Blumenwiese

Review

All-inclusive on the canal

Photo: Heribert Corn One could argue about the bureaucratic madness of the fact that a corporation called "Donau Hochwasserschutz Konkurrenz", in which the federal government, the City of Vienna, the province of Lower Austria and a little bit of the Ministry of Transport are represented, owns the land on the Danube Canal; and that decisions about who is allowed to build their premises on the Danube Canal when, where and how tend to be non-transparent.
You could say that there are significant economic interests in using the Danube Canal area commercially, and that complicated, non-transparent procedures always suit economic interests more than small, private, non-commercial ones. And you could ask yourself whether anyone is still interested in this at all, or whether the public is happy anyway if there are always bigger and, above all, more and more things suitable for the masses. The latest Danube Canal venue called Blumenwiese is inclined to provide a few answers to this: Philipp Pracser, who very quickly became a big player in Vienna's restaurant landscape via the bowling alley route, has now also managed to open a very large restaurant on the Danube Canal.
In contrast to the Danube Canal bars (apart from Motto and Summerstage), which are always a bit anarchic or at least spontaneous, Blumenwiese consists of four zones with different status: the lowest class is the deckchair, if you sit here you have to queue at the take-away area, which can take half an hour; then there is a peripheral area, where you can sit on benches, but there are no tables, but a bit of service; then there are tables for which you have little chance without a reservation. The real checkers, however, sit in a slightly elevated lounge. The atmosphere and music are reminiscent of an all-inclusive club on the Turkish Riviera, with salad and - surprise! - burgers. The salad hardly lives up to its description ("flowers, wild herbs, baby spinach, micro sorrel, baby leaf lettuce, rocket"); it's a pile of small, lifeless leaves that can be combined with three tasteless fried frozen prawns (€12.80), for example. How they came up with the name for the boring Tijuana burger remains a mystery. Is it because of the grilled green pepper on top or because it gets more and more in your mouth (€ 13.80)? Whatever, the Dutch water beer goes perfectly with it. What can we say: gentrification eats its children, and mainstream commerce seems to be the inevitable result. Summary: the latest power gastronomy restaurant on the Danube Canal offers things that the majority think are great anyway, and appeals to people who never used to go to the Danube Canal. Blumenwiese 2, between Schwedenbrücke and Marienbrücke in good weather Mon-Sat 11am-24pm, Sun 11am-22pm

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