The awkward thing about a dentist appointment at four o’clock is that you do not feel comfortable having lunch. Dentists are generally patient and polite people, but there is no doubt that they can perfectly recognize what you have eaten just by glancing at the tiny bits stuck between your teeth. And if your meal contained garlic, they probably barely resist removing one of your eyes with the drill. For exactly these reasons, there was no lunch for me, and when at the end the doctor told me to abstain from eating and drinking for another hour, I knew exactly what I wanted once that torturous hour was over: a nice big portion of goose.
The decision to visit Silberwirt was spontaneous, as I suddenly recalled a surprisingly good goose that the restaurant served me five years ago. I liked it so much that I tried to visit Silberwirt several times in the years after, but apart from one time during the pandemic when I managed to order a goose to warm up at home, I was never successful – because the restaurant was always full, but mainly because I was too lazy to reserve in advance. Even today, I was lucky to arrive relatively early, because the only table the waiter could offer me was only free until 19:30. As I placed the order, the restaurant started to fill up very quickly, as some fairly large groups of friends or co-workers arrived one after another.
Fortunately, the goose appeared rather quickly, saving me the stress of rushing to finish it by the deadline. It came in a sort of a rectangular pan, which also contained red cabbage mixed with apples and a huge potato dumpling. The waiter brought a separate plate too, as well as a small metal pitcher with a sauce. Honestly, the purpose of the pan remains a mystery for me, because all its contents could fit on the provided plate perfectly well. I even doubt that the dish was warmed up in the same pan, because the pan was not at all hot.
Maybe the pan contributed to the initial appeal, however, because the goose looked quite tasty. It looked better than it actually was, unfortunately. The skin, which appears shiny on the picture, was in fact not crispy at all, apart from one tiny part that must have been more exposed to the heat than the rest. Tender pieces of meat were mixed with rather tough ones, as if different parts of the bird had been cooked at different times. Nevertheless, the more tender parts had a good “goosy” taste, which suggested that the goose was relatively freshly cooked. The cabbage and the dumpling were unexciting, the taste of cabbage turning too fruity for my liking because of the apples, and the dumpling being simply too bland.
As must be clear to you by now, this year’s Gansl of Silberwirt was far from being a contender for any award. Perhaps my expectations were too optimistic, but many signs were good. The high number of people in the restaurant is usually a very good indicator, for example. Besides, subject to a prior reservation Silverwirt can serve an entire goose for four people, implying that it does not save money by cooking cheap imported goose legs. I want to think that today I experienced an accidental lack of attention rather than a systematic problem.
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