Last year, Napoleon’s goose was one of the four geese that I could eat “properly” before the COVID lockdown limited my options to take-home dishes. I liked it. Liked it a lot, actually, and could have possibly crowned it the goose of the year, hadn’t the take-home wonder of Plachutta surpassed it. This year, Napoleon looked like a logical choice for a reunion of my ex-colleagues and friends.
Thanks to the fantastic weather, we even had the chance to sit in the restaurant’s large yet cozy beer garden, and enjoy a relative privacy as a result, since the majority of customers for some reason preferred to sit inside. Since we were a five-person group, all eating geese, the way our dishes were served was very different to my experience a year ago when visiting the restaurant alone. All the bird parts – a mix of breasts and legs – arrived on separate plates, while the dumplings and the red cabbage were served in huge bowls, and the sauce came in separate jars.
In became self-service after that. Having still not completely recovered from yesterday’s goose in Vienna Woods, I went for the smallest portion and was still surprised by the amount of meat in it. The goose might look overcooked and too dry on the photo, but underneath the mostly crunchy skin, the meat was generally tender and lean. Even without the sauce, the goose was quite tasty, and honestly, the thick brown sauce did not have much to do the goose and modified its taste rather than enhanced it.
I can say nothing good about the red cabbage, unfortunately. It was not unpleasant, but did not distinguish itself from 90% of red cabbages one can get elsewhere. The dumpling, on the other hand, had some distinct and quite satisfying taste but, unfortunately, a very gluey texture.
After the last year’s triumph, the Napoleon’s goose of 2021 was somewhat of a letdown. Do not take it wrongly, however, it is still a very well cooked Gansl, and if you as lucky as me to eat it in the autumn-colored beer garden, you will quite certainly enjoy it.
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