Österreicher is a restaurant in the Museum of Applied Arts (Museum der Angewanten Kunst, MAK, see previous post). 
We arrived at the restaurant towards the end of lunchtime on a weekday – and the dining room is empty? It turned out every one was seated outside in the garden enjoying a bit of sunshine. There was a small glass-sided extension which contains a smaller and more intimate dining room (with a ceiling that rolls back – which we did not know at the time).
This restaurant is run by Helmut Österreicher, a star chef who reinvents traditional Austrian dishes. After we saw all those asparagus posted earlier in Nacshmarkt, we had to have some – with Hollandaise sauce. It went really well with the preserved meats.
We ordered the simplest dishes on the menu, and they are reliably excellent.
Garlic soup.
Shrimp pesto risotto
Since the schnitzel is a very common dish in Austria, we wanted to do a comparison between a decent street version (at Glacis Beisl) and this version by a renowned chef. I honestly cannot tell the difference. The least I can say is that they must have used a gigantic frying pan.
We entered the restaurant from the shop – the big dining room has a very elaborately decorated ceiling. An overhead structure marks the path across the room to a set of descending stairs which lead to the patio.
The long dinning room is simply stunning – it must be a great place to see and be seen.
There is an area for drinks which is tiered so that even when one is seated, every one in the bar area is in view.
Judging by the spaces for standing drinkers, it is probably not a hushed dining room.
Love to visit the place in the evening when there are more patrons.