Vienna - The Albertina, Vis a Vis Weinbar, and Plachutta Wollzeile

We finished up our exploring for the day at the Albertina.

Once the home of Maria Christina, whose husband Albert of Saxony was a collector of fine art. Built on the one of the remaining fortress walls of Vienna, this former palace, now museum not only houses a collection of art, but you also walk through grand and colorful staterooms. Like the Hall of Muses.

And the Audience Room among others.....

And there were some very familiar works; like Albrecht Dürer's Young Hare.

I cracked the Missus up when I told Her the reason I recognized this was because a friend of mine had a lawn ornament that looked exactly like this watercolor....and he probably had no idea it was based on this.

I found "Rubens's Son Nicolaas Wearing a Red Felt Cap" to be quite striking as well.

And from one of my favorite artists; Joan Miro; "Birds and Insects".

Still, it was the staterooms that really caught our attention. This is the Study of Archduke Carl.

After the visit; we headed back to our apartment and had a nice nap.

Upon awakening, we headed up Wollziele. It was still too early for our dinner reservations, so we headed to the wine bar that had been unexpectedly closed the night before. We made a couple of stops along the way to do a bit of shopping and passed this interesting mural.

I found it somewhat funny and whimsical. Upon returning home, I did a bit of research and according to Atlas Obscura, the mural named "Wolf and Cow Playing Backgammon" dates back to 1509! Funny what you run into....

The wine bar I had on my list was in a little alleyway, between some busy shopping streets in the same area as the very popular Wiener Schnitzel restaurant Figlmüller and is named Vis-à-vis. It's a cozy little shop; just 2 booth and  a couple of seats. It was quite empty when we arrived, but filled up quickly.

The Missus had a nice white and when I couldn't figure out what to have; one of what seemed to be a regular customer came up and made some recommendations. He recommended an Austrian Grüner Veltliner, a very nice, dry, crisp, wine.....he even told us the name and where the winery was located; but I'm sorry to say, we can't remember.

The woman who ran the place was very kind and friendly, and that gentleman who spoke perfect English was so hospitable. Plus, we couldn't complain about the prices at €5,5 a glass.

Vis a Vis
Wollzeile 5
1010 Vienna, Austria

We really hadn't wanted schnitzel for our last dinner and I was fascinated with Viennese Tafelspitz, a restaurant named Plachutta Wollzeile seemed to be quite popular, so I had made reservations.

The restaurant is quite large and as the evening progressed got really full....both tourists and quite a few Austrian families as well.

The Servers were quite professional even though the place got super slammed as the evening went by. I'm glad we got there early.

We ordered our Tafelspitz; I figured one order to share would be enough. We also got two appetizers....and I got a "cold one" and the Missus a glass of wine to start.

The first item to arrive was the "Starter Trilogy"; Jellied Beef, Goose Liver, and Steak Tartare.

The "jellied beef" was basically an aspic, very clear and beefy. The goose liver was quite nice; not overly strong in terms of funky-offal flavors; decent on the bread provided. The beef tartare was a bit too mushy for my taste; though it had a nice, clean finish, with no off flavors.

Since it was white asparagus season, we ordered the White Asparagus with the Herb and Tomato Vinaigrette and Chopped Egg. This was by far our favorite dish of the night.

The asparagus was so lovely; sweet, with just a hint of bitter, nice and crisp, the tomato relish was no biggie, but for some reason, that savory chopped boiled egg really added to the overall flavor.

The Tafelspitz….you can order different cuts, but we went with the traditional, which is boiled beef rump. Is quite a production as it is served in a pan full of very clear consommé like beef stock. And served with potatoes rosti, creamed spinach, horseradish with applesauce, bone marrow, a chive cream sauce, and bread. Whew.....

We weren't big fans of the creamed spinach, which was pretty bland......it reminded me of really bad 1960's type dishes. The applesauce with horseradish really lacked "oomph"; which might be the objective, but it was just too sweet for us.

The chive sauce was ok; it needed more pungency for my taste, but it was the best of the bunch.

I had always thought that Potatoes Rosti was kind of like a shredded potato formed into a cake, ten browned. What we had was all in pieces making it more like American hash browns. It was nicely seasoned, with a good combination of crisp and tender potato shreds.

The beef broth was nice, with a definite bovine goodness, though a bit on the salty side, it had a nice and clean finish. The Tafelspitz was perfect in texture, it held form, but was easily cut with a fork....it really didn't seem to have as much beefiness as I anticipated though. For me, the best item was the bone marrow, which looked like it wasn't going to be soft enough; but was so buttery in texture and so beefy. It was perfect on the almost rye like Viennese bread.

We left quiet full, but not stuffed. All-in-all we were glad to have tried Tafelspitz; though it's not something we'll crave. That white asparagus though......

Plachutta Wollzeile
Wollzeile 38
1010 Vienna, Austria

After dinner, we strolled around for a bit. checking out some of the shops and just digesting and burning off our meal.

We stopped by a convenience store and I bought a Gösser, an Austrian label owned by Heineken.

We'd done quite a bit during a couple of days in the city and we were pooped. After the beer, to quote Ringo Starr it was "all da da down to Goodnight Vienna!"

And tomorrow we'd be headed to Salzburg.

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[Soo]

Cool museum! I like the wolf and cow mural.

[Kirk]

That story behind the mural was quite a surprise Soo.

[Junichi]

Man I wish they would've preserved the whole mural! But just that small scene sparks your imagination.

[Kirk]

I wish they would have as well Junichi. It's sure interesting what you run into by just walking around.

[kat]

what a great adventure!

[Kirk]

We had a fun time Kat!

[Dereck]

That asparagus looks absolutely divine.

[Kirk]

It was really delicious Dereck. I'm going to make sure to seek those out when we're in Europe during the German White Asparagus season - I think between end of April through end of June.