The Café Francais is at a location in Vienna where other restaurants have failed over and over again. The French charm though worked its magic and the restaurant thrived. Although I’m not much convinced by the food (I had weird dinner experiences here), I decided to give it a try for breakfast on a recent Saturday morning.
dining room @Café Francais
At 9am the restaurant is still empty and I am lead to one of the much conveyed window tables. Whatever the reason for this I like the view out of the window and the sun is shining to boot. French chansons waft through the dining room and increase the Frenchness of the restaurant and the view out of the window is amazing.
Votivkirche @Vienna
We order Eggs Florentin and Benedict respectively because isn’t a good sauce Hollandaise the best way to start a weekend. Let’s make it short though, the eggs are a disappointment.
Egg Florentine and Egg Benedict @Café Francais
The best part is the egg itself (there is only one egg here) and the sauce. The egg is nicely poached and the sauce Hollandaise one of the best I have tried in Vienna so far. The problem unfortunately is that everything except for the egg is either cold or lukewarm. The worst part is though the bread on which the egg comes. It’s regular toast which is so dry that it resembles zwieback. There is no way that you can soak up the yolk with this. The garnish of salad and tomatoes gives the plate a bright look but comes straight out of the fridge. Who keeps tomatoes in the fridge? That’s a sacrilege for the tomatoes.
The spinach in the Florentine version is tasty while the ham of the Benedict version is a disgrace. Really the supermarket version is enough for this price? I think there is a room for improvement because let’s not forget, the sauce is divine.
Egg Florentine @Café Francais
As quirky the restaurant or rather bistro is in its Frenchyness, it falls flat on the food side. Which is a shame. Because come to think of it, a good sauce Hollandaise is not easy to find in Vienna. And they really know how to do that here. Maybe collaborating with a good bakery and getting the food warm to the table could do wonders for Café Francais. Yours, Pollybert
Café Francais
1090 Wien, Währinger Str. 6-8
Tel: +43 1 3190903
Email: salut@cafefrancais.at
Mon-Sat: 09:00-24:00
http://www.cafefrancais.at/
