This is about as traditional as Viennese street food goes, the humble Vienna sausage. The Vienna sausages from Vienna are nothing like we get at home. They are not the mass-produced slightly suspect sausages we think of. Rather they are top-quality.
You can find them on almost any street corner, usually served sliced with (not on) a roll, with a little mustard or tomato sauce on the side. They are great value and perfect for filling the lunch-time gap.
Lunch time
A selection to choose from
A heuriger is a wine-bar/restaurant on a wine farm which has a special licence to sell the recent harvest for onsite consumption. In short, you get great food and wine cheaply.
We were recommended Heuriger 10er Marie, and it was so good that we went there twice. The outside is deceptively quiet, but it is busy inside, mostly with locals.
Some of the tables
Both times we went we had a fantastic time. The food is great, the crowds are boisterous, the wine flows freely, and you have a great time.
If you are in Vienna, a visit to a heuriger is a must!
Another round of wine, please
The best schnitzel I have ever eaten (chicken – I don’t eat veal)
If you weren’t at the burger festival this weekend you lost out. They should have more correctly called it the burger and beer festival, because there was plenty of amazing craft beer.
It’s great to see how many small scale breweries there are now in Cape Town, and tasting how good some of the beers are! There was plenty to taste, and the beer community has such amazing people in it – so passionate about their beer, and so willing to share.
Of course beer goes hand in hand with burgers, and it was difficult to choose which stand to buy a burger from. I eventually settled on a 3-cheese burger – mozzarella and cheddar mixed into the patty, topped with blue cheese from Fat Harry’s. I don’t normally eat chips, but after a 30k run this morning I was hungry, and I am glad I ate the chips. Without a doubt they are the best chips I have ever eaten.
It turns out that Fat Harry’s is a restaurant in Harfield Village; I will be taking a turn there to try their other burgers. Here is their website. http://www.fatharrys.co.za
Here’s a pic of my burger; you can decide for yourself how good it looks.
Vienna is known for its coffee shops, and with good reason! The coffee and cakes are wonderful, enjoyed in the splendour of comfortable leather armchairs. I could get quite comfortable with Viennese life.
I had coffee with whipped cream, enjoyed with a Mozart cake, which is layers of light and dark chocolate.
A friend of mine sent me an amazing recipe for low-carb chocolates – basically made from coconut oil and butter.
The original recipe is from Primal Perks, and here is my version. The main differences is that I dropped the sweetener, used peanut butter (yes I know peanuts contain carbs but given the amount used it will add very little to the total) and I made 1/2 the quantity for my first attempt.
By the way it only takes about 10 min to make.
Ingredients
Method
They are excellent and very filling. They naturally separated a little as they froze, giving that nice three-layer effect. I think they may make a great pre-race snack which I will try on my next race.
Thanks to my friend Trevor for sending the original recipe to me.
In March it was the annual Southyeasters home-brew festival, and as usual they had a fantastic selection of beer to try (my favourite was a beer made with smoked grain – something I will be trying soon).
I was there to take a few photos, and of course to try the beer.
It amazes me how big the home-brew and craft beer has become in Cape Town. When I started brewing a few years ago I knew of only 1 other homebrewer, and now there are so many people making their own beer. I think it’s fantastic and is only going to result in better beer all around.
So, what to make for my next brew…?
The South Yeasters Beer Club (of which I am a member) are hosting a beer festival this Sunday, at the SAB brewery in Newlands. There will be over 40 home-made beers available to sample. So if you want to check out the home-brew scene, or just try some amazing beers pop over for an hour or two. Tickets are R100 (that’s about what you will pay retail for 3 craft beers – you will get to try over 40).
To get you in the mood, here are a few pics from my brewery.
Don’t forget that today is International Absinthe Day, so remember to have some when you get home this evening (like you really need an excuse that is).
This local absinthe (which in my opinion is much better than the Czech Absinthe) is made by my friend Roger Jorgensen
Pouring Absinthe in the traditional manner.
In Prague you can get it on every street corner, and if the drink is not to your taste, try the ice cream or a cocktail. But be warned, it is dangerous stuff.
We had dinner the other day at one of the restaurants at the V&A Waterfront and Lois ordered one of the vegetarian meals. This divine looking vegetarian platter arrived a few minutes later (certainly much better than the baked potato, spinach and butternut vege platters of the 80’s). But the only problem is that it is not what she ordered. But that didn’t stop me from taking a quick photo of it before it was whisked away to be rapidly replaced with the correct meal.
These amazing pastries are cooked fresh and sold on every street corner in Prague. They are cooked on rollers above hot coals, then doused in sugar and cinnamon and eaten hot. While I don’t usually eat pastries, these are worth making an exception for. They are cheap and yummy. If you want to be really decadent you can sometimes find them dipped in chocolate.
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