Blaustern

Review

Café Don't hurt me

Photo: Heribert Corn When the Blaustern opened in 1996, it made quite a statement: it was the first time that an old, classic coffee house (the Grillparzer) had been turned into a new, modern-style coffee house; it was the first time that coffee had been placed very much in the foreground and an attempt was made to score points with its own roast (allegedly produced in St. Pölten); and 23 years ago, it was also one of the pioneers with its special breakfast menu. What has changed since then? The Viennese coffee culture has improved dramatically and become more widespread, the WU has moved to the Prater and the typical Blaustern crowd has disappeared. And the legendary Bermuda Triangle and pub brewery pioneer Sepp Fischer is no longer the owner of the Blaustern. The Blaustern has been passed on a few times and has belonged to the Freiraum people for a few months now, which of course makes things a little more interesting, because Christoph Wagner and Sascha Adzic don't normally open pubs just like that, they have a bigger plan. However, the new Blaustern doesn't really want to make this clear. The design of the coffee house was given a fairly gentle update, which essentially consisted of replacing the Roland Rainer chairs with lounge chairs with leather upholstery - bad idea! In terms of food, there are certain hopes - after all, you can see Marcus Langhammer scurrying through the café, and he has always presented quite interesting kitchen concepts both in the Fischerhaus on Höhenstraße and in his Café Zuckergoscherl. But no, the new Blaustern is mainstream, with a range that effectively doesn't hurt anyone: pumpkin cream soup, beef tartare, shak-shuka, burgers, sandwiches, ham dumplings. Not the reinterpreted ham and cheese toast, not the best ham roll, not sausages with juice that we would still be telling our grandchildren about. Too bad. After all, grilled feta with watermelon, melanzani cream and chili doesn't sound bad, it didn't taste too bad, but it looked all the worse, it has to be said, visually there's still room for improvement (€8). The beef sandwich was also impeccable, a kind of club sandwich with roast beef, fried egg, plenty of avocado, tomatoes and crispy salad, not only tasty but also sturdy, which is rather rare for three-deckers (€ 12.80). And the espresso from Freiraum's own roastery, Röstraum, was also very good. Nevertheless: somehow the wit is missing, somehow it's a bit too well-behaved, somehow you don't notice the courage that Fischer showed back in 1996. Summary: the Blaustern is still pretty, big and bright, has food that nobody is afraid of and better coffee than before. Blaustern, 19th, Döblinger Gürtel 2, Tel. 01/369 65 64, Mon-Sat 8-23, Sun 8-20,

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