Aspic

Review

Viennese fork bites

In spring, anyone can cook well, says Borja Diaz de Cerio, "now in winter you have to prove yourself as a chef, you have to have pickled or fermented things." Borja comes from San Sebastián, one of the epicentres of the vibrant new Spanish cuisine, in which all aspects of sustainability play an important to essential role. He came to Klar for love; with his background, he could have found some investor and opened a chic designer restaurant where slim-fit suit wearers pay 250 euros for a meal. But he wasn't interested. Instead, he teamed up with Labstelle bartender Manuel Grafeneder and Xuan Hoang Do, the operator of the hip, neo-Vietnamese Tata restaurants, who contributed his Rice Time in Garnisongasse to the project.
The interior of her restaurant, Aspic, was created by Borija herself, in the truest sense of the word: she painted it herself, made the wooden furniture herself, and yes, the joints in the Hellholz bar are a bit of a problem, but the "floating table" in the back room is cool. And in addition to fermenting kimchi and sourdough yourself, it is above all the affordability - also for students, but not only - that makes Aspic stand out: At lunchtime, they offer tasty and visually appealing menus for around 10.50 euros, which also include fish. In the evening, there is creative and fermented cuisine with starters for less than ten euros per course, and sharing is very welcome. There are cold and hot dishes, everything sounds interesting, but unfortunately it's hard to imagine what the description means. Pork belly, thinly sliced in the Brettljausen style, but garnished with spicy carrot kimchi, radicchio, pickled quince and parsley oil, absolutely great (€ 7.50). Pizzelle, a fluffy, puffed-up sourdough roll, topped with marinated salmon trout and a kind of light green buttermilk and salted lemon crumble - looks more spectacular than it actually is (€ 8.20). Then there's another very interesting course: a mixture of yeast dumplings and baozi, filled with (unfortunately not quite enough) oxtail ragout in a sensational sauce (€ 6.90). The wines are on the natural side, the website on Instagram and without address details, again staying true to the hipster tradition. Everything is okay, but please don't serve the great beetroot butter ice cold/rock hard, it makes me angry. Summary: A completely uncomplicated restaurant where young, creative people offer exciting, creative cuisine at a fair price.

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