The taste of this soup was rather unexpected

Anyhow. I jumped off the bus and walked back only to find out that the restaurant was closed due to vacation reasons. Damn. Now, I had to find another place to get my lunch. Luckily I was close to Naschmarkt around U4 Kettenbrückengasse. And yes, this is some sort of a China Town or better Asian Town. In this area of Vienna there are many rather authentic Asian restaurants, shops, haircutters etc. So I thought: no problem, I find something else. And so I walked towards Naschmarkt.

Eventually I ended up at Pho Saigon on Naschmarkt. Now this restaurant is connected to the restaurant called “Saigon” on Getreidemarkt und is more or less the mini version of that one. It also has a small Asian grocery store. During lunch time you get special meal offers and they are all Vietnamese food. Each lunch special consists of the daily soup, main course and dessert. In the beginning I was unsure what to take. I always think that Vietnamese dishes sound completely unspectacular. It is like “beef with basil and lemongrass”. Doesn’t sound fancy, or? But when you order it it is soo delicious! For me I chose the tofu with veggies. I had to take Vietnamese rolls in addition to the soup. I love Vietnamese rolls – no matter which one.

I love Vietnamese rolls. Any kind whether they are cold or warm – it doesn’t matter.

But first came the soup – the unexpected star of the whole meal. In the end I came to the conclusion that it was the Vietnamese variation of a sweet n’ sour soup. It had chunks of pineapples, it tasted chili spicy and sweet and unexpected. I have to admit I never tasted something like that before and I have tried a lot in my life. It had really nothing to do with anything I ever tried. It didn’t even come close. I have to say although I liked it I would not order a soup like that on purpose.

The Vietnamese rolls pretty much came with the main course. They were filled with seafood and covered in fried rice noodles. I always love the dip that comes with them. Fish sauce here we come. I really don’t mind that entree and main course sometimes come at the same time at Asian restaurants. I just eat cross-course.

The tofu with veggies was just as good as the other two courses.

And of course, I also enjoyed the main course. I think they put oyster sauce. It was really yummy. I really like that restaurant. Right at the spot where this restaurant is located you also have a number of other Asian restaurants. One is right on the opposite. It has Japanese, Chinese, Thai food. But don’t fall for that when you are at Naschmarkt. It is always much better not to choose the trans-Asian restaurants that offer all cuisines at once. They all have the same food and the taste is like an instant-food-jolly – all but not exciting.

Info: Phò Sài Gòn, Naschmarkt, Stand 191 – 194, phone: 01 585 02 24, internet: www.saigon.at, opening hours: Mo – Sa 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. in summer and winter 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., they take credit cards, I am not sure about smoking but I guess it is non-smoking, you can reach the restaurant by getting off at U4 Kettenbrückengasse and walking towards the city centre on Naschmarkt, take the aisle of stands that is the furtherst left one and there the restaurant is on the right side.

Some of the Christmas markets are situated in front of famous sights like the Belevedere or Schönbrunn Palace. Some of the treats that visitors can experience are mulled wine, hot punch and toffee apples. Hot punch comes in many different flavors – from orange to apple with ginger, apricot, pure ginger, even chocolate and additional amaretto.

And as Christmas is usually spent with family New Year’s Eve means fun with friends. The most well known attraction in Vienna on New Year’s Eve is the Silvester Pfad (New Year’s Eve Path) where the City of Vienna organizes different spots in the city with stages and live performances. The highlights of the Silvester Pfad are Stephansplatz, Rathausplatz and probably Am Hof.

All these events make Vienna a popular travel destination for Holiday Season. Thus, you can rely on Get Locally to discover the best spots in the city during that Season and after, in January when Vienna seems to go to winter sleep.

In the entrance area you find an aquarium where kids can pet kois.

After you managed to get away from the kois the next thing you need to do is go up with the elevator to the panorama platform. Thus it is better here that you go from top to bottom. This place has approximately 10 floors and going up might get challenging.

As soon as you enter the Haus des Meeres take the elevator to the top

Plus this place offers one of the best views over the city.

