Breakfast Buffet At Marrols Hotel
On the day that we traveled from Bratislava to Prague, we decided to treat ourselves to a special meal whilst in Vienna.
At the beginning of the day, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Boutique Hotel Marrol in Bratislava. The hotel is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels group, and we definitely found that this was an excellent description for the hotel itself.
The breakfast was a buffet style, with a very wide range of offerings covering a very broad range of gastronomical tastes.
We enjoyed a choice of smoked salmon, poached or scrambled eggs, frankfurts or grilled sausages, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, a beautiful selection of cheeses and cold meats, espresso coffees prepared to order, a wide selection of breads and danish style pastries, and fresh and lovely fruits.
One of the most impressive things about our breakfast at the hotel was the opportunity to enjoy a glass of lovely Slovakian sparkling dry white wine to start our day.
Despite all of this breadth of offering, we decided upon a light breakfast, remembering that we had a luncheon reservation upon arrival into Vienna.
Following a very interesting ride down to Schwedenplatz in Vienna on a high speed catamaran (see this article about that trip), we made our way to the Gastwirtschaft Huth Restaurant located at 5 Schwellinggasse (close to StadtPark) in downtown Vienna.
Our trip from the boat to the restaurant in Vienna was fairly straightforward. We made use of the very fast and efficient U-Bahn underground system from Schwedenplatz to Stadtpark station.
Despite having to endure slightly damp weather in Vienna (the first rain we had seen since we arrived into Europe some 10 days earlier) we were able to successfully manage the short walk from the station to the restaurant, arriving some 5 minutes after the time of our reservation.
The staff in the restaurant were marvelous, assisting us in the task of storing our belongings next to the bar whilst we enjoyed the meal, then attending to our needs very well indeed.
Huth Restaurant, Vienna
We discovered and made a booking at this restaurant as a result of the reviews and ratings that we found under Vienna on the Trip Advisor web site.
This eating place was rated extremely highly by others who had visited, and offered the type of food and eating experience that we were seeking whilst in Vienna for just a few hours.
We decided to try out both sides of the menu. The menu (provided in English) listed a selection of traditional Vienna dishes as well as a modern “interpretation” selection based on capturing the best in Viennese cuisine but using more imaginative ingredients and preparation styles.
Barbara selected a crème of roasted wild garlic soup with spring onions. Her comments were that this soup was one to die for. The color had a subtle pale green tinge to it, apparently extracted from some spring onions that had been mixed with the roasted garlic and whisked. The addition of cream and some subtle herbs and spices resulted in a soup that had a great texture (not too smooth) with subtle hints of the garlic and onion flavors melding together.
The presentation of the dish at the table was also quite memorable. A bowl with a centrepiece of pieces of roasted pork mixed with chopped chives was put at Barbara’s place, then the soup was poured into the bowl at the table.
My soup was also excellent. It was a traditional Vienna beef consomme that was served with some chives and a duck liver dumpling (again served at the table). The overall taste was quite complex with the richness of the liver dumpling offered a good counterpoint to the delicate flavors of the consomme.
For our main course, I selected to try a genuine Vienna Cordon Bleu, while Barbara chose a dish of crumbed pork and mustard pieces.
Both dishes were accompanied by a side dish of potatoes, one with chives and the other with winter greens. The presentation of the potatoes was extremely interesting, since they were finely cut and served in a bowl mixed with a thickened broth, spanish onions and winter greens.
My cordon bleu was succulent without being either too rich or greasy. The escalope of veal (absolutely white) was folded over a slice of prosciutto style ham. The cheese as rich and creamy, and the flavors combined together very nicely indeed. This appeared to me to be one of the best cordon bleu dishes available in Vienna.
Barbara’s dish was very nice, although she felt that it didn’t have quite the “wow” factor of her first course. The pieces of thinly sliced pork were coated with a mild mustard then crumbed and lightly fried.
The result was perhaps not that different from a vienna schnitzel prepared with pork, rather than veal.
We both enjoyed a wine with our main courses. Barbara selected a riesling style wine that was crisp, dry and showed fresh floral characteristics. I went for a cabernet merlot style wine of 2005 vintage. Very nice indeed!
Unfortunately time was against us in terms of sampling the desserts and coffee at the restaurant, because we needed to board our train to Prague on the other side of Vienna.
We would certainly recommend this restaurant to anybody visiting Vienna who is looking for a combination of excellent food, great service and a convenient location.
After our arrival into Prague we found our way to the hotel at about 8:00 pm, and must confess that we decided not to indulge too much further. We simply enjoyed a quiet and very light repast before retiring for the night.
When we plan our travels properly we are less likely to be like Alice, who after asking the Cheshire cat which way she should go was bluntly told that if she didn’t know where she wanted to get to, then the direction she decided to travel didn’t much matter.