The food here is truly excellent! The produce is fresh and of high quality and the preparation is expert level. Every element is cooked and seasoned perfectly. Some of the best food, technically speaking, Ive ever had. France could learn a lot from the Austrians 😜 It’s all very classic. Not exciting or surprising like Thai or Mexican food, but prepared with such expertise it makes it exciting. Delicious house made baguette and brown bread with butter, pumpkin seed oil, and fresh cream cheese whipped with olive oil. Salmon tartar on cold mashed potatoes. It was very delicious. So fresh and light.Cold, crisp salad with a light vinaigrette. Roasted Guinea fowl over sautéed summer vegetables and pasta. The Guinea was roasted absolutely perfectly. It had crisp, flavorful skin and juicy, tender flesh- very hard to accomplish. Adam had the fish of the day. Some kind of white fish, perfectly cooked and served over couscous and cooked cucumber. The cucumber was classic, but a bit odd for our taste. Amazing Austrian Reisling. The waiter described it as “perfect. 3 times champion wine”.  I agree. It was a real champ!!! 

I bought some amazing little strawberries and ultra fragrant apricots in Bratislava yesterday – the perfect topping for the fresh yogurt we bought at Lingenhel. We sprinkled a little sugar on top. Oh my, it good! 😍​Such beautiful produce! Excellent creamy, tart yogurt. 

I really wanted to go on the local food tour we read about, but Adam wasn’t willing to pay €65 each, so he said he would lead the tour himself. He did a pretty great job! ​Slovakian artI guess this is famous 😜Amazing gelato at the oldest gelato place in Bratislava. I had banana-chocolate and apricot. Adam had vanilla and chocolate. The famous Bratislava Roll filled with poppy seeds. We did not like it. It was dry and mealy and the filling tasted oddly of mud. Why is this famous? 😒Palace gardens Fragrant fruit stand- I couldn’t resist buying some tiny, aromatic strawberries and gorgeous apricots!!Excellent local beer- 12%! It’ll sneak up on ya 😳

Local brewery with more great beer. Again with the high %! Mushroom ragu on toast- mmm!​​Everything was just a little bit dingy. ​

The oldest restaurant in Slovakia. It was really beautiful. Too bad the food was so… meh 😞​Weird spinach soup Kofola- “the people’s kola” (communist’s answer to the capitalist’s wildly popular Coka-Cola) The meh meal- white bread dumplings, sweet red cabbage, and pretty good duck. Super stringy smoked strong cheese. Our favorite food of the day. Soooo delicious!

We got up early to catch a train to Bratislava, Slovakia 🇸🇰 Luckily, we bought cheese at Lingenhel yesterday. The sweet counter girl didn’t know what it’s called. She said “it is fresh cow cheese we make here” and that was enough information for me😃 We also had leftovers from last night’s dinner and Adam went to the bakery for fresh bread this morning. A great way to start the day! Off to Bratislava! On the train 🚂 Some marketing people were giving away bitter lemon soda. It’s pretty good 😊 

I seriously can not believe how good Austrian/Viennese food is! We haven’t had a bad meal. The food just keeps getting better! Tonight we followed our guidebook to an adorable, homey restaurant near our Airbnb. Excellent Austrian beer and wine. Spicy house-made pickles- the perfect contrast to the rich, roasted meats. Roast pork neck and belly with herbed dumplings. The pork was sooo good! Rich and flavorful, perfectly seasoned, and wrapped in crispy, cracklin’ skin. Expert level roastery. Adam had the mixed platter with pork neck and belly, ham, smoked sausage, and dumplings. All served with freshly grated horseradish and spicy mustard. Excellent wine. Mediocre apple strudel (you can’t be good at everything I guess 😄).Our kind waiter brought us apple schnapps at the end of our meal to “aide wis dee digestiv”. He had us figured out! 😂

After lunch we made our way to Schloss Belvedere-  a beautiful Baroque palace turned art museum. We decided to go to the Belvedere Schloss instead of the Hofburg (more famous) because we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see Klimt’s, “The Kiss”. Neither of us are huge Klimt fans, but it’s famous, so why not? Boy were we wrong! I was so overwhelmed by its beauty and presence, I was brought to tears. It’s truly a masterpiece! The pictures do not do it justice 😔“The Kiss II” 😜The palace and gardens were so pretty 😊A fun painting by Monet 😃After all the art and trekking around the city in the heat (it hit 91* today), we needed some refreshments. We stopped at a convenienceer’s store and grabbed drinks then went to the most famous Wurst stand in Vienna- Bitzinger! The currywurst was saucy and spicy, and my sparkling apple juice was just perfect! 

After our very light snackfast, we were hungry!!! We decided to try Lingenhel (many thanks to our Lonely Planet travel guide). They make fresh cheese in house from their own dairy farm AND they make amazing vermouth and tonic! What a combo! It was all really delicious and fresh. Loved it! Amazing vermouth and tonic!!! I could’ve had six of these, easy. Thank goodness I didn’t- they were €9.60 each! 😳perfectly cold, crisp salad with a well balanced vinaigrette and delicious, crunchy Parmesan crackers. Beef tartar with pickle and onion. Very good- not the best we’ve ever had (see my July 11th, 2014 post), but good. Amazing, fresh goat cheese! It was so silky and creamy! It was served on crisp bread with avocado and tomato. Soooo good! ​Tartar with Thai bird chilis. The addition of the chilies made the dish so much more exciting! For dessert? Affogato- homemade vanilla ice cream topped with espresso. The best we’ve ever had! The vanilla was so pungent and the coffe was perfectly bitter. I love the juxtaposition of hot and cold, sweet and bitter. ❤️👌🏻

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We slept in this morning, so we decided to have a light, pre-lunch snackfast. 😜

We decided to take advantage of the cloudy, cooler day and head up to Wienerwald (Vienna Forest) for a hike. We read about its beauty… we had no idea!!! What a perfect afternoon it was! The views were breathtaking. The food and drinks were delicious. The six mile hike was exhilarating. It was the best afternoon. ​

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​​Cucumber salad, zucchini fritter with yogurt sauce, bread with garlic and pink peppercorn cheese spread, ham and thyme noodles, and blood sausage. Everything was truly delicious, beautifully seasoned, and flavorful! We’re loving Austrian cuisine and culture! 

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We had a lovely morning exploring the Albertina Art Museum. After having our fill of Monet, Picasso, and Klimt, we decided to fill our bellies with some top notch food. We went to Artner auf der Wieden, a Michelin Guide recommended restaurant with an incredible lunch deal: a starter and a main for just €13! Chilled cucumber soup. It tasted like runny tsatziki. Not the best dish ever, but it was refreshing and light. Great summertime fare. The bread and butter was tasty. Grilled pork chop topped with bacon and mushrooms and Austrian style potato salad. This was very good! Perfectly cooked and seasoned. We really enjoyed it!Finally, espresso. The kind waiter spilled the pork chop sauce on Adam’s bag, so he gave us coffee on the house 😊 Not a bad deal!