Kussmaul has a good review in the Michelin Guide, was less than 1 km away from the Hilton Vienna Plaza and was also open on a Sunday evening.
The Michelin guide awarded Kussmaul a ‘Plate’ (Good Food) and wrote this:
Where a slaughterhouse once stood, a long time ago, today you can dine on one of the two levels in a stylish interior and enjoy modern international, Mediterranean-influenced cuisine, e. g. confit sea bass with tomato coriander sauce, orange and potato cream. Lovely historical setting with cross vault, and a pleasant, casual atmosphere.
Sounds great doesn’t it? We were excited to arrive and were looking forward to their menu – https://www.kussmaul-vienna.com/en/menu/ especially as it had started to rain.
The place was almost empty, just a few tables. The interior was indeed stylish.
I explained that we had a booking for 7.30pm – the waitress asked if we wanted à la carte and we said yes. The waitress disappeared to talk to the chef and returned to advise that only the set menu was available.
Using Google translate, we discovered that wasn’t really the food we were looking for, but I’d struggled to find restaurants that opened on a Sunday evening, we’d just arrived in Vienna and it was raining, so we stayed.
A 0.125 l glass of Bordeaux Chateau du Retout was EUR 9.60. Water was free – well except that there was a cover charge of EUR 3.50 per person added.
The warm bread, spread and olives were very good.
The fried cauliflower and mango chutney. I don’t like cauliflower and this didn’t change my opinion.
I’d had duck the previous evening and so went for the quiche. It was okay, but a little bit sad.
The duck was average and little chewy. I was pleased that I’d chosen the quiche.
The pudding was just wasted calories – small tarts topped with flavourless creme and a smear of berry jam.
Total including three glasses of wine and service charge was EUR 94.80.
I’m not used to a service charge and decided that it was a tip – especially as the food wasn’t that great. But the waitress was friendly and service was fine, so I texted a Viennese friend to ask about tipping. Sadly for the waitress, his reply came too late – we were expected to leave at least 8% but no more than 11% on top of any service charge. I made up for my lack of generosity the following evening at the excellent Bank Restaurant in the Park Hyatt.
However, I don’t agree with a service charge, especially in this case where the bread was included in the set menu.
As you can guess, we were disappointed with Kussmaul. Things may be better on days when the full menu is available, but, having since found better restaurants in Vienna, we won’t be back.
Kussmaul Restaurant
Bäckerstraße 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria
dinner@kussmaul-vienna.com
+43 1 2769873
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