Steirereck in Vienna’s Stadtpark (2*) – August 2023

I was in Vienna for the second time, so I figured why. This is the second top restaurant I’ve been to in Vienna, the first being Amador a while ago during my first visit. Here is a short rundown of the courses, and my overall experience.

Bread (8/10) – Definitely great stuff, but could have been a lot better. They had one of the largest selections I’ve seen and tried their baguette, sourdough, chili bread, and raisin and nut bread. It was served with plain butter and fine Himalayan sea salt. Overall, nothing exquisite. I’ve certainly had better bread and butter before.

Amuse-Bouche (7.5/10) – I must admit I don’t remember too much about these since I couldn’t fully understand the descriptions with the waiter’s accent and broken English (not his fault obviously). I had a soft beetroot macaron with a mousse and vegetable patty filling, a pea and cucumber tartlet, and a cracker with a spread that tasted like crab on top served with a soy source miso shot. Overall these were fine, but the flavors mostly fell flat, and nothing really stood out.

Char with beeswax (6/10) – This is their signature dish and is 100% more show than substance. The fish is cooked in beeswax in front of you and then finished in the kitchen. Overall the dish was completely flavorless. The fish was perfectly cooked, but flavorless. The heart of carrot, sour cream, and “pollen” were also all flavorless as you’d imagine. Quite a let down.

Pike with courgette flower (8/10) – A meatier fish, but also cooked perfectly. The fried and stuffed courgette flower along with the zucchini were excellent. The sauce was definitely what let down this dish. It needed to be reduced far more. The sauce was way to watery and the flavors, while great, simply weren’t concentrated enough. It also made the flower too soggy.

Venison (7/10) – Once again the protein was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing. The venison had a light mustard coating and was slightly aged, removing all the undesirable smells and tastes people associate with game meat. From here everything was pretty okay to bad. The fried runner beans just didn’t fit and felt way out of place. The fried “Blattlkrapfen” was pretty weird. The pastry was very odd, being flaky, soft, and soggy all at the same time. The filling was also forgettable. The worst part of this dish was the consommé sauce which was downright stupid. Why you’d put such a thin sauce with venison is beyond me. The sauce had the same problems as the last course, only worse.

Cheeses (10/10) – This pretty easily IMO dethrones The Inn at Little Washington for me for the best cheese course I’ve ever had. The selection is unrivaled and everything was awesome. I just wish they’d given me the bread earlier, since I’d almost finished my second cheese before.

Kaiserschmarr’n (8.5/10) – The best kaiserschmarr’n I’ve ever had hands down, but a few small things could be better. Firstly, their recipe creates a pretty eggy kaiserschmarr’n, so definitely more fluffiness. I’ve never had a kaiserschmarr’n with so much egg. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the portion needs to be reduced. It was way bigger than the other desserts and it just becomes a bit unenjoyable towards the end. The roasted plum jam/sauce was phenomenal.

Mignardises (6/10) – Downright sub-par IMO. Firstly, two of the four things they gave were icey/sorbets which was a bit weird. The chocolate and coffee with puffed rice bite was okay as well. The cylinder was a strudel and was bad. The outside was fine, however the filling tasted quite weird and was slightly cold. Serving not-hot strudel is always a no for me, and the filling tasting odd definitely didn’t help. The squares on the Ferris wheel were kaiserschmarr’n bites. Maybe they were trying to make up for the last course, since the bites were way too small, and I couldn’t taste anything.

Wine (10/10) – This was a lunch we had at noon so I asked the sommelier for a recommendation. I got a half-bottle of roter veltliner for €45, which was my first time trying this varietal. It was beyond exquisite! Good price too.

I’ll get right to the chase. Michelin rates based on the quality, the mastery of techniques, the consistency, and value of the food, and I will do the same. Obviously the quality of ingredients and techniques used were top notch, so l’ll leave those aside. I also can’t comment for obvious reasons on the consistency. So I’ll judge them by how good the food was and the value for money. Overall, this restaurant perfectly shows what a 2* restaurant is. This is maybe the second restaurant I’ve ever been to where I’ve thought they were way to good to only have 1*, but were also had a ways to go before getting 3*. Overall, the concepts were great, but they needed to be refined a bit more, and a few amateur mistakes didn’t help. Where I have a huge problem is them being ranked #18 by World’s 50 Best (they were #13 last year). You’d have to have a bathtub of Austrian Riesling to think that. I know the World’s 50 Best rankings are pretty bullshit, but #18 for these guys is outrageous. I can easily name 30 places I’ve been myself that are quite a lot better. Anyway, overall, I would certainly recommend anyone come here. While I might have made almost everything sound bad, I’m quite the critic so I do tend to try to find faults when I can, especially at this level, however everything was great and €155 was a super reasonable price. I would however 100% recommend getting their 4/5 course menus as opposed to their 6/7 course menus. The portions (even for the 6/7 courses) are huge and super filling, even though they don’t look it. While the Steirereck was great, it also wasn’t really somewhere I’d want to spend a good deal more to eat more of their cooking. Sadly, if you’re in Vienna for the first, I’d definitely say go to Amador first. Overall, I’d rate this experience 8.5/10

by BowTiePenguin007