Indian Ribs

Eating spare ribs at Glorious Bastards has been an “unfinished job” for me since Christmas, when the restaurant decided to hold a private party at exactly the wrong moment. Passing though Inssbruck on my way from Seefeld to Vienna and having a few spare hours, I decided to correct that oversight.

I am glad I did. Though I had never been impressed by Bastards’ hamburgers, I quite liked the atmosphere of this restaurant chain as well as the fact that they served their own beer, no matter how uninspiring the beer was. I found the complete absence of printed menus (everything is online) and the preference for non-cash payments rather refreshing, too. And today’s ribs were good, in a special way.

Whether you love them or hate them would depend on your attitude towards pulled pork. The customer at the table next to mine left a half of his dish untouched (though that might have something to do with his eating practices). I found the portion quite small at the first glance, but it managed to fill me up at the end. The ribs had been “slow-cooked” and that means they fell off the bones with no efforts from my side. The meat did not only resemble pulled pork; it was pulled pork, but a well-marinated one. The ribs were topped with a fair amount of chili and some curry (I think), so the taste reminded me of dishes from Indian restaurants. Similar to Indian curries, the ribs were spicy, but my mouth always began feeling the spiciness after a short delay. That was something I enjoyed.

Not much was offered in terms of sauces – the home-made ketchup went well with the ribs, however, and was very helpful for the French fries, which were, incidentally, very fresh and hot. The cabbage salad was OK, but quite small, so consider taking an extra salad if you are into greens and feel hungry.

All in all, unless you really prefer your ribs to be tough, I would recommend giving Glorious Bastards a try. It’s a cool restaurant with a nice concept.