Another discovery for casual Friday night dinners. Located along Neil Road, this is a casual café that specialises in authentic Austrian dishes, and prides itself on its coffee. They claim to be the only coffeehouse to have its own coffee roaster in-store; they roast and grind their coffee daily, and even produce their own house brand coffees for sale – they have 7 different roasts, sold in very attractive packaging.
A had a cappuccino, and I must say their pride in their coffee is not misplaced. The coffee was strong, rich and flavourful. It came served on a silver platter, with a glass of water. Apparently, the silver platter is used to prevent the coffee from staining the marble tabletops, and the water cleanses the palate from the aftertaste of the coffee. Also, Viennese coffee culture dictates that you sip your coffee slowly, savouring each mouthful, so the water’s probably also there to quench your thirst while you’re at it.
On Fridays and Saturdays, they have the pork knuckle special, so I ordered it tonight. At $23, it was huge and very good value, considering it was the same size as the large one at Baden that costs $39. It was served with salad, sauerkraut, and the mashed potato-looking ball is actually an Austrian bread dumpling. This was super-filling and really not my thing, but A absolutely loved it. The pork knuckle itself was pretty good – the meat was tender, but the crackling and the gravy weren’t as good as Baden’s.
A had the Wiener Schnitzel. He ordered it thinking it would be a light meal, since the waitress said it was about palm-sized. When it arrived we were in shock - as you can see from the photo, who on earth has palms that huge?! Taste-wise it was ok, but a little one-dimensional and boring after a few bites. Needless to say, we were way too full for dessert, which was a pity since they apparently do a good strudel. Well, next time we may share a main so that we have room for dessert.
While the food isn’t spectacular, I like the ambience and the fact that it’s really casual, so we’ll probably come back, if nothing else then for the coffee and to try the desserts.
A says:
The menu selection isn’t big but it seems very good value because the main course portions were huge! The cappuccino was pretty good too. My favourite thing about the place is that the air-con is nice and cold. Perfect for me. Also note that they have only one server so you may have trouble getting her attention.
Wiener Kaffeehaus
148 Neil Road
Tel: 6226-3148
Open daily: 9 am to 10 pm
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