Vienna, Austria

Heindl's Schmarren

kaiserschmarren 

Pancakes cut and fried in sugar and served with plum sauce. I found this to be heavy and sweet, but not something I would go out of my way to try eating again. I did not understand the popularity of this dish in the city.

Meiereri

potato dumpling with poppyseeds

Gooey texture to the potato dumping sticks with a flavorful sweet and sour plum dipping sauce to contrast the poppyseed crunchy crumble that was sweet, but not strongly a taste of poppyseed.

perfectly tender beef 

spicy red paprika sauce with tiny whole sweet and spicy peppers and whole herbs to garnish, but with the whole herbs detracting from the experience of the dish in my opinion. For example, the whole piece of oregano was fuzzy and intense when taken in a spoonful rather than gently enhancing the sauce by being mixed in. 

Market

I found "mountain cheese" which is made with cow's milk, aged to a number of different months at this particular market stand. I tasted every age and enjoyed each so much that I got a piece of each to enjoy again later. The flavor was savory and with increasing spicy taste with increasing age.

Pub Klemo

Wines sold by the glass from a variety of different Austrian makers were available a short walk from where I was staying. I recall that the white had an orange nectarine like tartness while each of the reds delivered a different experience with the waiter endeavoring to demonstrate the variety of terroir represented from various makers across the country.

Und Erben

Weiner Schnitzel

This excellent restaurant offered their version of this classic dish with a bottle of lemon to spritz onto the thin coated breading of the weiner schnitzel, which prevented the breading from becoming soggy. 

Fuhrich

This gluten free crusted weiner schnitzel had a texture that reminded me of fried fish. It as served with an addicting vinegary sauerkraut and vinegar potatoes, which may sound like too much acid, but this nicely contrasted the fried texture an flavor of the veal. 

Waldherr Bakery

 

Sacher torte 

This bakery makes traditional cakes with unprocessed organic heirloom flours that I was fortunate to stumble into finding at a market. The torte was a heavy cake that was mildly dry, as I had read the cake can be even at the nicest restaurants. However, the enjoyment of the cake is delivered by the thin layer of apricot beneath the rich chocolate ganache exterior. 

Rote Bar

trio of butters: tomato, salted, and nut 

I cannot deny my enjoyment of a lovely compound butter and these did to disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the nut version. 

marinated veal with chive oil, citrus gel, and radish 

This was the best thing that I had the enjoyment of eating at this restaurant. The trout was tender an complimented by each other aspect of the dish that provided texture, fattiness, and acidity.

beef consume with liver dumplings 

This has been a traditional dish of Vienna and so I ordered it as my opportunity to learn about it. The consume was lovely and needed nothing added, but was light rather than having remarkable depth. The little dumplings were made of liver pate atop little pieces of floating bread, which were not exactly as I had anticipated. Overall, this was fine to eat, but not something I would be tempted to order in the future.

Boiled Beef

I wanted to try this traditional boiled beef that is cooked after being pounded flat served with applesauce. This restaurant had freshly ground horseradish on the applesauce. I did enjoy the fried potato rosti and applesauce, as well as the bone marrow and toothsome cooked vegetables. However, boiled beef was as underwhelming for me as it sounds. No remarkable flavor and the texture is chewy without being tender.

I went to two different organic bakeries to compare the following apple strudels. 

Gragger and Cie

 

This bakery specializes in traditional recipes and uses wood oven baking and sourdough in many recipes in addition to being organic. This was a lovely strudel with a little texture remaining to the apples and a crunchy outer crust. 

Joseph Brot

This is a popular bakery with many locations. Although I found the flavor enjoyable, the texture was mushy and the outer crust was not crisp, so it was not nearly as delightful as the prior one pictured. 

 

Budapest, Hungary

Rosenstein

Fisherman’s soup 

This soup is slightly sour and is filled with various fish and different parts of the fish with the waiter clarifying this with me, lest I be dismayed to find unusual parts of the fish to be found within the soup, which I really appreciated getting to experience. The soup was welcoming as it was warm and hearty as it was overflowing with large pieces of fish.

Veal Cheek with Mushrooms and potato croquets

The tenderness of the veal was that which does not require any sort of knife to cut it. The Mushroom and mushroom sauce were made with a fresh and pure olive oil so intense that it had a green color that I misunderstood as being an herb of some type. The potato dumplings are fried with a crispy outside, but soft and highly seasoned internal soft texture. I found them to be too heavy for my preference. 

