Who doesn’t want to spend a warm summer evening cruising on the old Danube on a dinner raft? Even more so when this is advertised as gourmet dinner with an unlimited supply of drinks during the cruise. The dinner cruise from La Crêperie sounds perfect. Unfortunately the real thing can’t keep up with what has been promised.
La Crêperie isn’t subtle when it comes to its French vibe. Everything on the menu oozes French cuisine, too bad then that this never translates into anything French on the cruise. We start at the bar with an aperitif which is a sugary strawberry punch. It’s the perfect start because everyone is already in a good mood before we even go on board. The website also promises quiche Lorraine or something like it with the aperitif. It never materializes.
bar @La Crêperie
Once on board we sit down at the already laid table. There is a small salad for each of us as well as a plate which includes smoked salmon, slices of roast beef, prosciutto and so on. There is nothing in front of me which proclaims itself as French. But never mind, all drinks are included and we start right away with the white wine and water. Later on we learn that the cooler also holds prosecco. But no beer and no soft drinks as advertised. I also like to point out that the website claims the white wine is chardonnay, to keep with the French theme. In the end it is Grüner Veltliner. A good Austrian wine, but nowhere French.
cold cuts and a salad @La Crêperie
The meal comes with baguette and three sauces, one of those is some kind of orange butter and has not flavor. The sour cream sauce with herbs is tasty though. Once the grill is hot you start cooking yourself. Our group shares one table grill so it’s the persons in the middle who do the work and the rest of us try to get the piece we want. The website promises two grills and seafood, but who wants to be fussy? There was enough food on the raft to feed us all. That must be enough even though polenta might not be your first choice as a side dish. Also bacon is usually not something I grill for dinner.
grilling your own food @La Crêperie
We all got enough though which was important, because we kept on drinking while enjoying the cruise on the river. The weather was gorgeous and there were not mosquitoes on the water. So lovely to see the sunset with a couple of friends. I would have liked to accompany the scenery with music. Sadly the advertised speakers were not on board.
cruising on the old Danube @La Crêperie
The biggest letdown was the advertised French fruit cake which was a chocolate cake (for sure made from a bake mix) with two kinds of fruit sauces. The cruise was fun, don’t get me wrong here. But it is very misleading to advertise this as gourmet anything. Because the served food was gourmet nothing. It was a great base to soak up all the alcohol but that’s it. And for what we got the cruise was overpriced!
Along the old Danube there are a lot of other places which rent out party boats. You can just bring your own booze and have the same fun to a quarter of the price. Because this is what it is all about. Bring your friends and have fun. Yours, Pollybert
La Crêperie – Gourmet Floßfahrt
1210 Wien, An der Oberen Alten Donau 6
Tel: +43 1 271 60 95
Email: restaurant@lacreperie.at
cruises start at 18:00, 10-18 person, 65,-/person plus 50,- for the skipper
https://www.lacreperie.at/gourmet-flossfahrt/
