It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t pretty, but man was it good.
I’m talking of course about sausage – and my, my what a sausage. We hadn’t intended to visit Vienna’s oldest sausage stand this weekend, but thankfully for the progress of my Vienna List challenge, the gin bar we spent the night in on Saturday was a short stroll from Leo’s Wurstelstand.
Now before I go into detail about Leo’s, can we all just take a moment to recognise the gloriousness of this right here:
That right there is a late night snack made fancy by pure Viennese charm.
For those of you that are better-behaved humans than I could ever be, allow me to explain what a late night snack on a Saturday night normally looks like.
Normally, after a few fine tipples at the watering hole of your choice, you will come to realise that the only possible, physical way you will be able to safely, happily conclude your classy evening is with a small and by no means dainty snack. The most popular choices for this kind of ‘snack’ (otherwise known as dirty drunk food) are McDonalds, a Kebab or currywurst sausage. In Vienna, the snack of choice is Käsekrainer sausage (literally, cheese filled sausages. Yes. It’s a thing).
…
Unless your sausage is served by a golden sausage god who presents it to you literally on a silver platter.
This, my friends, is how Leo’s Wurstelstand takes dirty drunk snacks and makes them…beautiful. The ‘Big Mama’ platter of gigantic cheesy sausage, 5 different dipping sauces, gurken, peppers and of course a side of bread.
Leo’s Würstlestand is a household name in Vienna, largely for this reason. The oldest of the cities dwindling number of Würstelstands, it was first founded in 1928, then taken over and remodelled by the founder’s granddaughter Vera Tondl in the 1990’s. Though they now offer vegetarian and vegan sausages, you cannot miss the chance to have a giant cheesy sausage so beautifully served on a platter.
I have been telling people about this sausage for days, because now, my lovely friends, you too must go and enjoy the fancy-as-hell experience of having your dirty food served on a silver platter.