Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Villacher Brauhof

The Villacher Brauhof is the answer to Villach's prayer for their very own beer garden (biergarten). The restaurant is strategically located within the city center and the outdoor sitting area is normally jam packed with customers downing Maß (1-liter capacity beer mug) of beer during the warm Spring and Summer days.

On this windy day, most of the customers were seated indoors but this didn't dampen the mood one bit. Loud clinkings of the beer glasses could be heard distinctively throughout the restaurant and the mood, is definitely one of a buoyant and infectious nature.

We ordered two traditional Austrian main dishes: Giant frankfurter in gulasch sauce and Turkey Schnitzel.

The frankfurters were not really "giant" in size, just thin and long really. And I would have to admit that those sold along the roadsides or even vacuum-packed ones in the supermarkets tasted slightly better and crunchier to the bite. Ironically or not, I derived more pleasure from savouring the semmel dipped in the thick gulasch sauce.
The turkey schnitzel on the other hand was excellently done! It was not too huge a portion with a thin layer of cripsy batter coating the turkey fillet of just the right thickness! And it was non-oily to the bite!

Being the usual gluttons, we decided to order a small portion of Kaiserschmarrn as dessert after witnessing a little girl at a nearby table gobbled down hers in just minutes.

It was of the right sweetness and the small side serving of mixed fruit compote provided a refreshing cleanse to the palate from time-to-time. My favourite would have to be the small crispy pancake bits which kept me busy for a couple of minutes while I rummaged through the plate in search of.

Overall, it was a delectable lunch and I had already made an appointment to be back for yet another good Austrian dinner!

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