At the Hotel Grand Ferdinand the Schnitzel is King
Meissl & Schadn is basically the Hotel Restaurant of the beautifully designed Grand Ferdinand which I still have to review because from a design perspective it is without a doubt my favorite hotel in Vienna.
The interior
Meissl & Schadn is the end product of a redesign by the styrian restaurateur Florian Weitzer and I have to say that they did a great job bringing some old Viennese charm and history into the building mixing it up with a show kitchen right at the window front. Here you can watch the cooks fry up a fresh pair of Schnitzels everyday. Somehow it feels a bit like a Vienno-Parisian Bistro with golden rimmed plates emblazoned with the restaurant name and retro styled furniture. Dotted around the restaurant are modern aspects like the a golden “Schnitzel Love” Sign in an Impact style font. The room is mostly lit beautifully by the windows outside just when you get to the back of the room where I was sitting it gets a bit dark.
Let’s dig in
I would say if you are here for anything but the Schnitzel you somehow don’t understand the meaning of a specialized restaurants. Just for the sake of helping the vegans and vegetarians who were forced by friends or family to come here there are three vegetarian main dishes one of them is vegan…I haven’t tried any :). Also I heard the rest of the menu is decent.
Something that needs to be mentioned is the Starter which in my case was another famous Austrian dish the Frittatensuppe. Delicious soothing broth filled with unsweetened pancake slices and my side dish was also made to perfection a Kartoffelsalat tasted like Grandmas best recipe… was hoping to get a drizzle of Pumpkin seed oil on this but still delectable.
It’s Schnitzel Time
Alright so they make a huge deal about the different oils in which you can have your Schnitzel fried – Vegetable Oil, Butter Lard or Pig Lard which is the traditional version. A bit weird for some is that your beef/veal Schnitzel is gonna get fried in Pig Lard. That’s the way it was done in the ye’olde days but to be honest somehow pig or even chicken meat is just tastier, which would be a lovely addition to the menu for those who would like to break with conventions.
The Schnitzel itself is made to perfection, a bit too thin for my taste but again it is how it was done a hundred years ago just like the batter that is only loosely wrapped around the Schnitzel and will fall off with the first cut. All correctly done and historically accurate.
However, my question never is if my food is historically accurate or not but rather if it is freaking delicious – and a “Modern Schnitzel” just tastes better to me; still I would recommend it to you for the experience.
If you have time give my favorite places a go: Schnitzelwirt (you will smell like fat if you sit inside but it’s worth it), Cafe Anzengruber and Pfarrwirt as Viennese staples for Schnitzel or the Meierei at Stadtpark that makes a Schnitzel so good it brings tears to my eyes. I know a lot of people will say Figlmüller should be on the list too and of course they make an amazing Schnitzel but come on.. there a busloads of tourists being shoved in, it’s hell to get a place and they get enough promotion already.
Last but never least, the people who take care of you in every restaurant or bar. I gotta say with quite a charm, a quick step and impeccable service they made my day and my stay at Meissl & Schadn a lot lovelier. Thank you.
Meissl & Schadn Website
Schubertring 10-12, 1010 Wien
Ps: Wanna clobber your own Schnitzel …. they offer a one afternoon “Make your own” course