Go up to the top of the Haus des Meeres – it offers a terrace with a fanatastic view.

After you took enough photos of the panorama you make your way downstairs. Each floor displays different animals from different climate zones. They are all aquatic animals or animals like snakes and turtles and so on.

They have some awesome snakes at the Haus des Meeres

One of the highlights is certainly the big sea turtle and it swims in an aquarium which stretches over two floors. The story goes that it once belonged to some private person and it grew to be too big and ended up at the Haus des Meeres. For me it is just to cute and so enormous.

Check out the huge sea turtle – it is just too cute!

But the sea turtle is not the highlight of cuteness yet. There are of course the beautiful jellyfish where you are glad that you don’t get to know them on some vacation while swimming in the sea.

They are beautiful but just dangerous

But now for my favorites at the Haus des Meeres which has really nothing to do with the sea or anything. Cause next to the bats they are just too cute. So now the two stars at the Haus des Meeres.

Get ready for the two stars at the Haus des Meeres: first – the bats

… and of course there are the little monkeys. They are quite used to humans and come really close but don’t touch them or feed them. They get their own food.

They are just too cute – the monkeys

And so the other day I staid at this place for I don’t know how many hours. I think it was a lot because I already heard them telling me through their loud speakers that they would close the place pretty soon and I was not even half way through … it is really a place where you can spend many many hours. And I like it cause it is close to Mariahilfer Strasse when it comes to the geographic distance but the atmosphere feels like hundred miles away. So if you decide to go shopping during your stay in Vienna you might consider going to the Haus des Meeres as well.

Info: Haus des Meers (http://www.haus-des-meeres.at), Fritz-Grünbaum-Platz 1, 1060 Vienna; phone +43/1/587 14 17; fax +43/1/586 06 17; email office@haus-des-meeres.at; opening hours: daily 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. except for thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Green Cottage – great Chinese restaurant close to Naschmarkt

You can find it right close to the U4 stop Kettenbrückengasse. You just need to walk away from Naschmarkt along Kettenbrücckengasse and you find it on the right side. There is an outdoor area too and since it was a wonderful day I wanted to sit outside. There was nobody though and so I had to get the waiter who was inside the restaurant.

During the week they serve lunch specials consisting of one entree, which today was either daily soup or daily salad and one main course. You choose from 7 or 8 different main courses all at different prices. These lunch specials are somehow affordable. Other than the lunch specials I would say that the restaurant serves food slightly more expensive than in regular restaurants but it is wonderful food. And so you can find stir-fried duck with green thai asparagus or some other Chinese food which is out of the ordinary. In their menue they state that they get their veggies from Naschmarkt. I guess I have to believe them as I cannot prove it.

It is more of a fancy schmancy restaurant – they give you fresh cutlery for every course

Since they had these lunch specials today I decided to take one this time. I decided to take the salad as an entree – since I don’t particularly feel like soup for lunch in summer. And as the main course I chose the trout with veggies. The weekly menue also stated that there was a three-course business lunch but for 18 Euros that was much too expensive for me – plus it didn’t say what it contained and I didn’t want to ask. The waiter who took my order had to check whether they still had the trout but fortunately they did. I once experienced that they ran out of something even though it was on the menue. But that is ok as I think that this is a good sign that food is fresh here.

The entree was the Cottage salad

So, the first course was the Cottage salad and it said that there was some sort of dressing coming with the salad. It turned out that it was pretty sour dressing as they used lots of vinegar. But it was ok since they also had celery beets cut into the salad and I have to say without the sour dressing I would have not wanted to eat the celery as I don’t like celery.

The trout filet was definitely yummy!

The main course was the highlight of the meal though. The fish was wonderful although part of it caught quite some salt and made the veggies salty too. But other than that it was perfect. The veggies were really fresh and they chopped some zucchini and pak choi also so I had two of my favorite veggies there. That was really yummy. The fish was crispy. It was great!

