Cheese please

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.