Franz von Hahn

Review

Vorarlberg Carinthia

Photo: Heribert Corn When Georg Aichmayr opened his Shabu Kafe on Rotensterngasse in 2002, Wanda Kuchwalek, the somewhat legendary "Wild Wanda", Vienna's only female pimp, was still alive. In "Café Kärnten", as the later Shabu was then called, the woman feared for her brutality went about her business during the 1970s and 1980s. But that is history, Kuchwalek died in 2004 as a minimum pensioner, and Shabu is also passé, moving this spring to Automat Welt on Volkertmarkt. Three weeks ago, something new opened here and you almost get the feeling that some kind of exorcism has taken place: the walls have been scraped down, the furnishings - still largely recycled in Shabu - disposed of, the bar moved to another location, walls knocked down. Apart from the unspeakable clinker brick floor, there is now nothing left of the wicked woman's wicked headquarters, the dark past seems to have been erased, and to top it all off, the bar was even given the name of one of the protagonists from the successful children's book "Friends": Franz von Hahn.
But that's the end of the harmlessness anyway, and Lukas Amann and Viktor Gruber, two young men from Vorarlberg who have been waiters at Futuregarden and its offshoot New Bar in recent years, have simply created a completely new restaurant where a few others have been before.
It's a very purist place, it has to be said, whose interior essentially consists of a poured concrete bar, lots of filigree rod light bulbs - which apparently flash, twinkle and sparkle in response to the bass from the loudspeakers - plenty of gloomy end-time music and just as much cigarette smoke. Very nihilistic. Okay, and that might just be in keeping with the spirit of the times, because Franz von Hahn is well frequented, as Viktor Gruber is somewhat surprised to discover, "by former Shabu people, Futuregarden people and friends". The selection is rather sparse, a few gins, a few rums, a few vodkas, a few schnapps, a few whiskies, but at least three of them are from the island of Islay, the well-known smoky, peaty Lagavulin and the two rarer Kilchoman (very salty, peaty) and Cask Islay. And because it somehow suits the pub, no sophisticated designer cocktails either, but all-time party hits such as Cuba Libre and whisky cola. But there's more to come soon, says Gruber. And if it works out, there will also be a club called Johnny Mauser, "and when we're old, a restaurant called Dicker Waldemar". These are the other two main characters in this children's book ... Summary: a new, thoroughly purist bar, both in terms of atmosphere and cuisine, which is not only popular with smokers. Franz von Hahn 2nd, Rotensterng. 8 Tel. 0650/884 50 65 Mon-Fri 6pm-2am, Sat 7pm-2am

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