost finished...

Ready to eat:

My pizzas nowadays look a bit different, the dough is flatter and I don't put THAT MUCH stuff on it anymore. To make this post a little more useful I'll tell you how I do my dough now (taken from my favorite Austrian cookbook by Plachutta:

-400g flour (480type)

- 1/4l water

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

- 25g yeast

- Salt (approx. 1 teaspoon or to tase)

- 1 teaspoon sugar

First mix the yeast with sugar and warm water. Let it grow for 10min. Then add the oil, salt, flour and water, work it until it's non-sticky dough. Then let the dough rest in a warm place for at least 30min. Then knead it again a bit, then spread the dough evenly across baking paper. Then spread tomato sauce, cheese, some pizza spices and whatever else you want on it. Finish with a bit of salt unless you know it's salty enough. Put the pizza into the preheated oven (I use 230° celsius and 10min, professional pizza is baked at 400-500° for some minutes, but I know most people don't have such an oven at home...). Be careful not to burn yourself when loading in and out... Enjoy your selfmade pizza!

Jell-O Time

2009-11-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

If there is something weird-looking, then it's jello and I have to try it... Jello is more of an American-thing and finding more interesting flavors can be sort of a challenge in Austria. So whereever I go I will check out the dessert section to see whether I can find something new.
Here we have the best-looking: blue berries, by Jell-O brand. A food-loving university colleague was so nice to bring me this flavor along with some other Jell-O boxes. Thank you again (I know you'll be reading this :P)! The flavor was decent, but I mostly liked this jello because of the color... I love blue, in anything lol.
The following green jello is lime-flavored and contains no sugar (artificial sweeteners... I try to avoid them though). It's Jell-O brand too and I bought it in Singapore. It tastes the way dish liquid smells, not so yummy...
Here is a japanese brand I cannot remember, but it's black grape jello and was very delicious. Realistic flavor and the right consistency. I've bought some grape jello again (with different packaging) and hope it turns out well... more on it when the time comes.

Last but not least my funny creation made from orange-flavored jello. I put some banana slices, whipped cream and peppermint sirup over it... it did turn out yummy! Just the peppermint sirup wasn't really necessary.

That's it for now on jello...

Singapore VI: Durian Experiences

2009-11-01T08:14:00.001-08:00

I didn't try Durian once in my 4 months in Singapore. I tried Durian Chendol, pudding... but all was ewww... until my last week where I got a Durian pancake since it said 'fresh Durian filling'. I always liked the scent of Durians in the supermarkets, but the portions were pretty big and expensive if I didn't like it. Anyway, I got the small pancake, took a bit and OMG I couldn't believe it *__* One of the most delicious tastes I ever had in my mouth. The fruit was full of sweetness and intensity. Yes it's very fragrant... So back in Taipei I had to buy some of the fruit itself. The softer and darker, the more ripened it is. Ripe = more sweetness, more taste!

So how does Durian actually taste? It smells a bit like Onion, and also tastes a bit like sweet onion. At the same time the whole thing tastes like grape pudding, creamy grape pudding lol. I have never ever seen grape pudding (just jelly) in my whole life, but if it existed that's the taste I imagine it would have. Black grapes that is. Very creamy, sweet and intense. The rotten Durian Chendol and pudding tasted like sweet Shiitake mushrooms, which I found ewww. But the real fruit doesn't taste like the artificial counterparts. Now Durian is one of my favorite fruit ever... together with Sugar/Custard Apples and lychees.

Singapore V: Sakae Sushi - The beginning of swordfish/butterfish cravings

2009-11-01T08:13:00.001-08:00

I looovvvee Sushi! There's nothing better than raw seafood melting in my mouth. So for by birthday we decided to go to Sakae Sushi. I had one of the Sashimi Sets and some extra plates of Maguro and Kanjiki (=Swordfish!!!). This is where I fell in love with swordfish...

