Weimarck has opened its doors in the former location of Café Amacord. It was handed over from mother to son, so it makes sense that the next generation arrived with a new concept, although I cannot comment on the change in concept or design since this was my first visit. I was told that the old café was legendary. Maybe it is better to know nothing and keep an open mind. From the street it looks as if the restaurant lies in the basement since the sidewalk is a bit higher here and once inside this impression becomes even stronger with the vaulted ceiling.
inside @Weimarck
At seven in the evening the restaurant felt empty and I was happy to see that we were not the only ones with another table occupied. An hour later the room was busy and every table was booked. Too bad that we did not realize what that meant. The regular menu is quite short, but there are a couple of extra dishes every day. These are written on a small blackboard and once they are gone, they cannot be ordered. So one should make up her mind rather quickly.
daily dishes @Weimarck
We started the meal with the mixed starter plate with meat, actually three plates for the lot of us. I was not convinced at first since Weimarck does not give the vibe of a sharing plate restaurant. As it turned out it was a fabulous decision. The starter plate included all the starters from the menu except the soup, plus some pickled radish, grilled eggplant, salami and cheese.
mixed starter plate with meat @Weimarck
In the little bowl in the middle sat a beef tartar which I loved. It was very tasty with fried capers and pickled egg yolk on top. Roasted pumpkin slices sat on thick lentil hummus, Obazda came with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts and started a discussion if the Liptauer of our youth tasted similar. It does not in my opinion, but that’s a different topic. The pickled radishes brought something fresh to the plate. I did not care much for the eggplants, the cheese and the salami, not because they were not good but just not as exciting as the rest. Everything was full of flavor and very promising for what was to come. Overall this was a very well balanced sharing plate to start.
From the daily menu we ordered risotto with wood mushrooms and rosemary. Usually I am not inclined to order risotto since it tends to be overcooked and mushy except in Italy. This one though was quite nice with lots of mushrooms and an earthy flavor. I am not sure about the wood concept of this dish since I found only white mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms. Nonetheless I enjoyed it a lot.
risotto with wood mushrooms and rosemary @Weimarck
The cocoa chicken from the regular menu came with coleslaw and coriander and was so deep fried that it arrived at the table without any moisture left. Think dry like leather and less like a piece of meat. This is not a dish you want to order and the less said about it the better.
Cocoa Chicken @Weimarck
The stuffed pepper, a favorite Austrian dish, was on the daily menu and unfortunately ran out. Two people wanted to order it, only one pepper was available and in hindsight it would have been better to leave this portion for someone else. The promised tomato sauce and cooked potatoes never materialized. Instead the dish was served with creamy grits. That does not work at all and the traditional way is with the above listed sides. Without tomato sauce this can be rather dry. The stuffed pepper dish was also not a winner. I understand the reasoning to get everything out of the kitchen and to the customer, but an advance warning about the grits would have been nice.
stuffed pepper with grits @Weimarck
The Wiener Schnitzel on the other hand looked good with a small bowl of home made potato salad and a lot of cranberry jam on the side. I am just not sure about the flaky salt on top. Personally I prefer it when the meat gets salted before frying. But there were no complaints about this dish.
Wiener Schnitzel @Weimarck
The desserts were even less interesting than the main dishes. The vegan chestnut chocolate mousse lacked any kind of chestnut flavor and was essentially a chocolate mousse with fake whipped cream. The girl who ordered it was not impressed and left most of it untouched. That tells you everything you need to know.
chestnut chocolate mousse @Weimarck
The pumpkin spice cheesecake with roasted plums did not fare any better. We ordered one for the whole table and it did not get finished either. The cake was dry and boring and I am not sure what was meant by pumpkin spice since I could not detect any kind of flavor except cardboard. But the plums were a surprise hit. They had a strong hint of cinnamon and the texture of the roasted fruit was perfect. Too bad there was not more of it on the plate.
pumpkin spice cheesecake with roasted plums @Weimarck
Our service guy was really friendly and engaged although it felt like it was his first rodeo in this kind of work. Nothing ran smoothly and the wine was warm as well. But he stayed friendly throughout, apologized and offered the dessert for free plus a round of drinks. Surprisingly I got a really good impression of Weimarck despite the dysfunction of it all. Pricing is fair, there was a warm atmosphere and the kitchen turned out some really nice dishes. Also some really awful ones, let’s be honest. Still I would love to give it another go. Yours, Pollybert
Weimarck
1040 Wien, Rechte Wienzeile 15
Tel: +43 664 3831486
Email: office@weimarck.at
Tue-Fri: 11:30-14:30, 17:30-24:00, Sat: 13:00-24:00
https://www.instagram.com/weimarck.1040/
