One of the best things one can do during the current pandemic is to go to Grinzing. Without the sightseeing busses and the noisy tourist groups, the most famous wine district of Vienna is actually very charming. The Heurige are still full, but the atmosphere is much more laid back, not to a small extent thanks to the absence of musicians. It’s nice to see people who are visiting Heurige not to cross another item off their tourist guides but to socialize, enjoy good wine and – important in my case – a Brettljause.
Which was not very good, to be honest. To be completely honest, not good at all, and the most stupid thing is that it could have been improved tremendously simply by keeping its ingredients in the fridge. There is a very good reason why there is the word “cold” in the “cold cuts,” because room-temperature cuts are quite disgusting. Cheese may originally have a pleasant strong taste (and the two cheese types at Müllers were comparatively strong), but when warm, it appears oily and stick to the plate. The Wurzelspeck did not fare much better; already rich in fat, it became only fat when warm, with the salty flavor of the meat all but disappearing.
The Geselchtes seems to be less affected by warmth, and it saved the Brettljause from being a total disaster. The Cabanossi sausage, cut into small pieces is actually sold warm, so it was not too bad either, if one ignores the fact that having a supermarket Cabanossi on a Brettljause is cheating. Finally, there were two green chili peppers, which were so strong that they killed the taste of absolutely everything, and even the wine and the bread could not stop the burning in my mouth for a long time.
Despite all this, I liked the Müllers Heuriger. Its garden is beautiful and got really dark and cozy once the sun went down; the service is very friendly, and the atmosphere is very quiet and relaxed (thanks to COVID-19). But they really need to fix their bloody fridge.
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