After a busy day last week I had a Tuesday evening free (yay!). So driven by boredom and appetite I dropped by a place I’ve wanted to go for a long time, the Restaurant Vincent which has received a lot of praise from critics lately. There was no big risk involved, since it is round the corner of my flat…
First impression: The interior is rather weird, everything kind of dark with colorful paintings. This evening it was quite empty, I had the room alone with a couple (watched them flirting all evening, hehe).
The service was good, especially the maître/sommelier Mario Raaber made a great effort to ensure I have a good time, giving a lot of Information on the products and being friendly in a nice Viennese style….
The covert was salted butter (ok) and bread (ok).
While studying the menu, I quickly realised the most awkward thing about this place: The music! Whoever chooses the music must be a great musical lover. So all evening I heard a rather loud selection of musicals and classical music in musical style. Starting with „Don’t cry for me Argentina“ going over to „Time to say goodbye“ and ending with „O Fortuna“. Whatever.
I went for the young gourmet’s menu – a real value for money choice: For guests up to 29 years, they offer 4 courses for 29 €. (In this special case he offered me something in between the normal evening menu and the young gourmet’s menu for a slight surcharge.) Additionally I took a wine accompaniment.
So to start with the amuse gueule:
A lot of pumpkin, but a very fresh and fruity start into the evening!
This course had a LOT of goose liver (please, no ethical discussion here…). The pistacchio was nice, but together with the sweetness of the liver a little bit too much. The idea to counter it with the sourness of kumquats was good, for me there could have been more of them though.
A LOT of cauliflower here. I’m no particular fan of cauliflower, but this dish was thrilling. The waxy egg was shere perfection and it was interesting to explore the different tastes and textures of raw/baked/steamed/creamed cauliflower. Wouldn’t have needed the char caviar though (the eggs had an unusual hard shell), but it gave a nice touch.
Main course!!! The veal was – oh my god – perfect. Especially the low-temp-cooked one was incredibly tender. The stewed part had mustard seeds and a very dark, dense sauce that was nice with the smoked polenta.
The pre-dessert (interesting concept!) was a bit weird but fun: Sweet and sour and fruity and vegetal at the same time.
The actual dessert was nice, though I didn’t like the sesame foam (seemed to be a little bit burnt). Best thing was the fir-foam, actually tasting like the tree which was a beautiful sensation.
After all, I spent a very nice evening with nice food and very good wines (the maître mister Raaber brought out real pearls!). In the end I payed 60 Euros, a very good deal for that kind of high-end dinner – so go there, have fun!