Below is the Atrium @ Orchard place with the conveyor belt. If you choose the Sashimi Buffet you are ordering everything though.

This place is the only one with Sashimi Buffet. Since I couldn't get enough of swordfish I had to go there twice and get my triple portion of fatty fish :P It's juicy, succulent and oh so delicious. Even without Wasabi (that I usually use lots of). Too bad I have never seen swordfish anywhere else than in Singapore...

Another dish I'm definitely going to have again one day!

Singapore IV: Carl's Jr. - Fastfood at its best

2009-11-01T08:12:00.001-08:00

I eat a lot - so the tiny McDonalds burgers never make me full. Since I like fastfood (I actually like every food...) I had to try a few Carl's Jr. burgers:

-Famous Star

-Superstar

-Guacamole Bacon

-Portobello Mushroom Burger

-Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich

of course I always had the fries and drink too :X It's a miracle I didn't gain weight ;D

In the following pic you see my favorite: The Famous Star Combo with small sized fries and apple drink. I always need a lot of ketchup for my fries and the Salsa in the left pot would be great as a salad additionally to the burger. Anyway, why I like the Famous Star so much? Because the Superstar (with 2 slices of meat) is simply too much for me... the Guacamole didn't give much taste and the Mushrooms didn't taste nice. The Chicken burger is good, but it's chicken :P and I prefer beef patties for my burgers.

Where to find? All over the U.S. and Singapore ^^ Enjoy the menu here: http://www.carlsjr.com/menu/ McDo' is surely cheaper, but the portions are tiny, and the fries not as good. However, I still love the Filet-O-Fish...

Singapore III: Brotzeit - German cuisine

2009-11-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Surrounded by seafood, in the heart of Asia. But I grew up in Austria, so I started to miss the hearty cuisine over there. To my surprise there was a German restaurant near my university (German and Austrian cuisine are similar, mostly. And the chef is an Austrian). Even though the prices were pretty high for Singaporean standards my bf and I went there to have some food ;D

On the right is an Apple Schorle, apple juice with sparkling water. A typical drink.
In the middle you find a potatoe salad and on the right a plum sauce that came with the dessert.

Let's take a look at the main course: here I have some Kaesespaetzle. It's some noodle with melted cheese and roasted onions. Very hearty, definitely not for a diet. Yummy for a cheese lover like me, but could have been a bit more cheesy.

My bf had the Nurnberger sausages. They come with mashed potatoes and Sauerkraut (some sour veggie. A Singaporean colleague was surprised how sour it was. If you're not used to it, the taste can be overwhelming). This dish seems to be one of the best-selling main courses. It's pretty nice, but there are better German dishes IMO.

Here comes the dessert: Kaiserschmarren. It's some kinda thick pancake dough with rum raisins and vanilla sauce. (Don't forget the plum sauce in the second pic, comes with it).

Everything was good, but at that price I wouldn't go there everyday and it's still better back in Austria...
Where to find? brotzeit at Raffles City http://www.brotzeit1516.com/

Singapore II: Foodcourt desserts

2009-11-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things is food. I eat more than I need, but less than I want. My stomach can't take the amount of food I would like to shove down... when the mind wants more than the body can take I have to satisfy the former with something else. Pictures of food haha. Let's start with some Perenakan desserts you find in every Singaporean foodcourt.
Here comes the 'Rainbow Delight', at the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth dessert stall. What do you get? Ice Jelly, red rubies, longans, peach slices, some green stuff without much taste and some brown stuff :P All sitting on a heap of ice. Was ok, but there are better ones.

The following was the worst thing I ever ate: Durian Chendol. When seperated I love Chendol and I love Durian. Just don' t mix them together... It tasted like sweet (!) Shiitake mushrooms with a dash of salty Soy Sauce and coconut milk... Just ewww.

The 'Red Rubies' in the following pic is one of my favorite desserts. The red things taste like coconut (maybe it is coconut, I'm clueless) with jelly around it and the Sago pretty much taste like nothing. I like the coconut milk with everything else enough to make it one of my faves.

