Dutch Ribs

Wildschönau is full of Dutch tourists. To be fair, Germans constitute a much bigger group, but the Dutch are somehow much more noticeable. Glennie’s actually has a Dutch owner, who also maintains a second restaurant in the nearby skiing village of Westendorf. The staff is also Dutch, as, obviously, most of the clients. I was in fact looking forward to try Dutch food, having no clue of what it could be.

In many ways, Glennie’s ribs were very similar to those of Hexenhäusl across the road, making me suspect Dutch involvement in the other restaurant, too. The portion at Glennie’s was also small, though not that small. Thanks to pre-boiling, the meat detached itself from the bones very easily, so the word “sticky” in the dish’s name must have referred to the honey-based topping (since I used a fork and a knife instead of fingers, I could not verify that). The presentation was much better, however, thanks to the presence of a corn on a cob and finely cut fried onions on the top of the ribs. The taste was nothing to write home about, but nothing to grumble about either. Pork taste was still present, but some attempt at a marinade was evident, and the topping was actually quite tasty. In terms of dips, however, Glennie’s has managed even a lower point than Hexenhäusl by serving ketchup and mayo in small industrial sachets.

Based on my newly acquired (and extremely limited) experience, Dutch spare ribs are generally similar to Austrian, but smaller, worse and lacking dips. The next day, however, I returned to Glennie’s to try its variation on the schnitzel theme, and found the fried egg, onion, and mushroom-topped extravaganza, served with fried Speck, very interesting and tasty.