Brasserie & Bar Neue Hoheit

Review

From the top down

In 1979, billionaire heiress Caroline Rose Hunt thought that a new luxury hotel chain was needed and started planning in Dallas. A few more hotels were added over the years, and in 2011, Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng acquired the chain and went shopping in a big way: The Carlyle in New York, Chancery Court in London, Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, and he has just bought Schloss Fuschl in the Salzkammergut. He acquired the former headquarters of Erste Bank on Graben a few years ago, and the luxury hotel has been ready since the beginning of August. And it also has a restaurant on the top floor, with its own entrance, great views, good cuisine, plenty of fuss and a rather silly name, Neue Hoheit. The restaurant's price range is beyond what I can recommend here in good conscience, but there is also a bar where you can also breathe in the scent of wealth, but for a lot less money. Okay, you can't really call the bar low-threshold either: You are checked in at the entrance before you are allowed into the elevator, a radio message "one person, bar" goes up. Three serious people in black suits await you there, who will only let you climb the narrow staircase to the bar if you are accompanied ... Please, relax! If you haven't lost your appetite by then, you'll get your money's worth: firstly, the bar is casual, small, discreet, classic, tasteful, made of wood, leather and marble, just like hotel bars should look. And it has a terrace: also small, just four desks and four tables, but with a view of Bognergasse, across Kohlmarkt, over to the skyscraper, past St. Peter's dome to St. Stephen's Cathedral, into the roof terrace apartments of the Goldenes Quartier, which you can't even see from below. Behind the bar is Daniel, who previously mixed at the Hotel Fontenay on Hamburg's Outer Alster. He works calmly and with concentration, pleasantly dispensing with pirouettes and posturing. His recommendation for this hot, humid day is the Old Cuban: dark rum with angostura, lime and sugar syrup on ice, strained and infused with champagne. It's kind of obvious here - and it's pretty good. As are the pecan nuts with teriyaki crust. He stirs the Dirty Martini carefully on ice, the vermouth content is high, as is the olive brine - very good. The drinks are not cheap, you have to reckon with 20 euros each. But in return you get a great cocktail and a very tempting feeling of luxury. Summary: A small hotel bar that is completely lacking in relaxation, but not in atmosphere, good cocktails and a great view.

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