Schlossgansl

Location:Restaurant Schloss Essling
Website:https://www.restaurant-essling.at
Address:Eßlinger Hauptstraße 81-87, 1220 Wien
Status:Open (last checked on 27 November 2020)
Eaten:"1/4 Österreichische Weidegans" (take-away)

Schloss Essling is one of those restaurants that I was kind of aware of for a while but never actually considered visiting, not least because of the proximity of several alternatives, including the unique but sadly closed Josef’s Genießerei. But after today’s take-away goose I am starting to think that it might deserve a repeat visit – not for the goose, but to enjoy a beer in summer, providing this COVID craziness calms down.

It was, overall, quite an enjoyable goose, cooked punctually for the agreed pick-up time. Actually, I was not punctual, having arrived half an hour too early, and a result had to wait for the goose to be ready. Somehow, I find it extremely welcome to be told to wait. It is incomparably better than my typical past experiences of walking into a restaurant, ordering a goose and seeing a confused waiter muttering, “well, I am not sure, let me check in the kitchen, perhaps there is still a portion left.”

Being a “Weidegans” (grazing goose), the bird had a slightly dry and tough meat, which I generally prefer. It was also nice to have a wing rather that a leg, for a change. I generally find wings to have more meat and less fat than legs. And the portion provided by Schloss Essling was an impressive one, taking almost all the space on the plate, therefore requiring my utmost care not to spill out the sauce and make a huge mess. I tried to get rid of the sauce using the potato dumplings as a sponge, but the annoying things were of the tasteless rubbery type that refused to absorb any liquid.

I can’t blame the restaurant for the size of my plate, of course. I could criticize it because of the rubbish dumpling and boring red cabbage, but the goose itself was very good, if only slightly lacking salt. For all the inconveniences of take-away food, its freshness is a definite plus.

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