Steirereck - Vienna
Dining tables near the floor-to-ceiling windows
Rating: 16/20
Where: Vienna, Austria
When: Dinner for 2 on 30 January 2025
Cost: Tasting menu 225-245 Euro, Wine Pairing 105-120 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars, #22 on World's 50 Best Restaurants list (2024)
Why: Seasonal cuisine with subtle Austrian influences and Austrian ingredients
Vienna is a city full of history. Grand palaces, bohemian art deco cafes, expansive boulevards and parks - one can't help but feeling a bit in awe. Maybe not quite as old, but still a bit of a timeless institution is “Steirereck”, a restaurant located in the city's central Stadtpark. Its building houses not just one but two restaurants - the other one is the more casual “Meierei”, where I had the best Viennese Schnitzel I've ever eaten when I visited about 15 years ago. Steirereck even publishes its own glossy magazine, and I wouldn't be surprised if more people had heard of it than of Amador, which until recently was the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the country. That changed in mid-January of 2025, when Michelin's new Austria-wide guide finally bestowed three stars on Steirereck, after having given it two stars for what felt like forever. I was excited to finally have an excuse to come back to Vienna.
The restaurant's exterior is surprisingly stark and modern (well, a 70s or 80s kind of modern), with metal facades and floor-to-ceiling windows that have a direct view into multiple dining rooms. At night, the building was lit up with fluorescent lights - definitely an outlier in the otherwise more serene park. The building's interior layout was unusual as well - it was broken up into several connected dining rooms, without any doors between them. It is not a small restaurant, but its maze-like layout meant that we only saw a handful of tables nearby. Our table was towards in the interior of the building, which led to a bit more foot traffic than the outward-facing tables would have had.
Steirereck serves a seven-course tasting menu, and gives the diner a choice between two dishes for each course. Since there was two us, we were able to try all fourteen individual dishes. It's possible to shorten the menu to six courses, and it's entirely up to the guest which course to drop, a highly uncommon (and definitely welcome) flexibility. Alternatively, one can order from an a la carte menu, which had a considerable overlap with the tasting menu. A wine pairing was available for the tasting menu, with 14 wines tailored to the different dishes. Clearly, ordering wines by the glass should not be a problem here. Enjoymentwise, the wine pairing was more of a so-so affair. The wines went fine with the food, but not in a revelatory way, and most were wines that I would not have ordered again. For example a Cabernet Franc from Canada (!) was a disappointing choice for the main meat course.
A few words about the service. We were given printed descriptions of every course just before they were served (see the first course below for an example). These place cards went to a level of detail that was far beyond what a server might reasonably explain. Some ingredients that had a special meaning to Austrian food culture were described in even more detail. I liked the vignettes, but the specificity was almost too much - it was unlikely that anyone would be able to taste all these different aspects of the dishes. Sadly though, the flip side of the verbose place cards were extremely terse descriptions by the serving staff - they pretty much addressed only the sauces that were added table-side. Similarly, the wines in the wine pairing got barely any description or reasoning behind their selection. It was a service that (apart from the jovial cheese trolley team) came across as a bit cold - not actively unfriendly maybe, but not with any warmth either. It started with our arrival: the maitre d' seemed to be in a hurry, and, when he couldn't find my name in the reservation book right away, shot back with an irritated “maybe you reserved it under a different name?” Definitely not the warmest welcome… The impressive bread cart came once, and then never returned, even when we sat in front of empty bread plates. Everybody seemed to be in a rush, which was surprising since the dining room next to ours (see photo above) with half a dozen tables was empty throughout the whole night. Maybe there was a big party somewhere that kept the staff busy? No idea, but it felt like an off night service-wise.
The first food to arrive at our table was indeed the just mentioned bread cart. Served with a hay butter and finely ground rock salt, it featured an impressive selection of different breads - I stopped counting at over a dozen varieties. I had a rye baguette that was nicely crunchy and had a neutral enough flavor to go with everything on the menu. A chorizo/chili bread was surprisingly spicy, and for that reason better eaten by itself rather than with food. Given that I only tried two out of so many breads, it feels unfair to assign a rating. I really wish that the cart had returned for a second round to try more breads.
Three small bites arrived before the official start of the tasting menu. Little flowers made from sliced carrots were filled with sheep's milk cheese and eucalyptus. This was an uncontroversial bite - the carrot was light in flavor, the cheese creamy, but I was a bit confused by the edible translucent base that the dish was sitting on - it didn't taste of anything, but was irritatingly chewy 15.
