Pizzeria Madre

Review

Again with ceiling

Sonja Fasching ran the Mader restaurant in the Nibelungen district for 23 years. A restaurant in which the renovations of the 1970s and 80s had left their mark in the form of hard-wearing tiles, dark brown solid oak, woodchip wallpaper and, of course, the lowered ceiling. But it served reliable Viennese cuisine for little money and in enormous portion sizes. In the summer, Mrs. Fasching retired and the restaurant was taken over by Daniel Botros, Moritz Baier and Marco Pauer. They have been running the shabby-chic restaurants Liebling at Schadekgasse 12 and Burggasse 24 in Neubau and Mariahilf for years and had already taken over the iconic Café Kriemhild right next to the Mader in June last year. They were joined by Andrew Rinkhy, who runs the charming tapas bar Rinkhy in Zieglergasse. The four of them have high standards: sourcing from regional organic producers, no plastic packaging and no Teflon-coated pans. And the old restaurant was cleared out, false ceiling removed, woodchip wallpaper removed, oak beams removed, "we only removed what didn't belong," says Rinkhy. Beautiful old wallpaper and even the old cement tiles in a few places came to light. What remained were the absurd fabric upholstery and most of the staff, including Mr. Christian, a picture of a waiter. Sounds cool, doesn't it? It's just that we live in the 2020s, when everyone has to get upset about everything. Especially in the Standard forum, the central organ for gentrification alarm and Bobo contempt. Which is why people who have never been there have described the new Mader as "fuss for the better-off Bobo" and "so ugly that I wouldn't even eat there for free". And advised the owners: "Please go back, iwan Giatl, and stay there." And here's the worst part, which the droolers don't even know yet: the new chef is young. And German! And he presents an extremely charming, sensitive, Viennese-Eastern European cuisine that goes beyond all cliché trends: Bulz, a polenta dish filled with cream cheese on fried king oyster mushrooms, is super (€ 8.90), as is a great, completely unchic Hungarian cauliflower soup (€ 6.50) or organic Viennese catfish fried crispy in beer batter with tartar sauce and mashed potatoes (€ 15.00). There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options and good wines too. For some, this is certainly a reason to put on a buffalo horn hat and storm the Capitol. To sum up: even if you do everything right, you can't please everyone. But that doesn't matter in view of the good, modern cuisine in the old inn.

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