This was my first Brettljause of 2012 and the first meal while sitting outside, so this was in a way special experience. Mühlfeldhof is a Heuriger in the small town of Pfaffstätten, adjacent to Baden. It does not look much from the street, and its Spartan garden does not impress at all, but it was one of the first warm days, and it would have been a shame to miss the opportunity to enjoy a good sausage in the sun.
By pure luck, in March Mühlfeldhof offers various types of Brettljause: from the meaty Hauerbrettl that I took to Cheesebrettl, Antipastibrettl (some Italian-type stuff), Fishbrettl (yuck!) and even Sweetbrettl (now this is getting ridiculous). The variety of the stuff on the piece of wood that I got was quite surprising, though all the sausage and cheese types came in one or two slices, which was very underwhelming.
The best bits were the Bergkäse (the only one of the three cheese sorts that had a taste), the salty but not over-smoked Speck and the thinly sliced Schweinsbraten. As usual, there was too much Blutwurst and the strange minced-meat-with-paprika spread looked already chewed and thus slightly disturbing (but did not taste bad). The other ingredients (some pork jelly, spicy spread, hams, etc.) were quite standard, but their presence was certainly welcome. There was even an evidence of an attempt at decoration, as one piece of Blutwurst was pierced by a cocktail stick with an onion and tiny pieces of salty cucumber and Pfefferoni on it (which looked a bit strange since there were a whole cucumber and a whole Pfefferoni on the wooden plate as well). The three slices of bread that came with the dish were neither very fresh nor sufficient.
As the restaurant’s “special seasonal dish” the Hauerbrettl I ate was a bit disappointing, but quality-wise there was little to complain about. The meat part of it certainly did not taste industrial. Besides, the sun was warm, the spring was in the air, the wine was good, and the waitress was very nice.
Leave a Reply