Flamingo

Review

Marina köfte

Photo: Katharina Gossow Udo "the eye" sees things differently than we do. Our gaze tends to look ahead, wondering whether we should show the guy with the stupid carbon bike up ahead what an intermediate sprint on a 30-year-old steel racer means, and whether there's still enough power to reach the Kritzendorf baths alive. Udo, on the other hand, is a photographer and doesn't miss out on the details. And that's why he revealed to me that one of those impossible huts that line the Kuchelau harbor road in the shadow of the Leopoldsberg to refresh cyclists stranded on the way to Kritzendorf or Greifenstein has changed over time. That "Edwin and Margit Gruber's Fischerhütte" was suddenly called "Flamingo" and smelled of grilled lamb. The Fischerhütte actually closed four years ago after the flood and was then taken over by Yaşar Özgan two years ago. Özgan has lived in Vienna since the late 1970s, worked as a long-distance driver and opened a kebab stand in Breitenleer Straße in 2006, which was soon expanded into a restaurant. A second restaurant followed in Klosterneuburger Straße, then the Fischerhütte, which is now run by Yaşar Özgan's son Osman, who is also studying at the same time - a success story, you could say.
The fisherman's hut hasn't really been changed, the guest garden with a view of the unused harbor and the activities of paddlers, wild ducks and grey herons taking place there is a dream, the furniture from the 70s seems to have survived the flood, even the open-air tank, in which a few carp do their rounds, no longer looks new, the cobwebs on the façade have been left, the restaurant remains just as ugly as before. But you don't sit in the restaurant anyway, you sit outside, ideally on the other side of the boundary bush, the closer to the water the better. What is new, however, is a barbecue room measuring around 20 square meters, which was simply added on, and of course it's very useful here. But first, a little ezme, the wonderfully cool and spicy conglomerate of onions, tomatoes and peppers, which could have done with a little more olive oil (€ 3.50), a melanzani salad, which was also a touch too mild (€ 3.50), and a starter of wonderfully crispy baked calamari with lemon and (bland) tartar sauce (€ 6.90). From the grill comes both fish - gilthead bream, for example, mercilessly cooked through, but nicely smoky and easy to remove from the bone (€ 11.90) - and meat in the form of lamb, cevapcici, köfte, chicken or pretty fat, pretty good veal ribs, which deserve a better sauce than the BBQ sauce (€ 12.90), which is why we recommend ordering Haydari or Ezme.
And on the way back, firstly it's slightly downhill and secondly the wind usually comes from behind. In summary: a Turkish restaurant at the foot of the Kahlenberg, without any historical embellishment, just well grilled and in a fantastic location. Flamingo, 19th, Kuchelauer Hafenstraße 56 Tel. 01/318 02 15 daily 10-22 www.flamingorestaurant.at

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