Vegan in (and around) Vienna

Staying with friends is one of my favourite things to do whilst I travel, aside from the extra fun throwing your friends into the mix brings and the ability to relax as if you were in your own home they also know all of the best vegan spots in town. As soon as Nick and I dropped our one bag off at Carmen and Joshua's place in the 4th district we headed around the corner to a hot dog spot that had opened since I was last in town a year ago. Hildegard Wurst isn't vegan but they have a vegan dog that you can doctor with an array of toppings and I love the classic americana style of the place.

We all went for the classic dog topped with ketchup and mustard because you can't really beat that combo and they arrived fast and hot. What more could you ask for?

Another place in the 4th district is Matcha Komachi, I actually wrote about this place before when it was called Metcha Matcha and it's right next door to Hildegard Wurst. This is one of my favourite places in Vienna because I love Japanese food and this is Japanese food done well. They don't have a tonne of vegan options because of the ever present dashi but they mark the vegan options on the menu and their onigiri are top notch.

This time around I tried the Avodado onigiri as well as the Ume and Wasabi that I always go for. These make the perfect breakfast lunch or dinner snack and Nick and I grabbed more to go on our way out of the city as they also make excellent road trip food. 

Another delicious and accidentally vegan delicacy Vienna has in store are apple strudel or berry strudel from Anker, an Austrian bakery chain, 

Anker label all of their vegan options which range from these delicious strudels (apple is the best in my opinion) to pretzels and even a sandwich or two. I wish more UK bakery chains would follow take some steps in this direction and offer some clearly marked vegan options. 

Bok is somewhere I visited on one of my earliest trips to Vienna and I can't really remember why it's taken me so long to go back, perhaps it was because there are just so many places to eat in and around Vienna that it's hard to keep re-visiting your favourites when you're only visiting for the weekend?! Anyway I remember enjoying Bok but this time I loved it. Maybe my tastes have changes or I just ordered better but daaamn there was some delicious stuff happening at our table after the initial fight over their last plate of inari tofu! I went for the sesame tofu to start as my love for silken tofu just grows and grows as the years pass by. 

I also needed to add in a little deep fry in the form of these treasure pouches which were crunchy and filled with veggies.

Nick ordered the Teriyaki Chicken and immediately passed all of his deliciously saucy mushrooms over to me, this caused much hilarity as Melanie's husband Mike did the exact same thing with his. We think they may be food twins.

Melanie had been looking for someone to share the sushi platter with her for a while and I eagerly jumped up to the plate. A huge platter of sushi is like a dream to me and Nick's never super into sharing anything so veg heavy. There was a little less tofu than I'd have liked and the mock duck maki could have done with a little more seasoning but everything else was perfect, we both particularly enjoyed the oshinko maki and both kinds of avocado roll.

As I've mentioned a couple of Vienna's vegan sushi options I feel like I have to mention my experience at Pirata, Vienna's 100% vegan sushi spot. I really wanted to support this relatively new business but they need to sort some stuff out before I'll go back. When we arrived at dinner time one evening they had about 8 pieces of sushi on display. They were able to rustle up a couple more but then they offered us yesterday morning's sushi for half off... I'm not a huge food snob but sushi that has been refrigerated for 24 hours is a huge no. Whilst we were all sharing our small plate of mediocre rolls they turned away at least nine potential customers who felt, as we did, that the day old sushi would not make a decent meal. I would suggest they take a leaf out of Beyond Sushi's book (as they're clearly trying to corner Vienna's quirky sushi market) and invest in some black rice and mayo based toppings as well as endeavouring to keep it all as fresh as possible. 

Vienna is one of the best places ever to do a spot of vegan friendly shopping - they really have you covered! Veganz is, like everywhere I've mentioned in this post so far, in the 4th district and after a spot of browsing we settled on a box of these Coconut and Bourbon Vanilla Bonbons to cool us down. 

They were great, if they hadn't been specifically coconut flavoured I'd have been annoyed at their coconuttyness and it would be cool (Get it?! Haha!) to see a soy based chocolate variety in the future. Veganz also have a new range of faux meat products that I jumped all over. These Lemon Pepper Schnitzels were my favourite purchase and they made a great in van dinner alongside some buttery potatoes and green beans. 

