The Wachau valley has thousands of cyclists who surely love to stop on their way from Ybbs to Krems and eat something small and traditional. The Wachau valley is also famous for its wine, which is best consumed with something small and traditional. Normally in the Wachau valley you should find a Brettljause at every corner. They should run after you with a Brettljause begging you to taste it. So why did I have to walk for three and a half hours and then wait for two more to find one? Let’s hope it was only because it was Wednesday and out of season, because otherwise the Brettljause market of Austria is in deep trouble.
It was not a bad one. Best of all, the two rolls that came with it (I almost feel guilty to call a Semmel a “roll”, but that’s what Google Translate tells me) were still warm and super-fresh. The plate itself contained the obligatory Blutwurst, Schweinsbraten, cheese (tasteless, unfortunately), rather boring Heuriger-style spread and at least five other types of ham/sausage. If this sounds like much, it was not, because there were only two slices of each variety, but I was not left hungry either. One can believe that the meat, or at least some of it, comes from a local butcher and not from a supermarket.
The horseradish was highly satisfactorily fiery, almost making me cry at one point. Rather unusually – and welcome too – the plate contained an egg (one-fourth of an egg to be exact; come on, guys, give me the whole egg, I am ready to pay!) and three cloves of pickled garlic (possibly industrial). Mustard, a salty cucumber and a Pfefferoni were present too, of course.
The location is not perfect because of the closeness of the road, but sitting in the sun in the back garden was very pleasant. The waiter was overzealous at first, feeling obliged to vocalize everything he was doing (“And now I am bringing you salt and pepper”, “And now I will put this cloth on your table”, “And now I’ll bring a pillow for you to sit on”, and so on), but perhaps he was simply bored. After all, I was the first customer of the day and possibly the first customer of the season, because according to their website today was the restaurant’s first working day after a winter break.
All in all, it was an average Brettljause, but average in a very positive way. Recommended.
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