Austria: They have the meat

Yes, you can get a vegan hummus wrap in Vienna but why would you want to when you can have a big old platter of wiener schnitzel or a hearty bowl of goulash?

This was King Daddy’s slice of heaven: a city and, indeed, a country that is devoted to meat and to meat that is extremely well prepared. Very often, K.D. and I had no idea what we were ordering but it was good. All of it was really good.

A tour of our dinner rounds:

Let’s just start with that wiener schnitzel, shall we? It’s a thin layer of veal coated in breading and fried in butter. BUTTER! Almost every restaurant has a version of it because it’s just that good. Ours came with Austrian potato salad, which is made with vinegar, mustard and olive oil. No mayo anywhere in sight.

And goulash, kind of a beef stew on steroids. The beef was like butter and the goulash came with a giant dumpling for sopping. Apparently sopping is a thing all over the world but I’m sure the Austrians have a more refined name for it. Goulash is all over this part of the world and we tried another version in Bratislava, Slovakia.

This one came with pillow-soft bread instead of dumplings for more sopping action.

Since we’re in Bratislava (an hour train ride from Vienna) let me show you the national dish.

This is better than the best mac and cheese you’ve ever had: sheep’s cheese dumplings with bacon. Sheep’s cheese is a national cheese of Slovakia and this dumpling dish is just divine. And, then, there’s the bacon. They had me at bacon.

Pork cutlet in a mushroom cream sauce. Forget about it. But we couldn’t. Delicious.

And even the Austrians put an egg on it. It being tender beef chunks and ultra tender potatoes.

Did I finish even half of any of these meals? No, I did not. But in Austria, they have take-out boxes and they know how to use them. And all of it reheats beautifully.

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