Figlmüllers Café am Dom

Review

Oh, ode in red!

What kind of Viennese goes to a café on Stephansplatz? Exactly. That's why I never visited the old Weinwurm. Also because the tiny espresso from 1956 was easy to overlook amidst the souvenir and Mozartkugel madness. 20 years ago, there was a generational change at Weinwurm. Georg Weinwurm not only enlarged the Espresso, but also had it redesigned by the architecture firm Querkraft into a 50s Espresso in the 21st century. Two years ago, it was finally sold to the Figlmüllers, who quickly had a proper trendy café called Zwischengang built in. So it was all the more surprising when Hans and Thomas Figlmüller decided to renovate it again just one and a half years later. They commissioned the architect and admirer of northern Italian espresso culture Erich Bernard with the design and gave him a pretty free hand. The result was somewhat surprising, even for the Figlmüllers. "Because we're actually rather conservative," says Thomas Figlmüller: a garish mix of quotes from Italian mid-century cafés, terracotta-colored walls, bright red leather benches, the backrests wrapped in a dramatic floral pattern, the tables made of red marble. Let's put it this way: understated is different. Should you go there? Why not. The tables in the entrance area in particular offer a distanced view of the tourist hustle and bustle. The menu wanders between Wagyu burgers, goulash, black tiger prawns and apple strudel and seems to want to compensate for the creative courage with even greater caution. The truffle croque monsieur is not the worst ham and cheese toast in town (even if the truffle slices are purely decorative and therefore unnecessary), but it is not the cheapest either (€ 16.50). I would reconsider offering the veal schnitzel with truffled mashed potatoes as an option. However, the so-called "trilogy" is quite a hit, a wonderfully old-fashioned étagère with Thum leg ham and freshly grated horseradish on the top floor, a really not bad "Kinderschnitzerl" with seed oil and potato salad in the middle and impeccable Kaiserschmarren with plum roaster on the first floor. The lounge background music is dispensable, the coffee could be better, and the fact that an espresso without a view of the Steffl costs just as much as in the Schanigarten (€ 3.50) is almost a little too egalitarian. A café in one of the absolute top locations in Vienna, run by complete professionals, with a design that you have to get used to.

More in Café, Espresso
Food & Drink in Vienna