Restaurant Landhaus Bacher
A-3512 Mautern, Wachau Südtirolerplatz 2
Austria
www.landhaus-bacher.at

Outside Vienna, in Wachau area

 In the beautiful Wachau wine area full of small medieval towns the best restaurant is Landhaus Bacher in Mautern. It is a “Geniesser-hotel” which can be translated as a  place for the Epicureans. Their awards are quite impressive. Lisl Wagner-Bacher is one of the best chefs in Austria and she was the first woman there to be awarded the Gault Millau “Chef of the Year” in 1983. The restaurant has also been rated 2 stars by the Michelin guide and 3 toques by the Gault Millau guide with a rating of 18 out of 20! It is possible to take part in gastronomy courses with her and they even have guest rooms in their nice countryside house.

Nice setting and lots of space between tables

We were three people in all and we decided to have the lunch in the restaurant’s garden. It was very pleasant, with a peaceful atmosphere. The service was discreet and efficient, always ready to help you. I had the langostinos (gebratene Langostinos mit gerösteten Artischocken im leicht gebundenen Paellasud) as a starter and a braised shoulder of Limousin lamb (Rücken und geschmorte Schulter vom Limousin Lamm mit Bohnen-Tomatensugo und Erdäpfel-Schalottenschnitte as main course. My friends took a consommé (Consommé vom Kavaliersspitz mit Fleischstrudel, Suppengemüse und Liebstöckl) and trout fillet (Waldviertler Saibling mit mariniertem Spargel, Zitronenconfit und Kressesalat) as starters and milk veal (Das Beste vom Tiroler Milchkalb mit gratiniertem Erdäpfel-Pilzcrêpe) and also the lamb as main courses. The wine was a superb local white wine Grüner Vetliner produced by the nearby NIKOLAI HOF. The dessert was a mousse of strawberry and lemon and at the end we had some griottes/sherries with cream. We all found the food delicious with everything cooked to perfection. The langoustinos were delicate and tasty, the braised lamb really good. The dessert was up to the rest, not too sweet etc, just perfect! Lovely presentation of each meal (see photos below). It is hard to review a perfect lunch.

Langostinos with roasted artichokes and paella

Detailled view of the langostinos

Trout with marinated asparagus

Detailled view of the trout

Overview of the trout with marinated asparagus, lemon confit and watercress salad

Consommé of Kavalier Spitz with meat strudel

Detailed view

1989 The best of Tyrolean milk veal with potatoes gratinées and Pilzcrêpe

Detailed view

Braised shoulder of Limousin lamb

Detailed view

Strawberry and lemon mouse

Detailed view

Nice way of ending the lunch!

Conclusion and cost: I was invited, but the cost can be estimated at about 70-80 euros per person including wine. The meals were excellent and the local white wine wonderfully fruity. Landhaus Bacher with its creative cuisine is truly the fine dining paradise for gourmets!

Greek restaurant Orpheus
Spiegelgasse 10
1010 Vienna, Austria 
Tel +43 1 5123888

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Vienna is well known for its Opera Ball, and culinary talking, for its Wiener Schnitzel but I went to a Greek restaurant with specialties from Crete! I did not choose it but a friend of mine did for our group meeting. The restaurant chosen was Orpheus, located in the downtown near Stephansplatz. It is smartly designed in black and is quite spacious. What’s nice also is it has a huge open panoramic windows so you can dine in while having fresh air from outside. We did even better by going on their covered terrace.

Overview of the table

As starters we had different kinds of mezze (olives, feta cheese etc) and it was quite filling. For main course I had a grilled octopus. It was not bad at all but a little hard. Maybe it was a little overcooked but I cannot blame them because we chatted a long time while eating the starters. The beer was fine and they have Tsikoudia which is a digestif from Crete similar to the Italian grappa.

Grilled octopus

Cost and conclusion: I did not pay the bill. The food was good, not fantastic but it was probably because of us being so slow. The service were very nice. They were attentive and not pushy at all. Recommended if you are in the area!