Veganz also sell this locally produced Hazelnut Strudel Bread which I crave far too often. It's the perfect brunch accompaniment. You can also pick one up at branches of Spar Gourmet .

Austrian supermarket chain Merkur Markt was another must visit spot on our tour of the city as they've recently added a lot of new vegan items in the Vega Vita range. The range spans everything you might want as a vegan from soups and faux meat products to ice creams and gummy sweets. The tubs of Almond and Pistachio ice cream are the best imho and you can also buy them at local ice cream parlour Schwedenplatz. The cheese filled sausages in the top right of this picture are another fave', they hold together even once the cheese has melted and I was left kicking myself as I only bought one pack. What was I thinking?!

Merkur is also the place to get your hands on Alpro's best flavours of soy yoghurt, the apple strudel and lemon pie flavours are my favourite yoghurts in the world and I am very sad that my stash of them ran out last week. The lemon pie flavour is so perfectly tart and creamy that I can envisage myself eating it every day forever without getting bored.

Veganista is another Vienna must-visit. Their constantly changing range of ice creams keeps things interesting even if you do decide to visit twice a day. Between Nick and I we tried Brownie, Cookies and Cream and Hazelnut and we decided that Brownie was the winner.

The vegan ice cream scene in Vienna is totally off the hook at the moment and you can get your fix by the scoop or in tubs at Eissalon Am Schwedenplatz, in chocolate covered pop form at Freiraum Deli on MariahilferStraße and/or by the scoop at Gelateria Bortolotti on MariahilferStraße, at Eis Greissler or at Eissalon Armando.

Whilst I may never have time to hit up all of my favourite spots from previous trips I always manage to squeeze in a meal at Formosa. The food there is, for the most part, cheap and deep fried which is how I like it. I'm a particularly big fan of the pancake which comes stuffed with carrots, cabbage and faux ham and topped with a sweet teriyaki style dressing as well as a creamy mayo based dressing. It's crunchy and slightly sweet as well as being both ridiculously filling and delicious.

If the pancake does't take your fancy Formosa also do burgers and schnitzel plates, which I am sure are just as wonderful as they look, as well as soups, salads and curries.

There are always new things to try in Vienna though and sometimes vegan food can be found in the most unexpected of places. Vienna's Hotel Am Brillanten Grund is definitely one of these spots.

The hotel's ground floor cafe and courtyard has more of a smart casual restaurant vibe than I was expecting and they specialise in Pinoy, or Fillipino, dishes which are created by chef Mom. Almost every single item on the menu can be made vegan using tofu or seitan and everyone I ate with loved their meals. Nick tried the Arroz Caldo, a stew like soup of rice and tofu, whilst I opted for the house speciality Bistek veganised with seitan.

The seitan standing in for meat in my traditional Fillipino Bistek dish was thinly sliced and incredibly tender and I adored the way the almost tart flavour of the citrus soya marinade meshed with the crisp fried onions and peppery rocket salad to create one of the most interesting dishes I've eaten in a long time. I would highly recommend it. Nick's stew was also a winning choice, both warming and filling and flavoured with copious amounts of ginger and a touch of lemongrass. My friend Carmen ordered the burger which came on a bun that was very steamed bun-esque. She assured me she'd definitely order it again and I hope that I get to go back and try it someday.

One place that despite not being in Vienna is on my Vienna must visit list is Gasthaus Schillinger. Nick and I made our first pilgrimage there on our honeymoon road trip almost exactly five years ago and we'd been dying to go back ever since. Gasthaus Schillinger is located 40 minutes outside of Vienna in Großmugel and you'll need either a car or a bike and strong leg muscles to get you there. We went by car so that we didn't die before getting to eat there again.

The menu isn't vast but it still took us what felt like an age to make a decision. Eventually I went with the tried and tested option of copying what one of my friends was ordering. This works well when your friends have similar tastes to you, there are some friends whose restaurant orders I would never copy as I'd end up with salad for brunch or something equally ridiculous. You know who you are!

