A couple of years ago I spent a legendary evening at Sip Song Bar in the Lerchenfelderstrasse. Although I raved about the tiny bar, I never made it back. But no worries, it is still open and even got a sister restaurant. Sip Song Bar Florianigasse is much larger and definitely more of a restaurant than a bar.
Sip Song Bar Florianigasse @Vienna
The style is the same though, a mix of shabby chic and South East Asian street food stalls. Colorful plastic dishes and eclectic decor set the tone. It is almost a wonder that the drinks are served in real glasses.
don’t come without a reservation @Sip Song Bar
The restaurant allows exactly two hours for your meal, except when you get one of the later slots. Then at least you can finish your drink in peace. We got a table for two in a little window nook and were quite enchanted at first.
window decor @Sip Song Bar
This changed quickly though once the first cold draft reached me and I had to grab my pashmina to not freeze to death. We were also sitting for quite a while until the drinks materialized, about thirty minutes. At least the water arrived quicker. The personnel was friendly, English speaking only (weird in a German speaking city), and definitely not professionals. But at least they were motivated, always helpful when all else failed.
We started our meal with four raw prawns sitting in a green chili, lime, coriander, and mint sauce. Absolutely delicious, the prawns were fresh and perfectly cleaned. I tried to eat mine in two bites so that I could dunk it again into the sauce. The sauce on its own had a strong spice level, but so tasty together with the prawns.
Goong Chae Nam Pla @Sip Song Bar
Next up was Spitzkraut with tofu, curry peanut sauce, crispy onions, and coriander. About halfway through, the promised extra plates appeared. That was when I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture.
Spitzkraut @Sip Song Bar
Five minutes later the helpful waitress also brought a knife to cut the cabbage. The cabbage itself was quite tasty with strong grill aromas. The creamed tofu underneath was a bit bland and the curry peanut sauce could have been warmer. Only the cabbage was hot and once topped with everything else it cooled quickly. The crispy onions turned out to be raw red onions but definitely crunchy. All in all a nice dish that could have used more heat in every sense of the word.
Since the curry peanut sauce was a bit weak for us, we ordered the Kai Kolae Roti, a South Thailand chicken leg with a spicy red curry sauce, roti, and pickled pearl onions. Not sure if the chicken really came all the way from Thailand, but the meat was deboned and juicy. The leg is my favorite part of the chicken as the meat is always juicier than the breast. The sauce it swam in was spicy, slightly too oily, but perfect to soak up with the roti and a bowl of jasmine rice we ordered separately. The flavors were strong enough to still shine through even when diluted with carbohydrates. The pearl onions added the necessary acidity to cut through all the grease. Best of all was the roti, hot, crispy, and greasy. As far as rotis in Vienna go, definitely one of the best, although nothing compared to a fresh Malayan roti.
deboned chicken leg in curry sauce @Sip Song Bar
By then we were quite full and happy that the ordered pomelo salad had not appeared. There was no room on the table anyway and we had had enough. But it did arrive eventually, together with the announcement of last order from the kitchen. Too bad really, my review for Sip Song Bar Florianigasse would have been much better without the salad. The pomelo salad was a real disappointment. The pomelo was too dry (how long had this fruit already waited in the fridge?), the dried shrimps were exactly as expected, and the cashews came whole. But it was the overly generous amount of grated coconut that soaked up the undefined dressing and made the whole thing blander than necessary. The salad lacked acidity, the lime leaves did not help much either, and it was boring and dry. The best part of this dish were the few pink grapefruit filets on top.
pomelo salad @Sip Sing Bar
In reminiscence of the fabulous evening spent at the original Sip Song Bar, we ordered some drinks. It was the first one on the list and so uninspired that I forgot its name. My friend remembered that it was a Thai Pirinha. Still, it was a really boring drink. Better was the Singha beer we had once we moved to a warmer corner. As full as the restaurant was at 8 pm, by 10 pm the place was empty. Only the personnel enjoyed the bar atmosphere at this hour.
almost empty already @Sip Song Bar
Much good can be said about Sip Song Bar, but not everything was fine. There is a certain discord between the street food image, the slow service, and the pricing. It took forever until our drinks arrived and the table was never cleared in between, although there was not much room to begin with. At least the plates were all made of plastic, so I had no worries stacking them on top of each other. On the other hand, when I forgot my cell phone in the restaurant, the waitress was kind enough to run after us to get it to me. All in all though, I enjoyed it. But maybe I should just return to the original Sip Song Bar. Yours, Pollybert
Sip Song Bar
1080 Wien, Florianigasse 15
Tel: +43 660 1124244
Wed-Sat: 18:00 –23:30
https://www.instagram.com/sipsong_bar
