A Classic Goose

This year, Falstaff published a list of the best restaurants serving goose in Austria, helpfully grouping them by federal state and, in Vienna’s case, by district. It is an interesting reference, despite my distrust of Falstaff’s recommendations. The main problem I see with Falstaff is that it appears to first choose the restaurants it considers great, then check whether these restaurants offer Martinigansl, and if yes, recommend them straight away. This is the most likely explanation why some locations that serve excellent geese – such as Schiefer Giebel, Romantik Heurigen Oleander or Klein Steiermark – are missing from the list. They simply lack Falstaff’s “forks” to start with. On the other hand, I still believe there is a fair chance for great restaurants to fail miserably in the goose department simply because it is not their specialty.

Still, I enjoy following Falstaff’s recommendations from time to time (even just to prove them wrong), and today, Winklers Zum Posthorn in the third district was one of them. To my shame, I have never heard of Winklers before, and I have never come across its name in the past “top Gansl” lists. On the other hand, Winklers may not even want to be listed, because it is popular enough without additional advertisement. It is a very traditional and quite old Viennese Beisl, small in size and packed with people – mostly Austrians despite the availability of English menu and a center-ish location. From atmosphere perspective, Winklers is somewhat of a cross between Rudi’s Beisl (but without creepy intellectuals) and Restaurant Musil (but without creepy non-intellectuals). The cuisine is exclusively traditional Austrian, so if you are vegan, look elsewhere (and by the way, what are you doing on my site anyway?).

If you are looking for a quality goose, however, Winklers will not disappoint. My bird was perfectly cooked: crispy outside, tender inside, just salty enough. Plenty of tasty jus ensured that the meat never turned dry, and though there were a few parts where the skin basically touched the bone – so there was no meat to speak of – I found those bits most enjoyable. The dumpling was, unfortunately, very plain, but with a lot of jus available, it had some use. The best part of the red cabbage was the chestnuts it was mixed with, for the cabbage itself did not taste special. It was extremely hot, however: the first time I put a spoonful of it in my mouth, I was not sure what to do, for swallowing it appeared too dangerous, while spitting it out would have been too impolite (eventually I cooled it down with beer).

The fact that astonished me most, however, was that once I finished the dish, the only thing left on my plate was the main bone. In almost all other restaurants, goose leftovers look like props from a low-budget cannibal horror movie. Winklers somehow managed to fillet a goose. As much as I hate agreeing with Falstaff, if you want a classic Martinigansl, Winklers Zum Posthorn is an excellent choice.