Casa Borbone

Review

Grandma would be proud

A summery Tuesday evening, the sky bright, the heated streets empty because of soccer. It seemed like the right time to go to a good Italian restaurant with a view of a baroque church and indulge in the beautiful illusion of being in the Italian provinces. But I hadn't reckoned with the hosts Antonio Mungiguerra and Carmelo Valenti. They had pushed one of the small buffet tables in front of the door and put the TV on it. So it was soccer after all, but at least it was improvised and therefore very southern Italian anyway. Antonio and Carmelo opened their Casa Borbone last August. They don't do what everyone else does here to achieve the highest profit margin in local gastronomy with very little work and even less use of goods. So no, they don't make pizza, although of course they could, one comes from Sicily, the other from Naples. They originally came to Vienna as pizza chefs, but they were frustrated by the lack of "authenticity" in this area in Vienna. "In restaurants, you always have to bring something new," explains Mungiguerra. "But we prefer the traditional, which you don't find in restaurants." So no Chianina bistecca, no tartare of anything, no colorful designer pizza. But "Tonda Calda", a kind of hot dish of the day. Sounds uncomplicated, but in fact these dishes of the day at Casa Borbone don't make the choice any easier: because there is not only the menu with primi and secondi, all of which you want to have straight away: parmigiana, pasta alla norma or the incredible pasta e patate con provola. On the chalkboard you can read about tempting filled focaccias. Then there's a small menu of the day and finally the display case containing these warm Tonda dishes: Parmigiana, caponata, various arancini, cannelloni or pizza patanella, a kind of pizza gratin ... Help! Trying everything at once is definitely not possible. "Sexy Parmigiana", a kind of deconstructed eggplant casserole with burrata, was the most stylish of the dishes and tasted just as good as it looked (€ 11.50). The pasta fagioli e cozze, a pasta and bean and clam broth stew that is actually a southern Italian poor man's food, represented its own dimension of deliciousness (€14.50). The baby octopus stewed with tomatoes, capers and olives on sourdough bread was insanely intense (€ 13.90), and the sliced salsiccia, seared on the cut side, was a must. I recommend parmigiana with it, it makes you cry (€ 13). The white falanghina from Campania helps: simple, genuine southern Italian cuisine without chichi, filling, hearty and so good that it makes your eyes water.

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