Here comes the Soursop! One fruit I dearly miss is the Soursop. It wasn't available at supermarkets in Singapore, let alone Taiwan or even Austria... only dessert and juice stalls. See the big creamcolored slimy balls with the brown seed inside? Thats soursop, the small thingies on it are some other fruit. Ignore the blue noodles, didn't have much taste, but a nice look. I'm gonna eat you again, Soursop! Watch out...

Not pictured are 2 other faves: Chendol and Pulut Hitam. I wasn't able/forgot to take pics. However, they deserve to be mentioned. The good thing is I can get the latter in Taiwan too, but for the former I'll have to return to Singapore again. Just for a short visit...

Singapore I: tcc - The coffee connoisseur

2009-11-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

While living in Singapore I got to know a few restaurant chains. One of my favorites is tcc - because of a cheese cake... But let me start with something else. This is the 'Wild Garden Salad' with mushrooms and tofu. It was topped with some vinegar dressing, all in all very unique and delicious.

Next was the 'Smoked Salmon Avo-Bayon' Sandwich. Avocado cream and Sabayon on Salmon and sourdough bread. It was ok - but I expected more.

I had a 'Fruitti Delight' to drink, it consisted of 2 nice tasting syrups with soda and some fresh fruit. Looks good and tastes great. I'm not a coffee fan, and milk drinks I find too heavy for a meal, so this soda was perfect.

Here a pic from a different time, on the right is a lemon ice tea from my bf.

Now the following cake is why I love tcc: 'Organic Soy Cheese Cake', the soft cheese layer tastes like caramel. It's divine, nothing like tofu or anything else soy bean. The few black beans (?) inside give you some extra fun to chew on. At 6,80S$ it's not cheap, you can get a chicken rice set meal at 5S$... but it's worth it. I wish the piece was bigger though. Definitely one of my all-time favorite cakes.

Their other cheese cakes are good too, the Pumpkin one is similar to the Soy version, but the classic cheese cake below was a bit more sour. Nice, but not as special. A strawberry ice cream cup from my bf is behind. It wasn't stunning...

Other things I tried:

- Lychee Jazz - a refreshing soda drink with Lychee Syrup and mint

- Nougat milk shake - lots of nutty taste, very sweet and creamy, like ice cream :P, great as a dessert if you're not too full

The next time I come to Singapore I'll definitely visit a tcc again, for that expensive soy cheese cake at least ;D

Doing some Singapore-Nostalgia

2009-11-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

The following posts will be about Singaporean food places, I already wrote about it on my old food blog, which I finally neglected... enjoy!

Sweet japanese snacks

2009-10-31T15:39:00.000-07:00

Everytime I'm in Taiwan I'll bring back some sweets to Vienna. Some of those sweets are japanese. You'll probably heard of Pocky (of which I love the Strawberry taste), but here I'll present you a few other interesting things. First there are many versions of Pocky, below is a vanilla/raisin coated kinda Pocky (named Fran, I guess... I'm not too sure as I can't read japanese and they sometimes have funny translations). Well, the taste was not that appealing. I liked the chocolate/nuts coated version better.

The following are favorites though. KitKat is pretty much global, but we only have the milk chocolate, white chocolate and chunky version (besides a cherry KitKat in a japanese store). I was surprised to find a 'Muscat of Alexandria' and 'Berry' version.

The berry one looks like white and pale pink chocolate marbled together. They taste sweet like white chocolate with a well balance berry flavor (a bit artificial, but I like it).

The grape version is pale green, again they are only sweet, nothing sour to detect. Now the taste is, what I always expect green grapes to taste like. This KitKat also have an artificial flavor (as I cannot remember having tasted such delicious grapes without a hint of sourness), but I adore it! Too bad they are not widely available in Taiwan and I didn't see them in September (but did in December 08 and February this year). If anyone knows they're permanent in Japan please write in the comments... I'd be relieved.

