There is hardly a more tourist restaurant in Vienna outside the first district than Schönbrunner Stöckl. The clients are almost exclusively non-Austrian, and the waiter seems to feel much more comfortable speaking English than German. With a Slovak accent. The Brettljause is part of the restaurant’s “summer card”, so there is no point looking for it in the regular menu. There is also no guarantee that it will reappear next year. And honestly, if you miss it, there is not much to be sad about.
To give this Slovak creation credit, it is certainly original. The only things that it shares with the Austrian Brettljausen are the horseradish, mustard, bread and pickled cucumber. There is also Liptauer, but its taste is so much stronger than the taste of its standard Austrian cousin that it can be considered a totally different spread altogether. The second spread, white and quite tasteless, must be the “Brimsen” – some sort of fresh Slovak cheese. “Ostiepok,” another type of Slovak smoked cheese mentioned in the description of the dish, appeared to be missing. What was present, however, was “Korbáčik” – a sort of weird string cheese, intertwined like braids and tasting slightly smoked. The meat side was represented solely by a spicy Bergsalami, which, together with the Pfefferonis, added to the Jause’s spicier than expected taste. The only remaining ingredient was butter, provided in abundance and quite welcome, too.
If one is looking for a serious Brettljause of Styrian quality, this dish frankly does not stand a chance. On the other hand, it is a surprisingly authentic example of Slovak food (Bergsalami aside, probably) and is in fact better than the most typical Brettljausen of Vienna. It is not at all great, but could have been much much worse.
Leave a Reply