| Location: | Wildmoosalm |
| Website: | https://www.wildmoosalm.com/ |
| Address: | Wildmoos 7, 6100 Telfs |
| Status: | Open (last checked on 9 February 2025) |
| Eaten: | “Schweinerippeln,” two beers (Kaiser) |
I went to Seefeld in Tyrol searching for snow, and though I found some, it was not at all what the pictures on hiking websites had promised me. The tour around the Brunschkopf hill started along a few impressive cross-country skiing tracks, but the moment the path went uphill, the snow all but disappeared, leaving me in a landscape more appropriate for the second half of March. The other side of the hill looked, however, much more wintery, plus by the time I reached Wildmoosalm, the sun had almost disappeared behind the peaks.
There were still plenty of people around, however, so I struggled to find a table, even outdoors. A few minutes later, however, everybody started to leave, and soon I was left alone in the company of two extremely elderly ladies (their age did not prevent them from consuming impressive quantities of beer and wine, though) and a couple of Japanese tourists. And it became cold, very cold. Waiting for the spare ribs (in the absence of a Brettljause), I tried to keep my hands in my jacket’s pockets – which did not help much. When the ribs arrived, however, I had no choice but to touch the knife and the fork – and those were freezing. I considered putting my gloves on, but as everyone knows, gloves only keep your hands warm if you put them on before your hands freeze.
Eventually I abandoned my habits and started to eat the ribs with the hands, for the ribs still had a bit of warmth in them. That came to be the right way to eat them anyway, for the ribs were not oily at all, and so dry that the meat refused to be taken off the bones using cutlery. If the dish looks flavorless to you on the picture, it is not due to the lack of my photography skills. It was plain dead pork, with no marinade or spices whatsoever. Remove the bones, and I would have taken it for a pork knuckle or an extremely plain pork steak. The garlicky dip helped somewhat, however, as did a not-very-good but big cabbage/potato salad.
Wildmoosalm is one of the obvious hiking destinations for everyone staying in Seefeld, and in summer its sunny panoramic terrace can probably compensate for any deficiencies of the food. The spare ribs are not on the standard menu, but if you see them among the “daily specials,” my advice is to go for something else.