A Somewhat Different Hut

Location:Rudolf-Proksch-Hütte
Website:http://www.prokschhuette.at
Address:Am Berg 391, 2511 Pfaffstätten
Status:Open (last checked on 27 May 2015)
Eaten:“Proksch-Hütten-Jausenplatte”, two beers (own brand, Zwickl)

Wolfgang Zamazal, the current leaser of this hut, must be a funny guy. Located on the popular hiking path from Mödling to Baden and named after the grandfather of infamous Udo Proksch, this little place would have enough visitors as long as it could provide a week-old gulash, yet Mr Zamazal has decided to make it different in rather unusual ways and succeeded.

There is a vending machine outside the hut, serving cold drinks even when the hut is closed. Considering that the hut stands practically in the middle of a forest, it’s a strange sight. Then there is something about wild boars. The leaser either hates them or is strangely attracted to them, because the walls and even the menu feature copies of newspaper articles about boars’ attacking people, and there are at least two boar heads on the walls (one wearing sunglasses). All the food is provided by friendly foreigners (at least this was the case today) – I wonder if they did not live at some point at the refugee camp in the nearby Traiskirchen. The hut has its own rather good beer – produced by someone else, obviously, but coming in at least five sorts in special bottles with custom-made labels. And they also serve 18 types of fruit juice and salami from a Mangaliza pig!

Considering all this, it was strange to get served a rather ordinary-looking Brettljause. Speck, Geselchtes, Blunzen, cold Schweinsbraten and no-taste cheese were there, as well as mustard, horseradish, a picked cucumber, two slices of quite fresh brown bread and a very dry Pfefferoni – an extremely standard combination. Still, it left a good impression: the meats did not taste industrial; the Schweinsbraten especially had a thick burned (but tasty) crust that would not have passed any industrial quality controls!

One annoying, but unfortunately unavoidable problem was the hut’s being very full – “May I join you at your table” kind of full. It was also far from being clean – also quite understandable with the melting snow outside, customers’ dogs inside and possibly problematic water supply. Still, one Austrian visitor made a point of meticulously checking every glass and beer mug before filling them, and breathing on his fork and spoon before rubbing them with a napkin (he forgot to check the cleanliness of the napkin though). If this does not bother you, the Proksch Hütte is worth a visit for a nice hike and the beer alone, especially in summer when the garden is open.

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