Oh, btw the background of the grape KitKats is a box of Lindt chocolates... had some yummy stuff in it.

What business class tastes like

2009-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

I usually fly tuna-can, or also called Economy Class as the price difference can buy you some nice things. However, I recently got enough miles to upgrade my ticket. Of course I had to take pics of the meal, wondering whether it would really be better than economy class... FYI it is the Premium Laurel Class by EVA Airlines. Route was Taipei to Vienna via Bangkok.
Let's start with the refreshment (Taipei - Bangkok):

First we have an appetizer of smoked salmon with paté, some kinda mushroom and salad. The salmon tasted like the stuff you get in supermarket, okay, but nothing special. The paté was kind of bad, some weird combination of ham and cheese I think. And I forgot how the mushrooms tasted...
Then comes the main dish I ordered online. It's grilled seafood on a rosemary skewer. The sides are salad with walnuts and mango rice in red pepper. The seafood was again, ok to mediocre tasting, it certainly didn't had the taste of freshly grilled food and the consistency were meh, just... meh lol. The sides were also ok, but nothing more.
The dessert consisted of fresh fruit which was nice, but I had hopes for some real dessert (even in tuna can you get a dessert besides fruit).
After that came the stopover in Bangkok. The lounge was pretty much empty and offered some refreshments. Then off again to Vienna we got dinner. It startet with a kind of mushroom/veggiesoup which actually tasted good. On the top right you also see a cup of hot chocolate. Gotta say it's very creamy and rich. So order one if you have the chance.
The main dish is again, pre-ordered. It's lamb with pepper crust, mashed potatoes and vegetables. The lamb was too dry and usually I prefer my meat rare (almost raw would be a better description haha). Besides the dryness the taste of the pepper was also overwhelming. The sauteed onion actually improved the taste, when I took a bite with meat and onion. Veggies were so so and the mashed potatoes were also kinda boring. The dinner finishes off with fruit again. The red grapes were actually nice. Sweet, firm and with flavor (it's a miracle nowadays to find flavorful grapes in Austria...).

Now the last course: breakfast. Came after a long stay in the dark watching movies/trying to fall asleep. Even though Biz class offers much more space and an almost flat 'bed' it's still kinda uncomfortable and I never get over the noise.

So here we have a congee with mixed sides. Pork floss, egg, bamboo, ham, some veggy I can't identify, mee-tee and pickled cucumber.
The breakfast was quite good (I also don't think you can do much wrong with congee). I didn't bother to make another fruit image, but you get an idea what I had for dessert lol.

Well, what can I say besides: you pay (I didn't pay, at least not directly lol) for better service, better looking dishes and more choice. That's about the food side. None of the meals knocked me off my feet, nor can they compete with dishes 'on earth'. So the food isn't worth it to book biz class (surprise surprise), however, the service, lounges, space and being priviledged all the time was pretty cool. If I have too much money one day I'd actually pay for biz class. Until then, accumulating miles by flying tuna.

Overall rating of food: 6.5/10, should say it all after my raves.

Cheese please

2009-10-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

When I'm not drooling over butterfish or other seafood, I crave pizza, or cheese. The last is best presented in the Meierei im Stadtpark, located below Austria's best rated Restaurant 'Steirereck'. I've been to the Meierei twice now, everytime delighted by the varieties of cheese they offer. The first time I went with my bf (again, I rarely eat out on my own if I don't have to) and he actually had the cheese plate while I tasted a breakfast menu. The menu was good, but... I wished I had his cheese plate lol. He got the 'Best of Austria' variation with 6 pieces of different cheese and fresh bread (~4 pieces of dark bread with pumpkin seeds and a white baguette like bread, both very delicious). The cheese was served with roasted, salted pumpkin seeds and fragrant figue jam. I was surprised how well it all goes together, try some cheese on bread with jam and pumpkin seeds, it's just... WOW ^^ The highlight of the plate was the 'Kuhkracher', a blue cheese which is discribed as fruity, but tangy too. And boy are they right! It starts out fruity, then the strong taste takes over and explodes in your mouth. It's also very nice with the jam and seeds... so the Kuhkracher is on my all-time-favorite-cheese list.