My order was "kotelette aus de pfanne mit wheatyfisolen und barteredäpfeln" which I believe translates to pork chops with fried potatoes and wheaty and green beans.

The wheaty is chopped sliced faux meat and both that and the beans were fried in plenty of garlic butter. It was intensely amazing and it took all of my willpower not to order a second plate for dessert. Nick ordered a Cordon Bleu which, in case you haven't heard of this traditionally Austrian dish, is two seitan steaks stuffed with cheese and then breaded and fried. It came with a side of buttery herbed potatoes that I may have loved even more than my roasted potatoes. Nick's pretty nice so we shared! The dessert menu is full of divine dessert options and I really don't think you could go wrong with any of their sundaes or pancakes. Nick opted for a hazelnut and chocolate filled pancake and I chose a sundae with three flavours of ice cream, chopped hazelnuts, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

It was one of the most intensely delicious dessert experiences I've ever had. The ice cream was creamy and flavourful and the chocolate sauce walked the line between sweet and bitter perfectly but the star of the show was the light fluffy whipped cream which was on par with the one they make at Veganerie in Bangkok.

If you're unable to make it out to Gasthaus Schillinger the owners have another restaurant, Swing Kitchen, which is located smack bang in the centre of the city just off of the main pedestrianised shopping street. Despite being owned and operated by the same people Swing Kitchen really couldn't be more different, they have a fast food focus and serve up burgers, chunky chips, wraps, desserts and soft serve ice cream. As a fast food fan I was excited to give Swing Kitchen a whirl and dived into the menu with gusto trying the chicken wrap, burgers, nuggets, fries and chocolate dipped soft serve over the course of a couple of days.

I was impressed with everything I ate although surprisingly my favourite savoury menu item was the salad heavy chicken wrap rather than the burger I tried. I also loved how fast the food really was, I have fond memories of Brighton's Red Veg but their attempts at veggie fast food had to be the slowest imaginable. It would sometimes take upwards of 20 minutes to wait for your burger or hot dog which really isn't what people are looking for when they think fast food. Swing Kitchen gets this spot on. Their soft serve ice cream is beyond perfect and I almost flipped out when I tasted the chocolate dipped version for the first time and realised that the crunchy coating was just like the one found on a Feast ice cream bar. If you aren't British you might not know what that is but trust me it's a compliment! 

I already miss Vienna and I know that I'll be back one day... maybe the route Nick and I take home from the Balkans will just have to pass through the city! 

Re-Visiting Vienna (Part 2)

I was lucky enough to get to visit one of my favourite cities, Vienna, a few weeks ago. Part one of my Re-Visiting Vienna series is right here, there are pictures of ice cream so you probably want to check that out!

Since my last trip in 2011 Vienna has spawned not one but two entirely vegan supermarkets. I was so excited to hear this! I feel like everyone's heard of Veganz so I'm going to start with the slightly lesser known market, Maran Vegan.

I was amazed by the size of the place as soon as we stepped through the doors, it's the size of a smallish regular supermarket! It feels spacious and well laid out and like I could actually do my grocery shopping here.

The counter on your right as you enter the store is full of delicious looking salads so that you can grab lunch to go.

There's also a case of baked goods which are accompanied by cookies and croissants ontop of the counter. Perfect for a grab and go lunch if you're pushed for time.

I was also totally impressed by their produce section.

But obviously I was more impressed by the mock meat and cheese section! There were so many kinds of seitan, it kinda blew my mind.

There were also plenty of vegan cheeses to choose from. This is the cheese used by Rupps, one of my favourite bars in Vienna, to make their grilled cheeses.

Wilmersburger is another one of my favourite non-dairy cheeses. It's similar in taste and texture to Violife but they're a different deal. I've been known to snack on a whole pack of this stuff whilst exploring European cities.

As well as your staples - rice, pasta, non-dairy milk and a great selection of Japanese products by Clearspring, there are plenty sweet treats. I think these are a repackaged version of Freedom Mallows! They're a bit like a flump!

I picked up a pistachio rice milk chocolate bar that I didn't love but Nick sure did.

Maran Vegan is an awesome addition to Vienna's vegan scene and I'd say it's a must visit spot for sure.

