Steirereck - Austria's best ranked restaurant

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