The Bohemian Kitchen, Vienna, Austria

David had a flyer from a nearby restaurant so we went out to see what it was like. The place looked nice enough but it was empty and a bit posh for the mood we were in.

Just down the street was a pub-like place and we wandered in thinking it looked like just the sort of casual place we were looking for. After several staff ignored us (we weren't sure if we should go in, or wait to be seated) we set out exploring to try to find the non-smoking area.

Finally, after we had wandered downstairs a guy told us the downstairs was closed for a private party. Midway through this conversation another server came up to him and he abruptly switched conversations and started talking to her. My short fuse had now reached its end so I said "let's go somewhere else" and we did.

And I am glad we did. This was restaurant fate at it's finest. About one block away was another restaurant, so we headed towards it. As soon as we entered I knew we had a hit. The place had low ceilings with big beams covered with kitchen implements and antlery things. The place felt like it was in the middle of the Black Forest.

It turns out it was called  Zur Böhmischen Kuchl or The Bohemian Kitchen and was all Czech/German food. Our server was a middle aged , helpful blonde woman who was more than happy to tell us which items were 'traditional' or when I was ordering too much. This was an authentic meal, that was like homemade. Even the older lady in the kitchen rolling out some sort of dough looked authentic. 

I started with a potato/garlic pancake which was very garlicky and crispy and so good, I'm getting hungry again just writing about it. I should mention that we of course also started with a beer that our server recommended and it was equally good. David started with a 'pancake noodle soup', which was a typical pancake cut into thin 'noodles' and served in a beef broth. It was also delicious.

For the main course, we both went for the Bohemian Wedding Dinner. How could we not?  This was our honeymoon after all. The Bohemian Wedding Dinner consisted of roast beef in a 'vegetable' sauce, that I'm sure consisted mainly of squash of some type, it was velvety smooth and full of flavour. Served with it was a dumpling type of thing that was more of a bread and cranberry sauce. The whole thing was so good and in the atmosphere of the restaurant it reminded me of meals that my Nanny used to make.

We finished off with a traditional Bohemian pancake dessert, these were tiny and had a topping of rich, cheesy cream and again; delicious.

Lastly, the traditional digestive; Becherovka, it was an herbal liquer, similar to Jagermeister, but lighter and was very warming and enjoyable.

I gave our server my card and told her I was writing about our trip, She took the card and returned with another shot; offered to us 'on the house'. If it was meant to be a bribe for a good review, it wasn't necessary.

I'll go back to the Bohemian Kitchen any day for another meal like the one I had last night.

What a nice dinner!

Zur Böhmischen Kuchl

1080 Wien - Schlösselgasse 18
Tel: +43-1-402 57 31 

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