Went for lunch at Steirereck recently after securing a reservation just a few days before. The lunch was fantastic and it was the best Michelin star lunch I’ve had, maybe even the best lunch in my life, only time will tell 🙂
The restaurant is beautiful, located within Stadtpark, with its mirror exterior and modern interior, perfect for taking pictures before or after the meal. The service on our visit was solid, hospitable and not intrusive, and they dealt with my water glass spilling swiftly. For lunch, they serve 2 menus: Regular Menu or Lunch at Steirereck. The regular menu is between 6 or 7 courses and the lunch menu is between 4 or 5 courses. You can pick and choose your courses, with plenty of options between both menus. I went for the 5 course lunch menu for 175 € for my visit, price excluding a supplement I made (amazing value imo).
Overall, great meal for a good price and I definitely would recommend Steirereck for people visiting Vienna.
by therainmkerr
5 Comments
1) Outside of the Restaurant
2-3) Compliments from the kitchen/amuse bouche – 8/10
Consisting of 2 fried bites and 1 sweet meringue bite, good start to the menu
4-5) Bread and Butter with Salt – 9/10
The bread trolley is legendary, you can smell the bread coming in the dining room. I chose the blood sausage and the white bread. Both were great with the butter and salt, and it’s worth coming here for the bread trolley alone.
6-7) Char with Beeswax, Yellow Carrot ‘Pollen’ & Sour Cream – 8.5/10
Basically the signature dish of Steirereck, seeing this close to a decade ago and finally getting to try it was gratifying. The char is cooked in beeswax at the table and then brought back into the kitchen to be plated after the wax has cooled. The fish was delicate, had no fishy taste but was not seasoned. The sour cream worked well with the fish, the char caviar added the saltiness, the beeswax jelly adding some honey notes was more enjoyable than I thought, and the yellow carrot was super sweet in a good way, complimenting both the fish and garnishes. Enjoyed this dish for all the non fish reasons but still delicious nonetheless.
8) Caviar & Lentils with Banana and Bacon (15 € suppl.) – 10/10
This was an absolute umami bomb. The lentils were cooked great, but the main star was the caviar. The caviar worked wonderfully with the banana, turned into a cream with mushrooms, combining the saline fish taste of caviar with the fruitiness of banana. I’ve known of this combo before but this is the first time I got to try it. The sauce added another dimension, with intense flavors of ham and vinegar, in addition to diced lardo, amping the ham and umami to 11. Incredibly good
9) Pogusch Pork with Sugar Peas, Marsh Samphire & Ramson – 9/10
Pork was juicy and tender, the confied grilled pig tail was crispy, and the pork jus was on point. My favorite part of this dish were the veggies actually. The sugar peas had nice bite, the dandelion tempura gave me the crunchy texture I was craving, the marsh samphire & kohlrabi perfectly cooked and savory. Young ramsons were present in the dish, adding a nice garlicky touch. Lovely main course
10) Selected Cheeses from our Meierei – 9/10
The cheese trolley was equally as epic as the bread one, with a great selection of cheeses. I got 4 cheeses, ranging from soft to funky to hard. The cheeses came with pumpkin seeds and quince jam, paired with a bread of your choice from the trolley.
11) ‘Alexander Lucas’ Pear with Beeswax, Whey & Buckwheat – 9.5/10
On top of the dessert is a quenelle of beeswax ice cream, which mainly tasted like honey but not overly sweet. The whipped curd cheese below was velvety and tasted similar to yoghurt. Hiding under it are Alexander Lucas pears, cooked in whey and matured in beeswax, bringing out their sweetness completely and having a caramelized flavor. On the bottom of the dessert is caramelized whey and chocolate cream, both were delicious, together with crunchy bits of buckwheat.
This was dish was super sweet and caramel forward, while still being fairly balanced. I have a sweet tooth, so most people might find it too sweet but I really enjoyed this one.
12-15) Final Sweets – 9/10
A bunch of petit fours, heart cherries, and frozen raspberries. All of the sweets were good, made from berries. Highlights were the white chocolate popsicle and the cherries. Great end to the meal
Sorry for no trolley pics, the pics I got of them were really bad.
I’m having brunch at it’s sister restaurant Meierei in September, very excited
Looks great. I have it booked for Q4. Can I ask if you saw anyone have the soup? It sounds really unique (since I’m not from Austria and have never tried that soup before)
Looks like the house in The Curse.
LOVE this place and love Vienna! Thanks for the pics and review. What a value!