| Location: | Gasthaus Napoleon Wien |
| Website: | https://www.napoleon.wien/ |
| Address: | Kagraner Platz 33, 1220 Wien |
| Status: | Open (last checked on 23 October 2025) |
| Eaten: | "¼ Ansfeldner Freilandgansl," three beers (Ottakringer Bio-Zwickl dunkel) |
If you look at the “goose menu” on the Napoleon’s website, you will find two goose options: a plain and simple “roasted goose” for 35 euros, or a “free-roaming goose from Ansfelden” (which is a village not far from Linz) for 44. Once you are inside the restaurant, however, the waiter is much more straightforward: “Do you want a Polish goose or an Austrian one?” The Austrian goose is, of course, the one nine euros more expensive.
Obviously, I went for the pricier one (I leave it to you to decide whether that was for patriotic reasons or simply because of my desire to try higher quality food), and indeed, the goose I received a minute and a half later (which was quite suspicious by itself) had a little Austrian flag on it, lovingly attached to a toothpick.
If I were cynical, I would have said by now that the flag was all that distinguished the more expensive goose from the cheaper one, but the fact is, I don’t know. All I can say is that the cheaper Polish goose, were it to be noticeably worse than the Austrian version, would have to be really quite dreadful.
The super-duper happy goose from Linz-land, while not at all bad, was exceedingly normal. It had a tender, easy-to-chew meat with no fat, which was easily detachable from the bones and “extractable” until the end. On the other hand, the goose leg had no crispy skin whatsoever and seriously lacked salt. The red cabbage was OK, but since it was provided on the same plate as the goose, very soon I had to worry about not mixing it with the bones, which – as you can imagine – is not something one wants to worry about while enjoying a once-a-year specialty. The potato dumplings were, to be honest, plain to the point of unpleasantness, and the cook’s “bright” idea of putting some industrial dry spices over them made the entire dish smell like something recently taken out of an old cellar.
If you are a first-time tourist in Vienna leaving tomorrow, staying at a hotel close to Kagraner Platz and absolutely dying to experience a Martinigansl, so that you can later boast about it to your children and grandchildren, you can, of course, go to Napoleon. You are going to overpay, but the bird you will get will not be a complete disaster considering your circumstances. If, on the other hand, you have more time to spend, there are much better alternatives around.