Petting the Goldfish

It was former part of the German air defense – today it is a zoo for aquatic and terrestrian animals. In German it is called “Haus des Meeres” – house of the sea and it is really close to Mariahilfer Strasse – Vienna’s most prominent shopping street. For me it is one of my favorite places to go when I feel like going to some sort of zoo. And it is just the perfect place when you’d like to do something in Vienna with kids and they sure have adapted to this here. When you enter the gates the first thing you see are the koi and if you have patience enough you can even touch them.

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.

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Green Cottage Part II: This time the Chinese one

Last week was the week when I spent my time outside Vienna at an Austrian lake called Traunsee. It was wonderful – believe me. But what was missing was the variety of different cuisines. Don’t get me wrong! I love Austrian food – its my home food in the end. But I do need other food too – especially Asian one. So today I had to get some Chinese food. And there is one restaurant close to Naschmarkt which serves really good Chinese food.

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

The green cottage that is no longer green

Today, I was already pretty hungry. First I thought I would go to this one vegetarian restaurant but then I thought: “No, I need some typical Austrian food that is not healthy at all but fills my stomach”. And you can find that food in Vienna pretty easily. One of the restaurants that serve you just that is “Die grüne Hütte” which translates to “Green Cottage”.

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”

Anything but Sacher Torte

No, us Viennese don’t go to Demel and probably not that much to the Café Sacher either. And there is the traditional café where you get all these traditional cakes for which Vienna is somehow famous and there is an alternative – much nicer, much more for people that like to have a nice piece of cake at a cosy place.

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

Beetroot Sorbet? WTF?!

Actually no. My first reaction was not that mean. It was rather that of pure curiosity. Veggies as ice cream – something you hardly get in Vienna. I know of goat cheese ice cream at Eis Greissler. But here at Lepantos they pretty much have just the alternative flavors. Here tangerine-lime is already very conservative. And so this place calls its ice cream exceptional.

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

Sichuan: Yes, you have to walk inside on the zig-zag path

It is probably one of the most authentic Chinese restaurants in a district of Vienna where you might least expect it – the Sichuan Restaurant in the 22nd district far outside the city centre at the Alte Donau (Old Danube). Not only does it serve typical Chinese cuisine but in fact it serves one of the four most influential cuisines of China – the Szechuan cuisine.

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)

Viva Vivus Crispy Chicken

The Vivus Salettl in Prater opened almost two years ago. The concept is simple: serve typical Austrian cuisine but modern and not inn style. And so this restaurant is a simple wooden building and in summer you can sit on a wonderful terrace outside.

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.

Muesli: The Raisin Question

Yes, there are some people out there that do not appreciate raisins in their muesli. And for those that feel that way there is a solution in Vienna – the Corns n’ Pops store at Gumpendorfer Strasse close to Naschmarkt.

Corns n’Pops is the place to go if you are a muesli fan

Well, this is truly a place for really yummy muesli. And so the other day, I just felt like getting some. So I made my way to Gumpendorfer Strasse although it was raining … well, it was raining a lot. But I was on a mission – getting this cup and filling it with yummy stuff to eat it either as breakfast or as dinner.

The concept is simple. You either choose a pre-prepared muesli mixture or you just mix your own. There are sizes from which you can choose from – the smallest starting at 4 Euros, and then there is the plastic bag for 8 and the bottle for 10 Euros. I have to admit that for me muesli for 10 Euros is just too expensive – ok, there is more inside the bottle but still. For me it is a treat and therefore I take the small cup.

Corns n’Pops: First you choose the size and then whether you like the pre-prepared version or want to mix it yourself

And then starts the decision making. I always have a hard time to decide what to take when there are soo many options. So I just make the best out of it. Very important: always try to fit as much as possible into the cup since you are paying for the volume and not the weight. So shaking the cup from time to time and combining small stuff with larger ones will help to fit as much as possible.

As for the ingredients you can choose from different cereals to lots of different fruits like dried mangos, craneberries, apples, apricots you name it to chocolate drops, M&Ms and some more exotic ingredients like glacéed ginger and aloe vera which I like a lot too.

In the end my cup was filled with yummy muesli to take home

For those that can’t just wait to eat it, the shop owners offer you milk and you can eat it at the shop. As a matter of fact this place is not just for muesli. In the end, you can also get a nice lunch special. They offer one meal everyday and you can also sit in to enjoy something to drink. There they offer some really exciting stuff like a chai frappé or milk shakes with cherry blossom and almonds.

For those that not only want to get some muesli there is also some exciting stuff to drink

I do like this place a lot and I also like the dynamic and young owners here. They really opened a store here which is unique. For me when I want to get some special muesli I come here and get a cup. Of course, I have to admit after I get home it does not survive for long. It really tastes great – much better than the one you get in the supermarket. Plus you can choose the ingredients you like and leave the ones that you don’t like – like raisins for example.

Info: Corns n’Pops (http://www.cornsnpops.com), Gumpendorfer Strasse 37, 1060 Vienna; phone: +43/664/131 20 05; email: office@cornsnpops.com; opening hours: Mon to Fri 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sat 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.; you reach the place either by bus (57A stop at Stiegengasse) or by U4 getting off at Kettenbrückengasse and when you are facing towards the city centre you walk left up Stiegengasse and then at the next street which is Gumpendorfer Strasse you turn to your right.

