Frau Bernhard

Review

Harbor, Sailor, Curry

Photo: Heribert Corn Once upon a time, the Alt-Wiener Weinhaus on Margaretenstraße was converted into a kind of cocktail bar with shrimps and rocket about ten years ago and given the name Orange One. Fortunately, four and a half years ago, the poor restaurant had put this phase behind it when Marc Oberngruber took over and restored the dignity of the old wine house with a proper, down-to-earth menu and an impressive range of beers. The only problem: no one at Orange is interested in the finer wines, champagnes or the elaborate small dishes. But because Marc Oberngruber and Dorothee Bernhard like to do just that and had also started the catering company "Matrosenjunge", which was more or less all about such things, they were looking for a small restaurant where they could pursue this passion and which could also serve as a showroom for their catering. Oberngruber and Bernhard did a bit of remodeling, moved in old furniture and installed a rudimentary kitchen, "kind of a middle ground between a restaurant and a living room". And that pretty much sums up the concept of this restaurant, because you get the feeling that everyone here knows each other, and it doesn't take very long before you do too. Dorothee Bernhard and Marc Oberngruber look after the people who visit their restaurant, more like hosts than restaurateurs, wines can be tasted before you order a glass, and Ms Bernhard tells you in bright colors what she has cooked today, where she got the ingredients from and why she thinks the recipe is so great.
For example, the tomato and coconut curry from an Indian cookbook author, which she loves even though she is not a big fan of vegan cuisine, she says, served with sourdough bread toasted in butter, very good (€ 7.10); or a salad of lukewarm lentils, mint and pieces of celery roasted in coconut oil, all marinated with home-made kombucha and topped with a waxy egg - I could eat it every day (€ 6.60); or the "crispy plum", the highly ripe stone fruit wrapped in bacon together with camembert, a good amount of pink pepper, fried and glazed with maple syrup, is very good (€ 6.60). There are plenty of good to very good wines to go with it, champagne only by the bottle, but as I said, nobody has to drink alone for long here. The oysters supposedly arrive at the end of October and the goose giblets in November. So you should plan your appointments and routes so that you can stop by in Esterházygasse from 5 p.m. To sum up: a salon that hasn't been around for a long time - with fine snacks, enjoyable drinks and a good atmosphere. Frau Bernhard, 6th, Esterházyg. 11, Tel. 0664/651 09 83, Sat, Sun 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Tue-Sat 5 p.m. - 2 a.m.

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