The second time we went I got the 'Strongest of France' plate for 2... Out of the 10 varieties I have 3 favorites, which I'll take with the Kuhkracher on a custom plate next time.

Pictured below is Brie de Meaux. Usually brie is a bit boring, but this one isn't, at all...

Here we got a Reblochon de Savoie, nice intensity and flavor, very yummy on bread
Last but not least, my favorite... as you can see it was already gone when photographed :P
Le cabri ariégeois or also called chevre fermier. It's very soft, so it spreads like molten cheese all over your plate...

Interestingly the strongest cheese of the French plate wasn't as fascinating as the Austrian Kuhkracher. It was surely strong and very salty, but it didn't had the complexity of the Kuhkracher. All in all it was an interesting plate, giving me 3 new favorites. And btw. I wasn't able to finish the plate even with my bf. A person could eat at it around 5 times... together with bread.

Oh and before I forget: the Meierei also offers delicious milk variations. I tried the hot Tonka bean milk, which is sweet and reminds me a bit of Vanilla, but with a warmer touch. My bf had the chocolate milk with orange peel and ginger... absolutely amazing! It's hot chocolate with a spicy twist and added taste complexity.

So we'll finish with the price and a verdict again.

- 25€ Strongest of France (or 12,50 per person as it's a plate for two, 10 pieces of different

cheese)

- 8,90€ Best of Austria (6 pieces for one person)

- 4,50€ Hot chocolate

- 2,80€ Tonka bean milk

So based on the cheese and hot chocolate combination: 9.5/10

Overall rating: 8/10 (less points for small amounts of some dishes such as desserts, and average quality menus with too high prices)

My final verdict: you have to go there if you like cheese, especially strong ones. They are stored at the right temperature and served with delicious jam, pumpkin seeds and fresh, crispy bread. Also try the hot chocolate! I'll definitely go there again.

Found you again...

2009-10-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

my beloved SWORDFISH/BUTTERFISH/KANJIKI!!! Ever since leaving Singapore I was wondering whether I'd be able to find that juicy, delicious fish again. Today I tried DOTS Experimental Sushi on Mariahilferstraße 103 (take U3 to Zieglergasse). I read good reviews about it somewhere and randomly looked on their menu online. Then I found their Kanjiki Sushi, which they translate to butterfish (but Kanjiki is known to me as swordfish from Singapore). Had to try it of course...

Sorry for the crappy pics, but I always forget to take my camera with me when eating out so here are some from my phone. This is the part where we were sitting:
And the following pic is a plate of all the sushi we ordered. On the left are butterfish maki, top middle are butterfish nigiri (both make the small Butterfish-Set). Top right is crispy chicken maki from my bf and on the bottom we have Rainbow bombs.

As the title suggests: the butterfish was sooo delicious, similar to Sakae Kajiki and better than the supermarket swordfish blocks. Next time I'll definitely get the big Mix set (more maki and nigiri PLUS sashimi!). Of course my favorites were the big nigiri pieces, even though the rice was a bit more sour than what I'm used to. Slightly overwhelming the fish, but won't stop me from getting their butterfish again and again and... maybe I should just order a big block of butterfish. My second favorite are the butterfish makis, nicely balanced with surimi, avocado and sesame crust. Then came the crispy chicken maki, they were nice, but nothing too exciting as I like fish more in sushi. The last place goes to the Rainbow Bombs, too much rice, too little, well decoration: fine fish and avocado slices topped with fish roe.

