“Polster” means a pillow in German, and while I have no idea where this small but seriously popular hut has gotten its name from (and too lazy to Google it), I wouldn’t mind having a pillow and a nice nap for a couple of hours right now. This may very well have something to do with the three beers I have just finished here (in addition to the two I drank earlier), but good God, this place is relaxing.
The nearby lake, the Schiederweiher, was in 2018 voted one of the most beautiful locations in Austria, although that award comes from an annual TV show that – should it continue to air for another 30 years or so – will probably name the Friedrich Engels Platz the nicest place in Vienna, simply because all the more obvious places would have already been selected in the years before.
The best or not the best, the surroundings were more than nice, and the Brettljause of the Polsterstüberl exceeded my expectations. First, it was very varied, and although I have decreased the rating slightly because a couple of the ingredients did not taste particularly different, the number of different ingredients my board accommodated was quite impressive.
Let’s disregard the boring cheese straight away though: it had some holes, and those holes were probably the best part of it. On the other hand, let’s give some credit to the spreads. There were three of them. The slightly watery Liptauer had an unusual white color but still tasted good enough to easily compete with its orange-colored Lower Austrian relatives. The Schmalz was pleasantly fatty and salty, while the Verhackertes was both of that and meaty in addition. Practically nothing more than shredded and cooked bacon, the Polsterstüberl’s Verhackertes was very tasty and had me spending a large portion of the bread to finish it off. The meats, featured as rather scarce slices, included two types of Speck, some Schweinsbraten, a salami with pumpkin seeds (which did not taste like pumpkin seeds), headcheese and – unusually – cold paprika-spiced Leberkäse.
All in all, there was plenty of good stuff to eat, and the included tiny Schnapps was a welcome digestive (or an aperitif my case). The Polsterstüberl is an unpretentious but cozy place, full of tourists yet never touristic, and so conveniently located that not to visit it while in Hinterstoder is if not a crime then a huge stupidity.
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