The size of the meal was sufficient although I have never been stuffed when I came here for food. The time before I ordered the tofu and it was not enough food. So in any case I would suggest to also order a first course or a dessert. Then you are on the safe side. The fact that I have also seen Chinese eat here is also a sign for me that this is a great place. So if you are at Naschmarkt you might consider coming here instead of the other restaurants on Naschmarkt.

Info: Green Cottage (http://www.green-cottage.at), Kettenbrückengasse 3, 1040 Vienna; phone: +43/(0)1/5866581; fax: +43/(0)1/5866581; mail: info@green-cottage.at; opening hours: Mon – Sat 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., Sun closed, all major credit cards

Close to Schwedenplatz is the Currywurst Botschaft – Embassy of the Currywurst

But I learned from my mistake and knew that it is only open when there is good weather around noon and then in the evening from around 5:00 p.m. and since the last days were horrible weatherwise I took the first chance today when the weather was better to come here. First, I was not sure whether I really liked to come here since I was pretty hungry and just a sausage might not be enough but then I decided that I am too curious I just had to come.

And believe me I did not regret it. To be honest the portions are not complete meal size. Of course, you should not expect that from an imbiss stand – this is a place for having just a snack. When I arrived there were not many people – actually there were only three including me. The guy behind the counter – yes, he was definitely German and I am sure judging by his accent he was from Berlin. He didn’t look too happy but was not unfriendly. I am not sure maybe he was the owner. The prizes are decent. If you take the curry wurst (sausage) with fries and one beverage you pay around 8 Euros.

The prizes are not low but you get really good quality

For me it was the curry wurst with fries and the berlin sauce. It took some time till the food was ready. This is not the good part here. The good part is that the reason why the food took longer was that the guy was making fresh french fries. I think they don’t even use frozen potatoes but fresh ones. And for that I was definitely willing to wait. In the end it was just a few minutes and the result was really yummy crispy fries. Also the curry wurst was delicious.

I took the sausage with the berlin sauce and the fries

I only had currywurst once before so I don’t have that much options to compare that to but it was really great. I mean you hardly get real curry wurst in Vienna. They usually give you fake currywurst. Here at imbiss stands if you order it you get bratwurst with some sauce that is more ketchup than anything else and some curry powder on top. But this was really good and I am sure when I am close to Schwedenplatz and feel like having sausage I will certainly want to come back here. Maybe then I will try one of the other sauces – either Bochum or Sylt – but I loved the Berlin one a lot. And when I left I thought: “Actually, now I can use some more.”

Info: Currywurst Botschaft, close to Adria Wien close to Schwedenplatz and Salztorbrücke, there is no phone number and neither fax nor email, this imbiss stand is seasonal and only open during the summer; opening hours are at good weather conditions from noon till 2:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m., I haven’t found any Facebook page or acutal website eventhough they have the http://www.wurstbotschaft.at on the posters pinned to the imbiss stand

Since its renovation the Green Cottage is no longer green.

In the past the Green Cottage was really green and a cosy place not the most exclusive to put it more diplomatic but cosy. Then they build the subway and it turned from green into light brown. Today it is less cosy but still very typical Viennese. It is also pretty easy to reach. Just get off at U2 “Messe – Prater” take the “Prater” exit and you are standing right in front of it.

I did the same today because, remember, I needed some food to fill my stomach. The restaurant was almost empty when I arrived. It was already 3:00 in the afternoon. The waiter was there, maybe the boy standing next to him was his son. I don’t know. I don’t go here that often. The prices are decent still I would not come here every day. Those that were sitting at the tables were all Viennese. When tourists go to the Prater they usually go to the Schweizerhaus, which has adapted its prices accordingly. This place is not so much a place where tourists go.

During the week they serve lunch specials but since it was friday they had the usual fried fish which I don’t like. The menue itself was not very extensive. Maybe because of the time of the day, I went there.

The menue at 3:00 p.m. was limited. In the evening they have a more extensive one.

