A Sunset Jause

Location:Weingut Robert Zweytick
Website:https://www.weingut-rzweytick.at/
Address:Ratsch an der Weinstraße 7, 8461 Ratsch an der Weinstraße
Status:Open (last checked on 27 October 2024)
Eaten:Brettljause, two ¼ Weilschriesling, a bottle of mineral water

The night before, the summertime ended. Normally, a difference of one hour, whether one hour less or one hour more, does not affect me much, but this morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and could not force myself to sleep again. And at 16:00 I was feeling tired, as I was sitting at Zweytick for half an hour, desperately hoping to be noticed, as the golden light over the vineyards around me was turning into a colder bluish one. As I had suspected, I was going to cycle back to my hotel in the dark, drivers shouting obscenities at me despite the fact that I took care to bring a LED light with me and installed it on my rented e-bike.

Eventually, a waiter noticed me, and I could order my drink and the Brettljause. Now, I have to confess, there are days when my body welcomes Brettljausen and the days when it does not. This has nothing to do with hunger, by the way. Today I have not had a bite since bacon and eggs for my hotel’s breakfast, yet a Brettljause looked like unnecessary extra work, and, writing this, I have to remind myself to remain objective, or at least as reasonably subjective as I normally am.

When the Brettljause arrived, the most prominent part of it was a liver sausage, which I tried and immediately put aside because of its strong taste that even the spices around it could not improve. Out of the rest, the Schmalz, the greenish pumpkin seed spread, the Speck and especially the Schweinsbraten were excellent, while the rest was somehow hard to eat. It is not that the other meats and cheeses were bad; is it just that they were not exceptional, compared, for example to the Schweinsbraten, which was fat, tasty and so enjoyable I wished I had ordered it as a standalone dish instead of the Brettljause.

Although I appreciated Zweytick’s providing a half of an egg with the Brettljause, more “green stuff” would have been welcome. Whatever can the pickled cucumbers came from was not a good can at all, and the horseradish was generally rudimentary, not making any noticeable impact on the taste.

If slow and forgetful service does not bother you, Zweytick is a nice place for a mid-day drink. Closer to the sunset, however, the “why bother” argument starts to gain strength.

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