A member of the noble Mostbaron group of Heurigers, Pfeiffer distinguishes itself by having the ugliest website featuring some of the most unappetizing photos of their Brettljausen. Their location is also particularly uninteresting and inconvenient to reach by foot, the way to it being badly marked and following a busy road. When you finally reach the building, it looks extremely plain and uninviting, with a worn-out sign and a complete lack of any decoration.
I arrived at 15:00 and found all the tables inside empty and reserved – never a good sign. Still, I was given a chair at the end of a long reserved table. Within ten minutes the restaurant started to fill up quickly. Luckily, the people at whose table I was sitting did not arrive until my Brettljause was almost over, so I could pay and leave quickly while avoiding their unhappy glances. Pfeiffer is definitely a locals-only establishment, and as a first-time accidental visitor one feels rather uncomfortable.
The Brettljause, while rich with things and certainly authentic, suffered from the “Mostbaron plate” syndrome: when you order the most expensive Mostbaronjause in one of the Mostbaron Heurigers, they get too creative and put all sort of things on the pear-shaped piece of wood, without caring about how different ingredients work together. And not all of them did, some strangely tasteless jam with Schmalz, red pepper and onions being a case in point.
The meats, on the other hand, were quite good, especially the Speck and the cold Schweinsbraten, which went very well with the fiery horseradish. The typical Mostviertel’s meat dumpling had no taste at all, however, and the small piece of a Bratl (looking like a single spare rib) managed to contain enough cartilage to make it inedible.
All the above may sound as if Pfeiffer was a complete disaster, and in all honesty it was not. With less people, noise and a different Brettljause (they offer quite a few), it would live up to its Mostbaron title, and even as it is now it is an above average place. It is just not as good as one would expect.
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