It is always quite an event to find a new Brettljause in the center of Vienna (actually, finding a new Brettljause anywhere in Vienna is becoming increasingly difficult). Coming across a typical tourist-free Beisl a few meters from the Ring and vis-à-vis the University sounds like a joke, yet it’s not – Zum Holunderstrauch is exactly such a place. It’s so authentic that I waited a few months before visiting it, just so that I could sit at one of the three Heuriger-style tables outside; it looked too uncomfortably “locals only” inside.
Their Brettljause perfectly matches the “Beisl” image but not being very good. With only four ingredients – blood sausage, Schweinsbraten, Geselchtes and pork jelly – it definitely loses on the variety side, especially since the blood sausage and the jelly are rather tasteless. The Geselchtes is the best of the bunch, being pleasantly salty, while the Schweinbraten tastes too dry for my liking. Even if all the ingredients came from a supermarket, at least they create an impression of having being bought as a big piece and then sliced by hand rather than arriving pre-sliced in a plastic packaging.
The Brettljause is not especially big, and the free Schnapps that comes with it is hardly required for digestion, though is very welcome nevertheless. Their horsehadish is satisfyingly strong, the bread is fresh enough, the salad is even above average, but at the end, it is hard to recommend going to Zum Holunderstrauch more than once. Going once – for novelty’s sake alone – is absolutely fine.
Leave a Reply