A choux pastry was filled with marinated lentils and topped with an Austrian version of lardo. A bit sweet and with a slightly acidic filling 15. Finally, we had a mushroom meringue served with lemons, a black truffle slice and mountain cheese (“Bergkäse”). The meringue was very sweet, overpowering all other flavors in the dish 14.
For the seven main courses, I'll first describe the dish that I “ordered”, and then the one that I sampled from my dining companion.
A mountain trout had been briefly marinated and was surrounded on one side by slices of marinated cucumbers, radishes and pears. Next to it was a grilled “kebab” with two pieces each of parsley root, pepperoncini, and pear. The dish was dressed with a parsley-lime sauce and woodruff oil. Woodruff is a bit of an acquired taste and not commonly used in fancy cuisine, but it was close to undetectable here. The fish had a firm-ish texture and was light in flavor, as was the sauce - not the most exciting combination. The grilled ingredients were quite varied: a starchy root, a very sweet pear and a pretty spicy pepper - I have to assume that they were meant to be eaten together, so that the sweetness and spiciness canceled each other out. An usual combination for sure. Thanks to the grilled and the marinated pears, this dish was oddly sweet for an appetizer 15.
The other first course was a radicchio salad - containing lots of different varieties of the slightly bitter salad leaves that were dressed with a fennel-pimpernel marinade. In the middle of the plate was a little fennel/mushroom sandwich. This dish was also weirdly sweet, thanks to the sauce and some raisins among the radicchio leaves. I liked the warm mushroom tarte, but its mushroom flavor was very light 15.
Course number two: a braised and glazed fennel that was served with a fennel-bergamot cream and the fennel’s strained braising liquid. The fennel was prepared perfectly, very juicy and still full of broth. I only wish that there had been more of the sauce, or that the dish had been served in a bowl rather than on a plate, making it easier to collect the sauce. Also a nice addition: the crunchy seeds on top of the fennel. The fennel cream was lovely as well - light, with just a hint of anise flavor. The only thing that didn't work for me were the sweet cubes of fig on top of the cream - again an oddly sweet component in a dish 17.
Braised artichokes came with a butter sauce, some spinach and a cucumber salad. The artichokes felt marinated, but were quite good with a firm texture. The spinach was even better, however its toppings were again on the sweet side 16.
Both options for the third course were fish. A filet of catfish was topped with ossetra caviar, and sat on top of pieces of black salsify and kohlrabi. The dish was finished with a kohlrabi/butter sauce that contained char roe. Let's start with the good parts: the crunchy root vegetables with different textures were very good, as was the sauce to which the roe added some fishiness and saltiness. Maybe a bit rustic, but very tasty. The fish, however, was a particularly poor cut - its connective tissue made the fish almost impossible to cut, especially since the only provided utensil was a spoon. Based on the cutlery selection, this was probably supposed to be a flaky fish, and not one that was a chore to eat. By itself, the fish didn't have much flavor, and would ideally have been served warmer. The caviar on top was dried up, maybe because it had sat under a heating lamp for too long? A dish that would have been much improved with a better cut of fish 16.
Mountain char had been briefly seared on its skin, and looked almost raw. This fish had a perfect consistency - melting in one's mouth, while also having a crunchy skin. Excellent cooking here, with great flavor. The sides - chervil root and golden beets - were unfortunately (again) too sweet for my taste 17.
When we were served the following wild pheasant course, we were told to watch out for the occasional remnants of buckshot. Thankfully, none were seen. The pheasant was served with marinated yacón (a tuber reminiscent of jicama), kale and two sauces: one based on potatoes and sour cream, the other on pheasant jus. The pheasant itself tasted a bit like a mealy chicken, but the sides were nicely sauced and flavorful. Among the two sauces, I preferred the pheasant jus over the slightly less exciting potato sauce. A well prepared, but not terribly memorable dish 16.
The other fourth course option was a sweet potato that was served with kale and radishes, seasoned with Meyer lemons and a tarragon oil. The potato itself was actually not that sweet, but the sauce had a hint of sweetness. The sides tasted nicely herbal, but overall this was also a nondescript dish 15.
