Würstelstand Kaiserzeit

Review

The Würschtlkaiser

Photo: Heribert Corn In general, you have to admire someone's courage when they open a new sausage stand today. Because sausage stands aren't exactly a mega-burner, sausage stands aren't pulled pork, sausage stands aren't veggie and sausage stands aren't gluten-free at all. Nor can we say that the various "Würstelstand 2.0" concepts of recent years have been a big hit. We remember the extremely ambitious "Kiosk" sausage project in Schleifmühlgasse (now history) or Josef Bitzinger's attempt to launch a somewhat cooler sausage stand in Währinger Straße (closed, albeit for some time) - it seems that the Viennese were even less interested in the reinvention than in the basic version. Actor, cabaret artist and author Rudi Roubinek - together with a few event caterers - nevertheless invested in the sausage stand on Augartenbrücke. And because it has allegedly been around since 1909 and Roubinek is somewhat branded by his role as "Seyffenstein" in the TV series "Wir sind Kaiser", the stall was named "Kaiserzeit". And was given a Sissi-and-Franz-Josef design. Okay, and even the selection of food and drinks couldn't quite resist making a monarchist reference, be it with the mini sausage aka "Kleiner Franzl", the goulash soup, which is described in nostalgic jargon as the standard rations of the Austrian military, the imperial roll, the former imperial and royal origins of various Czech beers or a creation called Kaiserwurst. I mean, the basic quality here isn't even bad, after all, you don't just get your sausage from one of the two big sausage factories that supply around 90 percent of Vienna's sausage stands with standard products, but check out a Mangalitza bratwurst, a Blunzn and also the glorious Pusztawurst, almost all from medium-sized businesses in Burgenland. Bravo, but if the goulash soup is just a salty and otherwise not very aromatic g'schlader, why have it at all (€ 3.30)? Or this "Kaiserwurst" - a fried white sausage, which is then drizzled with truffle oil. With truffle oil! Pourquoi? Is that supposed to be noble? That's horrible, nothing else (€ 4.90)! And as well-intentioned as the Blunzn from Zemendorf in central Burgenland may be, a sausage that takes ten minutes to prepare and whose skin you can't eat is perhaps even less suitable for a sausage stand than a fried white sausage marinated in truffle oil (€ 3.90). Reinventing things doesn't automatically make them better. To sum up: a sausage stand that never misses an opportunity to cherish nostalgic, monarchist sentiments. Sausage stand Kaiserzeit 2, Augartenbrücke/Obere Donaustr. Sun-Tues 8-23.30, Wed-Sat 8-4

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