Adventure #180: Restaurant im Seehotel Gruner Baum (Hallstatt)

Hallstatt is a very beautiful lakeside town in Austria. So beautiful that a Chinese businessman replicated the entire town in China!  

We stayed the night in Hallstatt. Since many tourists are day visitors, there aren't many restaurants in town.  Luckily, the one in the hotel right next to ours looked very decent. 

 



This is a rather high end restaurant but the waiters don't really speak English. Took us a while to order a beer.

 

We were in Austria, so I chose to have a schnitzel. It was very good, especially with the berry jelly.

G ordered a grilled trout fished from the lake. He loved it.

The older one had a lasagna which she thought was very good.

And the little one had a very normal but delicious spaghetti.

It was a very enjoyable meal. The weather was pretty cold, so instead of the outdoor terrace, we sat indoors. However, as the restaurant had a very high ceiling and very large windows, and with a table facing the window, we still managed to have a meal with a view.

Marktplatz 104
Hallstatt 4830
Austria

Adventure #179: M32 (Salzburg)

Today, we made our way back to M32.  M32 stands for the address - Mönchsberg 32. As the restaurant is on top of the Modern Art Museum, it supposedly has panoramic views of the city from north of the River Salzach to the Hohensalzburg Fortress and the mountains behind them.  To get to the restaurant we had to buy a one-way ticket up and after the meal, they will give patrons free tickets to get back down.

It had been pouring all day, so we didn't expect to see anything up there. We just wanted to sit down and have a nice warm meal. And we were not disappointed.

Lift ticket with the restaurant's signature decor of deer horns.

As mentioned, the weather was not good and hence we weren't able to enjoy the views from the restaurant.  On a good day, this is what you will see from the restaurant's outdoor terrace:

But today, we had to be contented with the inside of the restaurant:

 

M32 specialises in fine dining serving Austrian and Mediterranean cuisine.  The service was great, waiters very attentive (what a surprise!).  They also had a kids menu so the little one can have her chicken nuggets and fries while we have some proper food.

The older one had roast lamb with polenta.  She loved it.

G had pan fried salmon on a bed of mushrooms.  The fish fresh, the skin crispy and the fish cooked just right.

I had sole with risotto.  It was good but a bit rich for me and I liked G's salmon better.

It was a fine dinner we had.  This restaurant is definitely a must when the weather is good.  There is a bar and an outdoor terrace, so if not for dinner, definitely for drinks.

Adventure #178: Afro Cafe (Salzburg)

After a leisurely afternoon wandering through the streets of Salzburg, we ended the day at the Modern Art Museum, which also houses the restaurant we wanted to visit - M32.  Unfortunately, M32 was closed for the day for private function.

As an alternative, we went down the street to Afro Cafe.  We chose this because it looks really funky from the outside!  The photos we took were a bit dark, so I "borrowed" some from their website.  The decors were made from recycled materials - rubbish!



Head made of bicycle seat, nose made of something knitted, ears made of shoe soles and horns made of bottle caps. Funky!



Spare ribs with peanut-chili sambal, pita, sour creme and harissa. The ribs were nicely barbecued and the peanut-chili sambal sauce was heavenly! And the portion was also very large so everyone got a share of this wonderful dish.

Afro-chicken breast with lentil ragout and coriander. The chicken was tender and the lentil mixture was absolutely delicious. We rarely eat lentils but we polished off the whole lot. 

Roast pork on okra with fried bananas.  This was the weakest dish of all. Maybe because we weren't huge okra fans. The fried bananas were interesting though.

Waffles with cream, fresh fruits and maple syrup.  Standard dessert. No surprises but well received by the kids.

Panacotta with pineapple compost.  This is a more adult dish than the waffles and we enjoyed this very much.

This was a very interesting find.  The decor was funky and thoroughly entertaining.  The food, although different, was good. A nice change from Bavarian food.