Somehow I already knew what I would take. I just had to decide whether I’d like to have the Schnitzel or the Berner Würstel. I decided for the Berner Würstel. Now, Berner Würstel just means sausages filled with cheese and rolled in bacon. They usually come with fries, tomato ketchup and mustard with chopped onions. It is very typical Viennese food – not very fancy. You just need to get some sausages, put cheese in them and then put the bacon on the outside. I like them and it is usually the food on a menue which falls into the lower price category. In most restaurants they also serve pretty large portion when it comes to this kind of food.

Berner Würstel: sausages somehow Viennese style … the kids like them, I like them too

And after I ate all this food I was pretty stuffed. Yes, I think it was the right decision to go for this instead of the vegetarian restaurant. I do like vegetarian food though but maybe next time. It is nice to have some typical Viennese once in a while. And the “Grüne Hütte” is really a good place to go. If you visit the Prater I can truly recommend it. It is off the beaten track, not very touristy.

Info: Restaurant zur Grünen Hütte (http://www.gruenehuette.at), Prater 196, 1020 Vienna; phone: +43/1/729 27 10, fax: +43/1/729 27 10 – 12; mail: office@gruenehuette.at; opening hours: Mon – Sun from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; right at U2 “Messe – Prater” exit “Prater”

Close to Schwedenplatz there is a nice little cake shop – the Fett und Zucker

Yesterday I wanted to visit this one restaurant at Rotenturmstrasse which I hadn’t visited for some time and which I loved a lot. It is a Chinese restaurant which served not this transfusion Asian food but the owner tried to offer really great food like vegetarian chicken and so on. Turned out that this place changed considerably. The nice owner was no longer here instead there were two faceless waitresses. You probably know that when you go to a restaurant and the waitresses don’t relate to the restaurant at all. They are just there to make their job. Some even go that far that they don’t care much whether you are here or not as long as they get their pay check. And so after having some rather disappointing lunch I had to get something to cheer me up again.

Since I was at Schwedenplatz already I thought I just walk over the Salztor bridge to the 2nd district and go to Hollandstrasse. There is a little shop close to the Karmelitermarkt which opened a bit over a year ago and which is just the idea of a few people that love to bake cake and sell it.

And so from the beginning this place was a hotspot for the young people – mostly students. In summer they just sit outside in front of the shop but the interior is quite lovely and individualistic as well. When I last visited the shop it was not quite finished, there were tons of people and hardly any space.

The interior of the Fett und Zucker – where probably no chair is like the other

The one serving me I guess she was one of the owners. She was really nice when I got the cake and did not insist that I pay immediately but told me I should make myself comfortable, eat my cake first and pay whenever I am ready. Of course, as always I did not know what to take at first. Fortunately they have a menue and it turned out that they not only offer cake like when they first opened the shop but also other things like breakfast and salad as well. Still, I had to get a piece of cake. Remember: depressions because of my bad lunch experience. So I decided for a poppy seed cake with plum jam and something that tasted like a vanilla cream. It was a glutenfree cake.

The cakes are really simple somehow but just so yummy. Here the poppy seed cake.

Like with all cakes you get here they tell you whether it is a vegan cake or lactose-free or whatever dietary information you need. That is really cool. I know of hardly any place in Vienna where you get vegetarian cake on purpose. And so I think this place is really a tip for all of you who like to get some nice vegetarian or vegan cake. They also have a changing selection of cakes also depending on seasonal fruits or whatever they like to bake.

I think this place to be really nice. Far from the over-fancy cafés where you get a piece of cake which turns out to be a chunk of sugar cause it is so sweet.

Info: Fett und Zucker (http://www.fettundzucker.at), Hollandstrasse 16, 1020 Vienna; phone +43/699/116 60 092; mail office@fettundzucker.at, I don’t provide you with the opening hours here since they are different in summer and winter, I guess it is best if you visit their homepage to the find out about them, no credit cards

It is truly a place to enjoy extraordinary ice cream. The Lepantos at Ballgasse in the 1st district

It is a rather new ice cream parlor at the centre of Vienna close to Kärntner Straße. It is situated in a narrow side street close to the Steffl department store. And so as soon as I found out about it I had to go there. In the end: Vienna is currently a ice hot spot. You have to have everything that is somehow connected to ice: Frozen yogurt, bubble ice tea and now veggie ice sorbet.

