For the first time in the history of this site, I announce the winners of annual awards for the best Martinigansl with such a delay – in late September rather than early January – and I have not one, but three reasons for that.
The most logical and acceptable excuse is that now is exactly the time when goose-lovers start searching for and reserving the restaurants to enjoy their favorite seasonal dish. If they are lucky, Google (or whatever search engine they are using) will decide to prioritize this post as a relatively recent one, so they will benefit from my totally subjective but honest opinion rather than restaurant-sponsored hopelessly biased ones. The second reason is my extreme laziness, which seems to be getting worse with age. Having missed the self-imposed January deadline, I kept on postponing writing this article for so long that it is almost too late now. The third, less obvious reason, is that the geese of the 2023’s season were so unremarkable that I struggled – and still struggle – to write anything remotely exciting about them.
Being unremarkable does not mean that the geese were bad. In fact, out of the 13 reviewed restaurants, I gave nine restaurants a score of more than 5 and only one fell below the average (which means that given a choice I would not visit it again), and I do not think I have become complacent and lowered my standards. I truly liked most of the geese I ate, and would not mind revisiting most of the 2023’s locations this year.
I am not sure if the rising prices had played a role – and indeed, over 30 euros for a Martinigansl is not anymore an exception but a norm – but I felt that restaurants had started to put more slightly effort into cooking, as if feeling bad for charging so much for a quarter of a deceased bird. For example, on many occasions this year’s goose was accompanied with two types of dumpling, bread and potato ones. I did not experience a single severe case of the “fat skin syndrome” – a condition that results from extremely incompetent roasting and is exhibited through grayish, cloth-like skin with half a centimeter of disgusting fat underneath. On the opposite, I ate more crispy goose skin this season than I remember from previous years (which is probably not good for my health). Moreover, not all the portions this year were legs; in a few restaurants the waiters even asked me if I preferred a leg or a breast – a simple detail that always makes me happy.
And still… I cannot name a single reviewed restaurant to which I would run back this year the day it opens. The greatest positive surprise of 2023 was Zum Straba – Straßenbahnerbad, a publicly accessible self-service restaurant located in the recreation area of Viennese public transportation workers’ association (a relic of the country’s socialist traditions). The bird was clearly cooked by someone proficient in roasting geese. Sadly, the same cannot be said about handling cabbage and dumplings.
After a few disappointments, I enjoyed the Martinigansl of Lugeck – Figlmüller Wien again, well reinforced by a few interesting and strong beers, though I continue to dislike this highly touristic restaurant’s hectic atmosphere. Gmoa Keller and s’Pfiff remain very reliable locations for quality geese, and Genuss Heuriger Pachinger in Burgenland, though not on a par with the nearby Oleander Romantik-Heuriger, is nevertheless a great place to relish a Gansl in a rural atmosphere.
The greatest disappointment came from a much more distant location, Restaurant Burgstüberl in Heidenreichstein in Waldviertel. Tough and full of annoying small bones, the goose of Burgstüberl is certainly not worth travelling 140 kilometers for. Like the whole town of Heidenreichstein, in fact, though it is considered a moderately popular tourist destination.
The somewhat surprising winner of the GooGoo (“good goose”) award for 2023 is a brewery. After having been closed for a few months for some reason, Wieden Bräu in Vienna’s 4th district reopened and served me the right goose at the right time. I am not certain if it was the quiet atmosphere of that evening (the restaurant was nearly empty), or the excellent price/quality ratio, or the spinach that the goose was bizarrely served with, but I left content, recorded the ratings and went on looking for other Martinigansl offers, being absolutely sure to find a few better ones. Now, however, looking at my Excel sheet, I see that Wieden Bräu has managed to beat the competition, if only by a single point. Yet one point is one point, so congratulations to Wieden Bräu, and hope it keeps on the good work!
I must mention, however, that someone to whom I recommended Wieden Bräu’s goose, tried it and left unimpressed. And true, as I said earlier, none of the geese in 2023 were groundbreaking. By far the best one I ate was once again in Schiefer Giebel in Neustift am Walde, but I had long stopped reviewing that Heuriger in the fear it would keep on winning till the end of time.
My Instagram page continues to struggle attracting subscribers, but a few people still come and leave their likes. In 2023, the photos of the Gansl of Genuss Heuriger Pachinger got the highest number of them, but that may have something to do with the fact that one of the pictures featured a cat.
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