The goose season in Vienna is just starting (Burgenland starts a couple of weeks earlier, in case you are looking for an “early bird”), but already since a month newspapers have been warning Gansl-lovers about the upcoming sharp rise in prices. The reasons stated are the inflation and the skyrocketing energy costs. Geese may take a lot of time and energy to get cooked, yet I cannot help suspecting that restaurants know that regardless of the price, Austrians will order Martinigansl anyway. It is too much of a tradition to skip it because of a few extra euros.
Quite a few euros, as my visit to Heidingers has proven. 38 euros for a goose menu is something that only rather fancy restaurants could allow themselves a year ago. Heidingers is not a simple restaurant, on the other hand. Despite its basic interior and its location in the non-prestigious 15th district, it seems to be very well known. Nearly all the tables were reserved in advance, and by 8 o’clock the restaurant was full of people. The napkins were out of cloth rather than paper, and the menu was specially printed for the goose season. It is not your typical Beisl.
According to the menu, taking the goose alone was not an option: it came in a bundle with a goose soup and a small schnapps at the end. If this does not sound exciting to you, you are completely right. The soup was anything but sophisticated, and to be honest, was not good at all. The schnapps, although of good quality, could not have cost much. And the fruity-tasting goose liver, which arrived as a starter, was presented, strangely, as a “greeting from the kitchen,” and included in the obligatory service charge of four Euros.
Thus, the main contributor to the steep price was the goose itself. Was it any good? It certainly was not bad. The portion was big enough and clearly prepared by people who know how to handle geese. The skin was crunchy with very little fat below it, and the meat was thoroughly cooked. I found it slightly tough on the outside, but it got much better closer to the bones. The only criticism I have is about the lack of salt, which is of course a problem rather easily solvable with the help of a salt shaker. I cannot say anything nice about the sticky potato dumpling, except that the supplied “goose juice” helped give it some taste. The red cabbage, on the other hand, was totally acceptable, but served as a surprisingly small portion.
Though overpriced, as the first goose of the season the Heidingers’ bird was OK, even better than I had expected. As I am sure there will be other and better geese soon, I quite enjoyed it after a long goose-less diet. However, if you plan to have only one or two portions of goose this year, I recommend looking for other options.
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