Viennese Pastries

Now that I am back in Paris, and up to my ears in butter, I have sort of neglected finishing my description (diatribe?) of the food experiences we had while in the other cities we recently visited. In case you have not been keeping up, these just-visited places were Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam.

It seems important here and now to reiterate my self-assigned status as a pastry afficionado. Holding such an esteemed/imaginary position means that is becoming increasingly more difficult to impress me with buttery, sugary, chocolatey treats.

That is not to say that I am not quick to indulge. It is just that wowing me is a mite more difficile than it used to be. I swear that I can tell now if sub-par butter is being used in croissants. You may sit there thinking, "Umm, isn't butter just butter? How can butter be low-quality?"

I hear you. I, too, was once naive.

Anyway, my point is that the pastries in Vienna impressed me. I had suspicions that such a delightful occurence could take place, but my hopes were not TOO high. After all, the baked goodness that used to have me practically keeling over in delight and wonder now seem simply "adequate." And yet, in Vienna, I was definitely impressed.

I think pigs might be flying out my window right now.

We ate at a great cafe in the center of Vienna, aptly named "Cafe Central." It felt like we were in movie scene that was plucked out of the 1940's, and we loved it in there. The food was beautiful and delicious and the pastries were INCREDIBLE. I had this Almond Mousse cake that was held together by two praline-y lacey type cookies. I have to say that I had never eaten anything like it before, and that alone was pretty darn neat. It was a thick almond mousse with a stream of soft meringue running through it. The cookies were not overly sweet, and they provided a really lovely crunch to the whole shabang. I also tried acouple of their milk-y yummy chocolates. Accompanied by a cafe Melange (the Viennese version of the French "Creme"), it was sublime.

My husband, after having a hearty bowl of soup for lunch, decided he was not hungry for dessert. When such blasphemous utterances emanate from his lips, I seriously marvel at our differences.

We also ate at the famous Cafe Demel (the Viennese version of Laduree--see previous post for description). It had amazing whimsical decor, and huge floor to ceiling windows that allowed those dining in the cafe to observe the artisans/bakers at work in the industrial-sized kitchen. Just seeing the tools they used to create the fillings was an amazing enough activity. When I went to woodworking school, I had about a tenth of as many little gadgety-type tools. So cool.

Anyway, we learned from our walking tour guide that "No Viennese would ever eat there," as it is both over-priced and touristy, but we were tourists and what else are we good for if not to erroneously overspend at the places designed to ensnare us?

But this place was worth it! Not only did we have a "free" show by watching the bakers at work, but we also were able to visit their "mueum" in the basement, and also peruse the cases of cakes and treats on display. We ate an Apfel strudel and a Schaumroll (the former was apple strudel in cake form and the latter was a thick pastry shell piped with delectable cream). Evidently, by the way, the thing to order there is the "sourcake," but sour cream is one of those things I find really grodie, so none of that for this bird.

Also worth noting is that the croissants in Vienna taste different from those in Paris. Much less flaky (has to do with both butter content and how much handling the dough endures, if my pastry classes of a few years ago taught me correctly), and also the filling for the choclate croissants is different. For example, a pain au chocolat in France is a pouch of croissant containing a small quantity of almost-crunchy nubs of 70% dark chocolate. A little goes a long way. The chocolate croissants in Vienna are crescent shaped (by the way, the croissant actually originated in Vienna, not in France, can you stand that?) and are filled with a much more generous, softer, and creamier portion of milkier chocolate. Also, they are often dipped in chocolate or iced with chocolate on top--something the French would never deign to do, as I imagine it would ruin the integrity of the croissant itself. Mais non, mon Dieu!

Both versions are delicious, by the way.

So I tried a few cookies too, but as we were only in Vienna for three days and since the acquisition of type-2 diabetes was not a personal goal, I was not able to try all that I might have wanted to had we had more time. Maybe another trip is necessary--I mean my esteemed position does require me to be an expert, after all.