Café Westend

Review

The gateway to the west

Photo: Heribert Corn In the past, when the Westbahnhof was still a real train station from which you could travel to Zurich, Paris or Munich, Café Westend was an important place. At least for young people who grew up in the west of Vienna or the surrounding villages, because you would arrive in Vienna from Rekawinkel, Untertullnerbach, Weidlingau-Wurzbachtal or Unter-Oberndorf and the first thing you would see was Café Westend. Not that you wanted to go in there, you wanted to go to Mariahilfer Straße or the Bermuda Triangle, but Café Westend was the gateway, the gate that made you realize that this was the city: You didn't see much of the coffee house renaissance of the past 20 years in Café Westend. The interior of the Art Nouveau café was in obvious disrepair, and apart from its size and yet somehow magical aura, the café was remarkable for two main reasons: firstly, the absurdly large menu, a hundred dishes, a whole page of which was dedicated to the various variations of calf's liver; and secondly, because you didn't get any of these dishes anyway, because the waiters simply wouldn't come. At the beginning of September, Café Westend was taken over. And not by a perfumery, textile or other retail chain, but by Johann Diglas, owner of a coffee house in Wollzeile, who has already expanded considerably in recent years with Konditorei Schmohl, Café Schottenstift and Meierei in Türkenschanzpark. Fortunately, not much has changed: The benches were given new velour covers, the ceiling and walls were repainted (although there would probably have been bolder colors than ochre and olive ...), the chrome-plated ventilation units still roar, the menu was dramatically downsized. And there were new waiters too, elegant, nimble, communicative, friendly, fragrant and sober. The dishes could perhaps have been a little more charming or witty, the selection seems extremely pragmatic. But okay, the toast not only came to the table quickly, which is good because you don't like to wait for toast, it was also perfectly toasted, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, no special ham, no special cheese, perhaps not the best toast in town, but a very good one (€ 4.80).
The goulash really stepped on the gas, crumbly, good bite, great juice with a good amount of fat, fan-shaped gherkins and parsley potatoes, something like this is very nice in a station café (€ 11.40). It's a shame that the Westbahnhof no longer exists. To sum up: a traditional café that has been taken over as gently as possible, leaving what was good and changing what was bad. Café Westend 7, Mariahilfer Str. 128, Tel. 01/522 33 68, Mon-Fri 8-23, Sat, Sun 7-23,

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