So when I arrived at the place there was this one guy. It turned out that he was pretty friendly. First he thought I was a tourist with my camera and started talking in English to me. As soon as I answered in Viennese German it was clear that I was not a tourist. First he asked me if I’d like to have some ice cream. I answered with yes and said it was pretty hard to decide with all these atypical ice cream flavors. There were two flavors with alcohol (one was with cherry and vodka and I can’t remember the other one) and then there was the caramel with sea salt (the sea salt scared me off though – I have to admit) and of course the beetroot one. So I asked him whether I could try the beetroot ice cream. Hm, it was yummy.

The beetroot ice cream is certainly something completely different but don’t be scared it tastes just fine.

With this success at hand I decided to take the medium size which means you can choose three flavors. The cup you get is not very large but ok. I decided for the ginger honey one first and of course the beetroot. As a third one I took the tangerine lime sorbet as it was really hot and I needed something to cool me off. To eat the ice cream I chose one of the comfortable chairs outside. Fortunately there was shade so it was not too hot.

I took the ginger-honey, the tangerine-lime and the beetroot sorbets.

But it seems that it was still hot enough. Because the sorbet was melting pretty fast and since the cup was rather small the ice cream decided not to stay inside the cup for too long but made its way down to the table. So my mission was to eat fast which was not that difficult as the sorbet tasted really nicely. A bit sweet but not to sweet. The beetroot is really something yummy although I would not want to eat it every day. I still like the good old chocolate ice cream once in a while. The ice cream is not too cheap either as the medium size cost me 3,80 Euro. Compared to that: in regular ice cream parlor it is around 2,50 Euro for three scoops. But in this case I would rather compare it to the frozen yogurt places which are somehow in the same price range. In the end: you are not eating any ice cream but exceptional one. And for once in a while it is something really cool to get especially since they are regularly changing their flavors and I have heard of cucumber-wasabi ice cream already. Hm. Maybe the next time.

Info: Lepantos (http://lepantos.at), 1, Ballgasse 4; phone: +43/(0)650/340 75 96; email: office@lepantos.at; opening hours: Mo 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., Tue – Sat. noon – 8:00 p.m. , Sun 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.; you can reach the place by getting off at Stephansplatz and walking toward the Steffl department store then going inside and walking right to the other end to exit the store at the opposite site and there is already the Ballgasse with the Lepantos in front of you

At the Sichuan Restaurant you can enjoy your food at a wonderful terrace with a view

And because the restaurant mainly serves Szechuan cuisine the food does not lack chili and other exciting spices. So don’t expect something too mild here. But that is exactly when things start to get exciting, right. That is why I love coming here.

To reach this place you need to get off at U1 Alte Donau take the exit and walk towards the swimming baths and there on the left side you cannot miss it. It truly does look like a Chinese house somewhere far from Vienna. And yes, it does follow the tradition that you do not walk inside a house by walking zig-zag. Because it is the Chinese that believe that the evil spirits cannot walk zig-zag and so you need to build entrance areas accordingly.

As soon as you reach the entrance door you find out that this place is decorated with lots of awards and that the people that come here are very often employees of the United Nations which is just one subway stop away. And so you might sit among a chitchat of lots of different languages and people.

The special lunch meal offers you three courses. This times’ starter: spicy-sour noodle salad

As for the food the restaurant offers a special meal every day on work days for little bit over 9 Euros as well as the typical lunch meals except here you find food like kung pao chicken and mapo dofu instead of the regular crispy chicken something. The special lunch meal gives you entree, main course and dessert where you can leave out the dessert to pay less. This time I took this offer and started off with a spicy noodle salad followed by stir fried duck with veggies and rice.

