When I visited Gmoa Keller three years ago, my impression was generally positive. Unfortunately, it was the very end of the goose season, and although I quite enjoyed the goose portion that the kind waiter had managed to pull out from somewhere (hopefully, not a trash can), I could not be completely sure if that leftover bird’s leg was representative of the restaurant’s normal offering.
Today, on the other hand, was the pinnacle of the goose season – the St. Martin’s day, when all tradition-respecting Austrians take their families to their favorite restaurants to punish geese yet another time for betraying St. Martin by their squawking, which resulted in his appointment as Bishop of Tours. Personally, I could never find logic in that legend, but if one really needed an excuse to eat delicious goose meat, that reason was just as good as any other.
Interestingly, three years had no noticeable effect on the Gmoa Keller’s Martinigansl recipe or presentation. Looking at the old photo of the restaurant’s goose, I find it nearly identical to the dish I received today. OK, the red cabbage has moved from a separate plate onto the same plate with the goose and the dumplings, but in all the rest, nothing has changed. Even the two sad-looking chestnuts are still included.
The taste of the goose was better today, however. The cook had been slightly stingy or overcautious with the salt, but the meat was plentiful and suitably tender, while the skin surprised by its crispiness. The not-too-pleasant piece of fat that I chewed onto on my very first bite was the only one present. Like three years ago, I definitely preferred the bread dumpling (which could easily be mistaken for polenta by its appearance) to the potato dumpling, but even the latter was edible: not too sticky and maintaining some of the original potato taste. I liked the red cabbage, too. Devoid of cinnamon and still crunchy, it tasted like a warmed up cabbage salad.
The lesson is, eating geese when other people do the same – rather than hoping to get a portion at the last minute – is a good idea. The only downside of that is the level of noise one needs to tolerate in the process. With the restaurant’s cellar room full of people, including some large groups, the level of ambient noise was reaching the boundaries of acceptable, and at one point the heat and the lack of air became hardly bearable. The influx of customers was even overwhelming to the waiters, it seemed, for they were slow at changing the drinks and even bringing the bill. If you can, try to visit Gmoa Keller at an off-peak time, and you will enjoy the already good goose even more.
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