Vietthao: A Family Restaurant

From the outside it does not look particularly spectacular and compared to the other fancy restaurants in the first district it is not spectacular on the inside neither. It is a simple restaurant. When you enter it the first thing you notice is this retro photo of a young Asian couple. The Asian waiter talks to you with a perfect Viennese dialect. Touchez, I like!

Vietthao: a Vietnamese restaurant at Karlsplatz close to the Secession

At the beginning I was kind of suspicious. At the door they have the menu and I was kind of shocked at first. There they wrote prices like twenty euros etc. And I was already disappointed – also with myself because going for lunch on a Saturday always means you miss out on the lunch specials. “Shall I really go in?” was what I asked myself. In the end, my first impression was that it must be expensive. But then I decided now that I had come here for the restaurant I will take the chance and try it.

So I entered and noticed the interior – very simple, nothing special. Fortunately, the music was not this usual Clayderman music adapted for the Chinese something. I got the menu from the waiter. I know quite a few Vietnamese restaurants in Vienna. As a matter of fact I like Vietnamese food a lot. But on this menu I found lots of different food which you can hardly find in other restaurants. So I had a hard time with choosing what I wanted – well mainly for the starter since I knew immediately what I wanted for the main course and that was the fish.

Vietthao: as a starter I chose the summer rolls with pork and mushrooms

The reason why I was unsure about the starter was that they were not too cheap but then in the end they offer real good stuff like summer rolls with shrimp – this always means higher prices. Eventually, I decided for the summer rolls with pork and mushrooms as I was going to take the fish as a main course.

And let me tell you: the starter was delicious! Together with this red spicy peanut something sauce it was great. It was so delicious that I almost did not care about my dish manners. For the main course I had to wait a bit. This because there motto is that they prepare everything fresh. But that was ok for me since I was not in a rush. And of course, I could see what the others had. On the other table they had pho – also something I like. But then there was the big moment: the fish arrived.

The gilt-head bream was just delicious – excellent with the zucchini and the mango

It was soo delicious. Together with the fish came mango and grilled zucchini as a side order and of course rice, which was, fortunately, already included in the price. The size of the meal was just right and I was filled afterwards but not stuffed or felt to have eaten a bunch of stones.

This is definitely a great Vietnamese restaurant in my inofficial ranking of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Vienna this ranks very close to the top. So, I can truly recommend that restaurant. As it is close the many main Viennese attractions like the Karlskirche or the Naschmarkt it is a great option for a nice lunch or dinner.

Info: Vietthao, Friedrichstrasse 2, 1010 Vienna; phone: +43/1/585 20 31; opening hours: Mon – Thu 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Fri – Sat 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; credit cards: Visa, Master Card; you can reach the restaurant by going to U1/U2/U4 Karlsplatz and then taking the exit Elisbethstrasse

Sixties Design: I like!

Yes, interior design of the Sixties has survived. And so I found a few chairs, lamps and other furniture at the special exhibition “Sixties Design” at the Imperial Furniture Collection, which you can still find today.

At the Sixties Design exhibition at the Imperial Funeral Collection

The Imperial Furniture Collection is a museum not too big and one that people might not visit when they are in Vienna for a short period of time. But for those that are interior design freaks it is definitely worth visiting. Here they show furniture that was used during the imperial times back when Austria was still a monarchy. But they also have temporary special exhibitions. And since I love interior design I decided that I had to go for this Sixties design exhibition.

Yes, I would put this great desk into my room …

At the beginning I thought that exhibition would be bigger but then they provide you with a good overview of design of the sixties. The Sixties a decade when everything was still possible and when technology was the key. Plastic was great and pollution was still not an issue yet. But it was also a decade of counter movements, like the Hippie Lifestyle and protest movements against the Cold and the Vietnam War.

The Book which is a chair at the Sixties Design exhibition

And this exhibition takes you on a time travel and starts with the colorful furniture, the furniture which is somehow strange. And strange it is still when you come to the end of the exhibition – at the end of the sixties. There is this great object – nice. But wait? It is something you can sit on. It says that it just looks like hard plastic but it is flexible.

It does look like a place to sit on, doesn’t it?

Yes, it was a decade which was very creative and so the exhibition ends with an outlook – an outlook to the Seventies, the beginning of the environmental movement, the first oil crisis.

And my conclusion: yes, I think this exhibition is really interesting but this museum is just not a big museum and one should not expect it to be one. It is a great place to discover interior design, is it from the sixties or from the imperial times. And so it is a museum off the beaten track – something very nice, when you feel like being tramped on in museums like the Leopold Museum.

Info: Imperial Furniture Collection (http://www.hofmobiliendepot.at); Andeasgasse 7, 1070 Vienna; phone: +43/1/524 33 57; opening hours: closed Mondays, Tue to Sun from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; the Sixties Design exhibition runs until 17 June 2012; you can reach the museum by getting off at U3 Zieglergasse and taking the exit Andreasgasse and then walking up Andreasgasse on the left side.

Irene's Vienna

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