Bruder – Bar & Küche

Review

Ferment it, bro!

Photo: Heribert Corn Hubert Peter and Lucas Steindorfer's previous careers have been interesting: sommelier at Au, bartender at Kussmaul, drinks chef at Liebe at one, patissier at Tian, chef at Tian Bistro and at Liebe at the other. In autumn 2017, the two were part of the core team of the wonderful interim use project Rien in the former Griensteidl and at some point they decided to open their own restaurant together. It may not seem like much now, but the two have developed into very interesting restaurateurs over the past few years. Lucas Steindorfer has brought his passions for Mexico and fishing into his cuisine, mixed with sometimes ironic interpretations of Viennese classics and expeditions into vegetarianism, while Hubert Peter has thrown himself more and more into making liqueurs, fermenting and fermenting over the past three years, in addition to creating the most extraordinary cocktails in the city (served with sausage or in a bell pepper, for example). And the two of them have made this the central theme of their new bar Bruder, which they opened last week in the former G'schupfter Ferdl. There are more than 120 glass balloons behind and on top of Hubert Peter's bar, in which his homemade amaro made from tree bark and bitter herbs, his home-made vermouth or grandiose liqueur made from Viennese fig leaves take shape and taste. The cement tiles come from the old Vinissimo, the music is young and loud, the kitchen is open, there is a central table in the middle of the bar room, the dishes are designed for sharing, the hip crowd likes that.
The Brettljause "Mir doch Wurst" is good, but remains relatively conventional (€ 8.50); the starters are more interesting, such as the "Bauchfleck am Grill", two skewers of melt-in-the-mouth pork belly, beetroot and shallot with homemade mustard (€ 13.50). The polenta tasterz with roasted carrot and grated coffee beans on top is also very good, a reminiscence of the polenta with latte in the Carinthia of his childhood, Steindorfer reveals (€ 8.50). The wonderful snail goulash was already served at Rien and is still great (€ 10.50), while the vegetarian mushroom Beuschl is the best non-carnivore lung hash I've ever had (€ 15.50). Home-pickled vegetables, home-made vinegar and home-fermented fish sauce are included in every course, but the principle of fermentation is not really used to the full, so fermentation-freak foodies may not be traveling all the way from New York, Tokyo and Berlin. It doesn't matter, says Steindorfer, they want to keep it low-threshold and not turn it into a culinary freak show, "it should still be fun". Summary: A new center of hip-culinary urbanity with the general theme of fermentation, but without being too intrusive. Bruder, 6th, Windmühlg. 20, Tel. 0664/135 13 20, Wed-Fri from 5pm, Sat, Sun 10am-3pm,

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