I don’t often leave dinner plans to the last minute, but on this rather rare occasion I decided to try out the Uncover app and browsed the list of restaurants with dinner time availability. Many of the venues had really late slots, but thankfully Fischer’s seemed to have my preferred time of 6.30pm, and a few finger taps later we were booked in, an email confirmation swiftly arriving in my inbox.
I have always wanted to visit Vienna, along with my long list of places to travel that will hopefully be ticked off the list in the next year or so. But for now this is probably the closest that I can get without having to jump on a plane. Fischer’s is an informal neighbourhood cafe and konditorei which is designed to depict the evocative feel of Vienna in the early years of the twentieth century.
Our table was situated in the corner at the back, with a pleasant view of the vast room. The walls are decorated with distressed wallpaper and tiles, with rows of portraits of distinguished-looking individuals. The room is furnished with plenty of dark wood and brass fixtures, and leather banquettes. From the ceiling above where some natural light shone in, hung a large clock which reminded me of the ones that you usually see in railway stations.
The menu is pretty extensive and thankfully I had Stef to help explain some of the more traditional dishes, saving me from doing Google searches on my phone.
For starters, Stef had the grapefruit cured salmon served with horseradish cream and nordic bread, which had a fresh, zesty flavour to it. My fickle-minded self eventually decided on the white onion and gouda tart – warm, cheesy and delightfully hearty, presented on a lightly dressed bed of salad consisting of lambs lettuce, curly chicory and thinly sliced radish.
We both went for individual small portions of the Wiener Schnitzel, which I personally think is a big enough size (so you can save space for dessert! – a crucial element to consider during every meal…). It had a nice and even, golden breadcrumb coating, and inside a well-cooked thin and tender veal cutlet. This was served in a pool of jus parisienne and half a lemon wrapped in muslin for extra tanginess. We also ordered a couple of side dishes – spätzle (a kind of soft egg noodle or dumpling) that Stef recommended, which was buttery and very moreish, and some sauerkraut.
After looking hungrily at the endless list of desserts and sweets, we settled for the apple and cinnamon strudel and a Franz Joseph Kaiserschmarrn – another one of Stef’s recommendations that I attempted to pronounce (rather badly I must say!). I think I shall stick to pointing at names on menus…
The pancakes were deliciously light and fluffy and came with a plum compote and a pot of cream. The strudel was undoubtedly just as good, with a lovely puff pastry crust and stuffed with sweet slices of apple.
The two men at the next table who had started making small talk with us halfway through our meal gasped at the amount of food that we ordered (which really wasn’t THAT much…).
Overall we both enjoyed our meal and I do like the warm ambience of the place. I would definitely be tempted to come back again and try more from the menu, and maybe even pop in for a coffee and order some of those tasty sounding konditorei and biscuits! Everyone knows my weakness and love for sweet things…
The Cheekster, signing out x