Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Asian culinary gem in the heart of Vienna

Content: Mochi, Praterstrasse 15, 1020 Vienna, Austria

I am a great lover of all things Asian and culinary, and the lovely Viennese restaurant Mochi in Leopoldstadt, is my favourite new destination to satisfy my Asian cuisine cravings! Just like its namesake, the Japanese glutinous rice cake, it is sweet yet unassuming, but once tasted surprisingly delicious!
On my recent one night stop over in Vienna, my travel companions and I were experiencing a 'group daydream' about a possible dinner at Mochi, the moment we touched down, only to find, to my huge disappointment, that the place was fully booked. Now, Vienna and great take out, are not two concepts that I would usually put in the same sentence. For me, it is more New York and delicious take out, or, London and yummy take out, that comfortably coexist as complimentary concepts. Still, hunger, the enticing proximity of great food, and my overall disappointment that my buddies and I would not be able to enjoy a sit down dinner, weakened my stubbornly entrenched beliefs about Viennese take out, and we ordered dinner to go!
Not only was this hands down the best value for money, deliciously yummy meal I had in a long time, but it came beautifully packaged, in recyclable take away boxes. Appropriate sauces for each dish were put in, plenty of wasabi and ginger accompanied the imaginative sushi rolls, napkins and chopsticks were added, and all this while the owner/manager Tobi worried that the temperature of the crispy sushi pizza would not be perfect once we got home!
Dear Tobi, Chisou, London is still my number one 'real' Japanese, and Nobu, Malibu my favourite commercial Asian restaurant, but you truly are up there with the best! You have made it possible for me to utter 'amazing', 'takeout' and Vienna all in one sentence, without a doubt! Thanks!











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