Sometimes I just want to eat typical Austrian food. Something I know and love and where there are no disappointments. So on a recent weekday evening I met with a friend for a long overdue chat and we sat down at Sven’s Sohn. Sven has been around for a while and when it got sold, the name was changed to Sven’s Sohn (son of Sven). There is no more Sven, but who cares when the food is good.
The rather diminutive restaurant from outside, is not much grander on the inside. It does have two small dining rooms though, the first one with an old serving bar. We sat down in the second one which gives a clear view on the workings of the kitchen.
dining room @Sven’s Sohn
The cover charge includes fresh linen clothes, an assorted bread basket and some spread. Best of all was the jug of water which was already on every table.
We both forwent a starter and decided right on the main dish. For my friend it was a Krautfleisch, a typical Austrian (we claimed it from the monarchy) dish. She liked it well enough even it was no revelation. She called it good, but not great. The meat was tender and came with enough cabbage.
Krautfleisch @Sven’s Sohn
I ordered another typical Austrian dish, boiled beef (which is the cheap version of Tafelspitz) with vegetables, roesti and accompanying sauces. Honestly the roesti was more than disappointing. Super small and pressed in a small disk-like form as if done in a mini-pancake iron. Never seen that before. The rest was good though. The sauces rich and tasty (sorry, no picure), the meat maybe too much marbled with fat. Overall quite good though!
boiled beef with vegetables @Sven’s Sohn
Best of all was the dessert though. We shared Palatschinken (the Austrian version of pancakes) filled with Powidl (a very dark plum jam). I loved the ratio of pancake to jam, not too much and not too little. The pancakes arrived warm at the table and the chef already split the portion so that we each had our own Palatschinke.
Palatschinke with powidl @Sven’s Sohn
If I have one complaint it was the accoustic in the room. Since it is so small with a lot of tables, it’s quite loud. We were just the two of us, so it was okay to talk. For a larger group I would probably prefer the garden in front of the restaurant. The restaurant appears to be very popular with the neighbourhood and their international friends. At least it appeared so to me. The place was packed, so make sure to reserve ahead. The food in any case was quite good. Yours, Pollybert
Sven’s Sohn
1090 Wien, Berggasse 28
Tel: +42 1 3106536
Email:angelapuskas@hotmail.com
Mon-Fri: 11:30-14:00, 18:00-22:00
http://www.svenssohn.at/