Next stop on the vegan supermarket tour was Veganz, having already visited their locations in Berlin I knew what to expect but I was still wowed! This is the non-dairy fridge. There are so many kinds of vegan yoghurt and cheese these days and vegan cookie dough exists. This is such a rad time to be vegan!

This is possibly the largest bag of vegan shredded cheese in the world!

Veganz definitely have more imported American products than Maran Vegan. I was sad that I couldn't take home any Gardein products, I seriously love them and I'm hoping to try the new Fishless Fillets in Austin later this month - if anyone has an oven they wanna lend me then holla!

I also want to try the Tofurky Quiche and maybe the Pockets, again though I couldn't be taking frozen stuff home and it seemed silly to pay import prices to try them at my friends houses when I can probably give them a whirl in Austin.

People in the US of A have the widest range of vegan ice creams to choose from so I'm excited products from there are slowly trickling over to Europe. If I'd seen the So Delicious Almond Milk Mini's I'd have snapped up a box and eaten them right there and then.

Veganz also sell enormous bags of Vital Wheat Gluten, something I always pick up when I'm travelling as it's so much cheaper anywhere other than the UK, and a huge range of imported chocolate bars from Go Max and Eli's Earth. There's also a chiller section with prepared foods but it wasn't overly impressive. This parfait looked super good though!

The savoury selection really wasn't great, there were sandwiches that appeared to be filled with a couple of slices of roasted pepper and a lettuce leaf (my friend confirmed that these were indeed as terrible as they looked) and I bought this pasta salad that was just downright gross. It tasted like vinegar!

If I hadn't been sitting in the airport waiting for a delayed plane when I opened it I wouldn't have eaten more than a couple of bites. Having eaten some delicious prepared foods from the cafe adjacent to the Veganz store in Berlin I think the Vienna location definitely needs to step up their game.

Vegan Supermarkets aside Vienna, in fact Austria in general, is a hotbed of vegan activity! Ubiquitous Austrian brand Manner have plenty of vegan options. There was a terrifying moment a few years ago when they put milk into the original recipe but the backlash was strong and almost everything's back to normal now. The Original Neapolitaner wafers are my favourite, I always buy a huge bag because life's too short not to eat copious amounts of delicious wafers.

These little packs are also vegan, perfect for when you're on the go to or, y'know, for breakfast.

On this occasion I also discovered these delicious chocolate coated gingerbready bites which have to be my second favourite Manner product.

I also picked up these adorably names Nougatcreme dumplings! These are essentially the filling from the wafers in sweet form. They were way too sugartastic for me though (and I love a Go Max bar!) but Nick and my friend Tabitha were super into them so they didn't go to waste.

You can find Manner products in almost every store in Austria that sells food as well as in Veganz, the flagship Manner store at Stephansplatz, and the Manner concession on the first floor of the Thalia bookstore on Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna.

The Anker chain of bakeries is another place where it's easy to find delicious vegan food. The stores are all getting makeovers at the moment so expect to be looking out for slightly different signage. Part of bringing them up to date is labelling the vegan options, I'd love to see that happening at chain bakeries over here.

The word vegan is in the top right hand corner of the label on all suitable products.

As well as bread there's a sandwich which has roasted vegetables and a tofu spread. I was wishing I'd picked one up before going through security at the airport after I tasted that pasta salad from Veganz!

The thing I was most excited about though was the vegan friendly pastry selection, they have both an apple turnover and a currant turnover.

I picked apple and I wasn't disappointed, this was delicious and I'll certainly be eating it again.

Another chain that's down with their vegan labelling is Spar, I found all of these products and more whilst wandering around the Spar at the airport. Spar is right opposite arrivals so if you're headed for departures you just need to go down a level to find it. There's an Anker bakery right there too making Flughafen Wien the best airport I've been to so far.

If I'd had any cash left I'd have definitely tried to squeeze some of these products into my Manner filled backpack. I think it's ridiculously awesome that a supermarket chain not only labels vegan options but goes as far as to have own branded hamburgers, gyros and pates! Again, awesome job Austria. You know I'll be back!