Soulkitchen Vienna

Review

The Hartwig-Löger-Soul

Photo: Heribert Corn Is it an advantage to torment tax officials? My gut feeling is no. I wouldn't want to have this job and I don't think that people who do this job should be made excessively difficult (no, I'm not about to be audited...).
Now the Ministry of Finance is located in one of the ugliest buildings in the city by far, then you also have to share this ugly building with other ministries and thirdly, there is the so-called "HI ZO Speiseplateau" (HI ZO food plateau), where you can only wish that the responsible officer had not eaten there before when he or she picks up the tax return.
At least until now, because the most hidden of the eateries there was recently taken over by Bits & Bites, a wonderful restaurant in Webgasse, which was opened two and a half years ago by artist Farangis Firozian and skateboarder and top chef Stan Binar.
They call their establishment in the Bundesamt building Soulkitchen, a name that may sound like a desperate plea here, but which takes on more meaning when you look at who is cooking there: namely Michael Held, who worked in Vienna with the grandmaster Alexander Mayer at Pfarrwirt and Sky Restaurant, among others, and who says: "I learned my job, so I want to do it." And not just deliver standards and warm up convenience food. Which is why the young man in this really not particularly pretty and even less easy to find canteen now cooks a lunch every day that is really something. With high-quality ingredients and cooked as freshly as possible. And while the tomato soup with pesto was still rather unremarkable (€ 3.50), the basmati salad really got down to business: rice cooked with coconut and carrot juice, with curry, cubes of roasted sweet potato in orange and purple, almond slivers, radishes and avocado too. Without a doubt the best meal in the Federal Office building (€ 8.00). At least until the pulled pork, for which Michael Held rubbed the pork neck with Dijon and garlic, put it in the oven for eight hours and then made a marinade from the gravy with bacon from the Tschürz in central Burgenland. And on top of that, he added perhaps the best cole slaw in town with homemade mayonnaise. Yes, that's soul food (€ 9.80). The Soulkitchen also has a small garden at the back of the horrible building, where it's quiet and almost a bit pretty. Michael Held is even considering setting up a smoker here. Whatever the case, it has never been more worthwhile to enter the Federal Office building. Summary: A restaurant that is a canteen and looks like one too. However, it is made by great restaurateurs and cooked by a great chef. Soulkitchen by Bits & Bites 3rd, Hintere Zollamtsstraße 2b/Speiseplateau Tel. 0660/837 25 09 Mon-Fri 11 am - 2 pm

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