Unboxing

I always thought that unboxing was something that applied to mobile phones or, in the worst case, washing machines. Today’s Brettljause at the Glocknerblick was the very first I have ever had to unbox. Or unbag, to be exact, for its main ingredients arrived in a neat red bag, sharing the wooden board with a jar of pickles and small bowls of horseradish, mustard and sheep cheese. (A complimentary Schnapps arrived later separately.)

Inside the bag was an East Tyrolean twin of a South Tyrolean Marende. It contained two types of Speck – one that was meat with some fat, and the other that was fat with some meat, – a long sausage that was very close in its taste to a Kaminwurz (as far as I remember that taste having not been to the South Tyrol for quite a while), a tasty mountain cheese and quite a lot of butter.

Everything was great and nearly too much. Cheese and fat were very filling by themselves, and the fresh bread with butter was too good not to finish. The pickles were unusual (pickled carrot, anyone?) and even the mustard had a unique non-industrial taste. At the end, however, a bit of mustard remained unfinished: after all, mustard goes much better with Schweinsbraten and ham than with salty Speck. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to try the Gasthof’s own beer, having had a self-imposed alcohol-free day. Had I known they were making their own beer (instead of reading about it on their website later on), I would have probably made an exception.

My only problem with the location was the ambiance, and that had nothing to do with the hosts, who were actually extremely friendly. First, by the time I reached the restaurant, the weather was starting to match the forecast, as the clouds were getting darker, and the wind was getting stronger and colder. Much worse, however, was a group of ten Austrians of the “early retirement age,” who were enjoying themselves in the typical way of the people of their age and education (or rather lack of). Their drunken shouts and stupid laughs continued to ring in my head, making me feel nervous, for almost an hour after they had left.

And by the way, despite the Gasthof’s name, don’t except a view of the Grossglockner mountain while sitting on the restaurant’s terrace: it is actually facing the opposite direction.