On a recent Sunday I drove all the way across town to meet for breakfast with a couple of friends. This happened at a former Jewish gym, simple called Café Turnhalle. According to the website it is not only a café but an event location and brunch is only happening once a month. I haven’t really figured how it works but I think it’s worth to just call and get the information. That is to say the food was great.
We got the big table in the middle and I loved that there was already a jug of water and glasses on it. The dining room has a really high ceiling and nothing on the walls which is not helping with the acoustics. The place is loud and you have to lean in when you want to hear what the people across from you are saying. Besides that I found it quite atmospheric. The copper pipe in the middle leads to beer tanks in the back.
dining room @Café Turnhalle
I am not really sure what is on the regular menu but what they had for brunch was really good. Everything was made from scratch (yes, I can taste that), organic and vegetarian. If I have one complaint it might be that there was a lot with pumpkin. But it was all in varied forms and differently seasoned so it worked out well. Also I assume since it was all organic they just use whatever is in season.
The brunch buffet offered scrambled eggs with pumpkin seed oil, a tomato, onion and chick pea dish, a casserole with vegetables and cheese on top, roasted pumpkin salad with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds, chickpeas salad with spinach leaves, red cabbage and figs, a barley risotto with pumpkin, a red cabbage salad with a little bit pumpkin and a tomato mozzarella salad. So much for the savoury stuff which included bread, rolls, herbal and regular butter and a cheese platter.
scrambled eggs and tomato dish @Café Turnhalle
the savoury buffet @Café Turnhalle
Now the sweet stuff was even better, with fresh fruits, yoghurt and granola, waffles with plum sauce, a brioche bake, cheesecake and fantastic brownies.
fresh fruits and waffles @Café Turnhalle
more waffles, brownies and the brioche bake in the back @Café Turnhalle
I haven’t enjoyed a buffet so much in a long time. The quality of the food was outstanding and everything was yummy. I really did my best to taste it all but had to surrender to the brownies. These stopped me from snacking my way through the other desserts.
Service was a bit slow, they were definitely understaffed here. Nevermind they did their best to serve quickly. What really worked well was the stocking of the buffet. There was plenty of everything and what got eaten was replaced immediately. There is a small courtyard, so on nice days you can sit outside. What a find! Yours, Pollybert
Café Turnhalle
Herklotzgasse 21, 1150 Wien
Tel: +43/660 2036404
Mo-Sun: 10-22:00
https://brick-5.at/kontakt/