Textura

duck liver with pumpkin and green walnut

Pumpkin ravioli stuffed with walnut with a pumpkin sauce and carrot cake and candied pumpkin seeds. I found this was a dish that was rich due to the liver, but the most balanced and creative way I have had liver as there was adequate accompaniment on the dish to balance the liver, which had been prepared to be smooth but not with extreme sense of fattiness, but more delivered with a creamy texture that was offset by the crunchy items on the plate.  

Wonton with marinated trout

This foam like top was a gentle horseradish flavor with sprinkles of black lime flakes on top.

cucumber and lime yogurt

This refreshing and creamy cup was presented with herb jelly and gave an earthy element with fresh herbs dotting the top. It was mildly sweet and tart, as well as being refreshing and unique.  

Sturgeon with leek and lime

potato with Brindza cheese and rosemary

Sturgeon was perfectly tender with seafood sauce and spinach cooked with garlic and lovage with citrus lime gel on it. The potato dumplings were served with sheep cottage cheese, sheep parmesan crisp, and pickled cucumber

yogurt with sea buckthorn sun-dried apricot 

The yogurt had texture added by the Hungarian honey crisps and acidity from the sea buckthorn that was highlighted in a number of different preparations, ranging from a sweetened and crispy dehydrated skin of the fruit to being accompanied by apricot ice cream and passional fruit ice cream spheres. Despite all of the fruits being acidic, the small tastes and balance of sweetness made it a memorable and balanced dish.

Peanut with honey cake and walnut cream

The cake was topped with Hungarian honey and had layers to provide texture of cake with creaminess and a mild walnut cream. The peanut was a candy that not only had the shape of a peanut, but tasted of peanut as well. 

 

Paris, France

Bombance

Perfect Egg

Butternut Veloute, thyme and walnut emulsion

Upon reading the title that the egg would be perfect, my expectations were met as the gentle flavor of the butternut and walnut with a hint of thyme made for a complimentary pairing with the gently cooked egg.

Skate wing

This dish was delivered with sweet potato puree, spiced carrots and creamed fish sauce. I enjoyed the texture and tenderness of the fish and found the combination of the creamy seafood sauce less common to pair with sweet potato, but the pairing did work well, although adding more texture to the dish may have been something to consider as it was primary offered by the toothsome way the carrots were cooked rather than having them be more soft.

Ose

Kiss of humus

Exactly as it sounds. This was a playful start to the meal with a small taste of humus that was consumed by "kissing" the plate it was served on it remove it. 

Mullet fish

Presented with celery and fennel, I found the fennel to be tough as it was raw. However, the fish was perfectly tender and accompanied by a fish stock that was frothy in texture and unforgettable in depth of flavor. I do not recall tasting such a great intensity of flavor delivered by such a light texture that was nearly like fluffy air.

Stingray terrine with beets

I appreciated the unusual idea to make a less accessible fish into a terrine and offer it was a variety of vegetables. This made for both interesting texture and flavor and was recommended by the chef as being unique. 

Butternut squash soup with hazelnuts

This soup had a great depth of flavor with creamy and silky squash enhanced by the hazelnut crunch and oil. There was nothing too simple nor too complicated. It was just right.

Apple rhubarb crumble with vanilla whipped cream

As I had enjoyed the rest of the meal immensely, this was a little simple. The apple and rhubarb was a mushy texture that was not compensated for by the crumble on top. The whipped cream was solidly enjoyable, but not incredible enough to take particular delight in.

Fontaine de Mars

Duck confit

This duck was delicious with an incredibly crunchy crust on the skin with deeply satisfying duck flavor on the very tender meat. Serviced with frisée and potatoes, as it traditional. I really enjoyed this dish! 

Eggs and Mayonnaise

I experienced this to be a very heavy dish with beautifully crafted mayonnaise, but in large glops that covered all the other possible flavors on the plate, which included hard boiled eggs and chopped vegetables, including carrots, that were hidden beneath the large dollops of mayonnaise. 

Tanguy

This restaurant serves truly traditional crepes made from buckwheat. However, the menu also boasts a variety of modern creative fillings for the crepes with a reservation highly recommended due to the demand for the high quality delivered from this tiny location.

Plain buckwheat crepe served with buttermilk in which the crepe is soaked.

Aux2k

Pigeon and Smoked Eel

Skin of the pigeon was somewhat oily but very tender meat and enhanced by the confit shallots served on the plate as well as the delightful depth that the smoky eel added.

Hazelnut mouse

Balls of tender hazelnut mouse served with a black lemon sorbet to deliver a delicate  citrus contrast. 