For the fifth, and final savory course, we had two meat options. A braised beef shoulder was topped with a sauce that contained horseradish. Underneath it were some young potatoes and sautéed nasturtium leaves. Another mixed bag: the potatoes and nasturtium leaves were lovely, the latter a bit acidic and crunchy thanks to the addition of pickled cucumbers and mustard seeds. The green sauce on the plate had some acidity and a bit of spice from the horseradish - all very nice. So far maybe an 18. The beef however, was pretty unmemorable. Not bad, but also “just” braised beef, with a pretty heavy sauce on top 16. The paired wine, a Cabernet Franc, also was less than exciting. I can't remember the last time before this when I didn't want to finish the last red wine of a wine pairing.
A duck was served with sunchokes, a quince puree and two sauces - a fermented red cabbage juice and a duck jus. The duck was nice enough, but its skin was oddly soft and mealy - crunchier would have been better. The sunchokes were lovely, as was the slightly acidic side dish of cabbage and Chinese artichokes. The sauces were decent as well, but the quince was oddly sweet - at this time, it was obvious that adding sweet components to savory dishes was a stylistic choice of the kitchen - just unfortunately not my thing 16.
For the cheese course we were allowed to choose four cheeses from two impressive cheese trolleys. Most three-star restaurants probably wouldn't explicitly limit the number of choices here, but oh well... I asked for the “stinkiest and strongest tasting cheeses” available, and I have to give the restaurant credit - holy moly, these were indeed some of the most intense cheeses I've ever had. Even the famous cheese carts in France generally don't deliver such flavor bombs. The one blue cheese I received was actually the second-lightest choice. The cheeses were served with some crunchy roasted pumpkin seeds - tasty! Less exciting was the very light-tasting quince jam and the paired sparkling pear cider. I imagine that these two would have been a better fit for milder cheeses. In my case, a much sweeter wine might have worked better. It reminded me of a recent meal where the restaurant proactively served three different wines with the cheese course. I suppose the ideal pairing for a cheese course can only be picked after one chooses the cheeses? But nitpicking aside, this was a terrific cheese course. (Not rated, since YMMV depending on the cheese selection.)
The alternative dish was an elderflower buttermilk ice cream filled with an elderflower compote. Interestingly, this dish wasn't particularly sweet - neither the ice cream nor the compote 16.
This brought us to the last course - the dessert. Mine featured pears and chocolate, a tried and true combination, one might think. In this case, a poached pear was draped with lemon-marinated chicory leaves, and surrounded with a sauce made from pear juice and beech mushrooms (!). Next to it was a chocolate ice cream that contained the same beech mushrooms. The mushrooms were probably the reason why the initially lovely chocolate ice cream had an oddly bitter and umami aftertaste. The chicory was similarly bitter (in addition to being sour). Luckily, when eating everything together, the sweetness of the pear canceled the bitterness of the rest of the dish. I don't know if I should be impressed by the deft balance required to counter the bitterness of half the dish, or puzzled as to why the kitchen needed the bitter ingredients in the first place. Maybe both 15.
A quince “stollen” (a cake usually served during Christmas time) was topped with nut butter ice cream and a vanilla whipped cream. I liked this dessert a bit better than the pear. The stollen was not that sweet, and neither was the acidic lemon-saffron sauce around it, but the ice cream more than made up for that 16.
Five petit fours (almost) concluded our dinner. A tangerine/yuzu pate de fruit had candied tangerines on top. It was very sweet, but also nicely acidic with a lovely citrus flavor 18. A buckwheat cookie filled with Meyer lemons had a lemony flavor and a mealy crunch 15. A cup of fresh citrus fruit was quite sweet (probably thanks to the addition of sugar) as well as acidic 16. A bergamot granitee was very tart: acidic and bitter with only a hint of sweetness 14. Finally, a chocolate-covered orange jelly was quite sweet. Its orange filling was very liquid and there was a soft cookie underneath, kind of like a milk-chocolate Jaffa cake 16.
The common thread among all the petit fours (and actually a majority of all dishes) were the use of citrus fruit. As if to drive home that point, our last bites were dried slices of seven different citrus fruits, all grown in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. They varied from sweet to quite bitter 15.
Overall: A dinner with subtle Austrian influences and ingredients. The end of the meal left me a bit confused. It was a decent dinner, but without any truly outstanding dishes, as I would have expected from a three-Michelin-starred restaurant. And there were other issues: several dishes had flavor combinations that were not up my alley (overly sweet components in otherwise savory dishes), a few unmemorable dishes, and finally a fish of subpar quality (the catfish). Add to that an impersonal service and a less than compelling wine pairing, and I have to hope that this was an off night for the restaurant 16.
