The area around Karmelitermarkt is very popular having a nice atmosphere, a great market and interesting (yet sometimes annoying) people around. So why not go to one of the hotspots on the market, the „Marktachterl“ (meaning an „eighth of wine on the market“).
First things first: I was there with friends and we spent a nice evening. That was the good part. The restaurant itself looks nice, kind of imitating a french-mediterranean brasserie with a nice view on the market. The „art“ doesn’t fit at all though…
The service is very relaxed, sometimes too funny and moderately attentive. But maybe it was the table full with young girls outside that took the service guys‘ full attention… May is asparagus season, so I ordered the seasonal menu. The covert was some bread with butter and a spread I don’t remember. The wine selection is ok with normal prices (3-4 euros/glass).
This sounded good, even looked good – but was in all details wrong. The aspic was very cold, the asparagus inside stringy and partly hard. The avocado tasteless and old (look at the color!). But the worst part was the crayfish: The defrosted tails were soft, had no texture at all and tasted disgustingly muddy – poor quality!
First the plate with the yolk and the nettle „pesto“ (that was actually more like cooked spinach) came, then the waiter poured in the soup. The yolk had a nice texture – the nettle was ok. The soup definetely had too much salt, but the taste was good.
The main course: A real mess. Again, the asparagus was stringy and rather tasteless. The hollandaise was OK, the potatos not very tasty. But the ham was just ridiculous – this is not ham, this is pressed „something“. A shame, situated on a market where you can get fresh cut high quality ham for a reasonable price! Basically they used the cheapest shit from the supermarket around the corner.
The dessert was quite pleasant, though the taste of the pieplant didn’t come through very much due to the heavy use of sugar (finde for me, I’m no particular pieplant fan). The „foam“ actually was a cream…but who cares anyway.
So…what shall I say. They use poor quality products and the menu promises something different than you acutally get. And this for an actually quite pricy menu (34.5 + covert)! For me definetely a no go.