Dijon, France

Au Duche de Bourgogne

Wine Tasting

I saw the sign for wine tasting when wandering through a little shop that had a number of local products and tourist items for sale. I was concerned that the tasting may turn out to be a bit pedestrian, as it was in a tourist shop. I turned out to have been worried for no reason. The tasting that I selected included five wines, although there were several options available regarding number and quality of wines tasted. The woman who lead me through the tasting was very knowledge about about not only the wines she was pouring, but about the wines of the region. As I tasted, there was a constant stream of locals stopping by to purchase bottles, which also reassured me of the quality and credibility of the shop. It was enjoyable to taste a variety of wines from the region that each had their own flavor profiles despite being primarily Pinot Noir. I would definitely recommend this to anyone as a quick way to be exposed to a number of local wines if time is limited to actually travel to the wineries. Of course, she recommended that I visit Beaune!

Cibo

Michelin restaurant with everything served sourced from within 200 hectors of the restaurant.

Venison

Potato

Mushroom

Housemade bread

Chickories 

Beet with cassis

Bruno Wine Bar

I experienced the most inviting welcome during my experience at this little hole in the wall wine bar. The regulars and owner were enjoying wine when I arrived and I asked for a local cremant. They insisted that I must have champagne and not cremant, pouring me a glass even as I protested. They then poured glasses for me from each of the bottles that they were enjoying, including one patron leaving and returning with a bottle of "good Pinot". The owner directed the woman working behind the bar to cut me cheeses and charcuterie, and I sheepishly had to admit after a bit that I am allergic to pork as the meats sat in front of my untouched. However, I indulged in the cheeses and they were marvelous, especially an aged goat cheese that was nearly as hard as parmesan. I asked what I owed as I unfortunately had to get to the train station, but would have liked to stay longer. They insisted it was their treat, as they had learned I was celebrating my birthday. I was so touched as I ran off into the night to catch the train back to Paris.

Bratislava, Slovakia

 

Narodny Salon Vin Slovenskej Republiky

This cave in the city center offers several wine tasting experiences, including an option to be able to taste 72 wines from the country in 100 minutes. As I had limited time in the city and country, this is what I opted for. The walls of the cave were lined with a variety of different award winning wines, which I learned are changed every six months based on the most recent awards given so that there is a consistent rotation to keep the wines current. I walked around the three different rooms at my leisure after having a brief introduction to the business and the sources of wines. I made the decision to take a small taste of each so provide the most comprehensive exposure to the wines of the county, which ranged from traditional method sparking to white and red varietals. I found it a good introduction to the variety of wines being awarded throughout the country and the variety of representations of various varietals from different regions and wine makers. 

With limited time in the walkable city, I explored the downtown area of Bratislava and went to a Farmer's Market where I purchased locally made cheese, which I noticed was commonly smoked cow cheese with a medium hardness. 

I also caught sight of this unusual art deco style Catholic church, which I walked around to have a closer look, but did not go inside as the doors were locked. 

Church of St Elizabeth of Hungary

Bordeaux, France

Bar a Vin

I tasted Bordeaux wine at this wine bar offering a selection of wines from the region that can be tasted by the glass, a nice option for a single traveler. 

I had a white 2021 Pessac Leognan, a 2016 Canon Fronsac from the left bank, and a 2018 Pauillac from the right bank. 

Cent 33

I genuinely enjoyed everything presented at this restaurant. The ambiance was a welcoming and warm and the food was creative and perfectly executed.

Cuttlefish

This was served like linguine over confit of tomatoes with pine nuts and black garlic. It was surprisingly pleasant, as cuttlefish is not typically a favorite for me as it can be a rubbery texture without a definitive flavor for me. This was really innovative in my opinion! 

Truffle

The truffle was presented on a rice cracker with a delicious black truffle puree. No words are exactly adequate to describe the creamy and rich texture and flavor offered in this bite.

Mushroom 

A contrast to the richness of the truffle, a simple mushroom was presented on a rice cracker and I appreciated the juxtaposition of these two, as each were really lovely, but a strong contrast to each other. 

Parmesan crusted hake

This was presented with clams and white beans in a frothy seafood sauce with a memorable depth of seafood flavor as it contrasted with the light fluffy and froth texture that delivered the powerful flavor. The parmesan crust was incredibly thin an crispy, almost unbelievably delicate.

Tonka bean madeline and custard

The madeline cookie offered a delicate and tender crumb alongside the creamy and rich custard served with a perfectly portioned dot of caramel. A somewhat simple, but lovely final punctuation to the meal.

Les Abeilles de Malescot

While wandering through Bordeaux, I found myself at a specialty shop filled with honey. The honey was special as there was a particularly large variety of "flavors", meaning that the bees sourced the honey from different plants. The bee keepers facilitated this by moving the bee hives to be near various different plants at different times and it was undeniably evident in the tastes captured in each jar of honey!