It is said that grumbling is our real national sport - and the discipline in which no one can really hold a candle to us. The outlook has indeed been rosier in the past, and the challenges for the catering industry have also become more diverse. But it wouldn't be Austria if we didn't roll up our sleeves behind the façade of cultivated pessimism and secretly, quietly step on the gas. In this country, people get down to business and know how to interpret crises as opportunities. This is impressively demonstrated by this Falstaff Restaurant Guide: Last year, the 2000 mark of listed restaurants was broken for the first time, and this trend continues unabated.
We can look forward to a breadth of gastronomic quality that not many European countries can boast. However, it is well known that the top is just as important as the breadth - and there has also been a pleasing development here. While Steirereck and Amador, two 100-point restaurants, have been the standard-bearers of the country's highest culinary delights to date, another has been added this year: At Hangar-7's Ikarus, Martin Klein demonstrates consistency and excellence in a way that we simply had to award him top marks. A completely new menu every month, a completely new style of cooking at the highest international level - that is craftsmanship at its best. The service and the legendary wine cellar are also ideally equipped to meet these unique requirements. Congratulations on a world-class team performance!
The Falstaff Restaurant & Inn Guide has been published since 2005, this year for the 20th time with over 2000 rated restaurants. The new ratings were based on the votes of 20,000 members of the Falstaff Gourmet Club. 67 restaurants were awarded four forks, 270 restaurants three forks, 658 restaurants two forks and 958 restaurants one fork.
We, and hopefully you too, dear gourmet community, are delighted to see such boisterous signs of life on the scene. And we immodestly wish for more of them!