The main course of the special lunch meal was stir fried duck with veggies and rice

The duck really tasted nice but was completely different from the typical crispy duck. But I really liked the taste – again not missing the chillies. At the end came the dessert. I thought this time I had to have one as they served baked ice cream. You probably all know that one: where they put alcohol on top of the dough and burn it. There there was no alcohol and no burning but some outer shell around the ice cream and something I liked a lot which was pretty much like a cake.

The dessert was especially yummy: baked ice cream

And so the dessert was the perfect conclusion of a perfect lunch. The sizes of the meals are not enormous instead the restaurant is very considerate when it comes to quality and when it comes to satisfying the wishes of the guests. Here it is normal that the waiter helps the customer choose the right dish and recommends him something. Just like in China where the customer tells the waiter what kind of food he wants to eat and the waiter tailors the meal selection to his wishes. I truly like this here.

The bill comes in style at the Sichuan Restaurant

Still, it is not a cheap restaurant but it is also a restaurant where you can meet with a group of people and ask for a separate room – very convenient. But the best thing about the restaurant remains the building and the wonderful terrace with the view at the little pond.

Info: China Restaurant Sichuan (http://www.sichuan.at), Arbeiterstrandbadstrasse 122, 1220  Vienna; Tel: +43/(0)1/263 37 13; Fax: +43/(0)1/263 37 14; email: info@sichuan.at; opening hours: daily 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.; credit cards accepted (AmEX, Diners, Eurocard, Mastercard, Visa, JCB, Maesto)

Getting some Austrian style crispy chicken at Vivus Salettl

I have to admit that the first time I came here I did not like it – probably I just did not order the right stuff. Since I really like Bruschetta with tomatos and basilicum I ordered that here as well. That was a mistake because the bread was not toasted and so I already had a bad start.

So the other day I thought I give it another try and I just felt like crispy chicken. Just for your information: crispy chicken is an Austrian speciality. We usually serve it really crispy with a slice of lemon and a potato lettuce salad and then it is called “Backhendl mit Vogerlsalat” – it is the small bird salad. In Vienna we have this habit of making things even smaller than they are by adding the ending “-erl” to words and so we have the “Vogerl” which is a small bird even smaller than small.

The lettuce in this case is called “small bird salad” – Vogerlsalat

Ok, that’s it – a small excursion to the Viennese language. Back to the important stuff which is the food at Vivus in Prater. It is good food. You need to have patience though as the service is not very fast. Maybe because there were just two waitresses to take care of the whole terrace. That might be the reason. But that was ok, cause I was not in a hurry. It was a wonderful afternoon and the sun was shining.

To drink I ordered something very Viennese – it is called a Himbeerkracherl. You recognize the “-erl” at the end of the word. Again things smaller than small. Because it is a beverage for kids that is why. They just get small things. The taste is raspberry and it is very traditional and carbonated.

Himbeerkracherl (carbonated raspberry soda) – more for kids but I love the raspberry taste

I thought it was the perfect match to the crispy chicken. And so I enjoyed my big portion of crispy chicken while I watched the people at the Prater pass by with their bikes and inline skates. It was lots of food and it justified the price which is not low. No, this is not a cheap restaurant but you get something for your money – that’s for sure.

In summer they have a BBQ disco every Monday evening – meaning they have BBQ and a DJ invited so that you have some music excitement as well. Then they serve grilled steak (Rib-Eye or Porterhouse) and bratwurst and stuff like that. If you like to get breakfast you can come here as well. I never tried that one because I am not eating breakfast. But they serve it until 1:00 p.m. so you might even take that one as lunch.

Info: Vivus Salettl (http://www.vivus.cc), Prater Hauptallee 1, 1020 Vienna; phone: +43/(0)699/144 14 040; mail: salettl@vivus.cc; opening hours: Mon to Sun 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.; you can pay with credit card at least Visa; you can reach the restaurant by getting off at Praterstern and then heading towards Prater and there is the Prater Hauptallee which is not the amusement park part of the Prater but the park and there is a very long straight street and there you find that restaurant on the left side pretty much at the beginning. There is a mini golf close by.