So what does it cost? Since I didn't take the receipt with me I can't give you the exact cent amounts, but you'll get an idea. Oh, and you better take some cash with you, in case their card reader breaks down like today... inconvenient, but whatever, the butterfish is good enough... and our waiter was nice too. I went there at an incovenient time (they were just opening and preparing) waiters were eating, but our waiter immediately served us leaving his food when we entered ^^ that's great service (if it was me I'd be annoyed that I had to stop eating, even for one minute lol).

Oh well, writing too much, here are the prices:

- 13,90€ for small Kajiki set (4 makis, 6 nigiris, yeah one's missing from pic as I already devoured it)

- 8,90€ for crispy chicken maki (8 pieces)

- 4,50€ for Rainbow Bombs (4 pieces)

- 5€ for Lychee Soda (actually one can of Lychee juice and some soda to mix yourself lol, a bit overpriced)2

- 2,40€ per person cover charge

My bf also ordered some spring rolls (served with sauce and a little salad with sweet dressing, tasted like fresh blueberries) and ice tea, but I have no clue how much they were.

So the final verdict:

A bit pricey for sushi in Austria, BUT depending on your dish/taste well worth it's price! A certain sushi chain in Vienna costs only a little less, but already delivers mediocre food. So for now DOTS is my first choice when it comes to Sushi in Vienna.

DOTS also have other Asian style dishes, which cost around 9-20€ per main dish (curry, tepanyaki...). But I think the next few times I go there it will be for some kind of fish lol.

So my rating for my buttefish set is 9/10.

Overall rating (including service, atmosphere): 8/10

2009-10-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Now to something Austrian. My very favorite cooking book (source: libri.de)

Of course it's all German... what I love about it are the many basic recipes for standard Austrian cuisine. It's not only recipes, but they give you an idea of what goes together and how things have to be prepared. In brief: they spark up your creativity (at least of cooking beginners like me). I haven't even tried the majority of recipes yet, but those I've tried almost always turned out well and are staples in my kitchen now (the exception is some cake that ended up with too much egg...).

The place with the worst Tom Yum...

2009-10-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

is also a place with... ok not the worst Sushi, but let's say a bit overpriced for what you get. I'm talking about Akakiko. It's the Austrian Sushi-fastfoodchain which is pretty much everywhere.
This pic is from years ago, back when I just moved to Vienna and didn't know any better place. The pictured set costs 6,99€, with wasabi, soy sauce and chopsticks. For 12€ you can have decent running sushi... more choice and such. But well, I've never eaten such a good sushi like in Tokyo... no surprise there. However, I have to admit that I haven't been to Vienna's best sushi place 'Unkai' in the Grand Hotel yet, as their prices do scare me a bit. My curiosity will certainly lead me there someday. For now my next sushi-place-to-try is Dots in Mariahilferstraße, they have a butterfish set, which sounds like it could be my beloved swordfish (kajiki) that I learnt to love in Singapore (Sakae Sushi! You got me addicted to delicious, juicy swordfish!).

Oh and to mention the Tom Yum, it actually tasted like a base for 'Gulasch', a hungarian specialty which I usually like. Just not as pseudo-Tom Yum that lacks certain other tastes and ingredients. When it comes to Thai Food I think I'll stick to the 'Bangkok', which is always full, a bit expensive, but has nice Phad Thai.

The birth of...

2009-10-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

a food blog centered about stuff available in Vienna, Austria and wherever I'm travelling to. I enjoy eating out, discovering the best of the best, the budget-friendly, and recipes for home cooking as well as tasty things from supermarkets.

Why am I doing another food blog? - Yesterday I got the worst Tom Yum ever and felt an obligation to tell the world... but it's also a place to share the best and the mediocre. So you, my readers will know what you get, where to get it and how much you have to spent.

Since I'm located in Austria, you will get your fair share of Austrian Cuisine, European dishes in general, but also Asian stuff since I'm originally from Taiwan and spent 4 months on exchange in Singapore.

Be prepared for loads of pictures, reviews, recipes and recommendations. Until then... see ya soon!