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| Ski tourers heading up the mountain for amazing food |
After ten years living here in Austria, one might have got used to the
Austrian ability to surprise and amaze. But every so often something crops up
which still takes the breath away.
After two and a half hours of plodding up a mountain, only seeing six touring
skiers going our way along a deeply snow-covered trail, we reached what is
laughingly called a hut. This hut is not accessible by road or ski lift – the only
way to get there is along the steep trail we had trodden. It lies on a ridge,
facing the huge grey rock mountain of the Hochkönig Massif, with a taller peak,
the Eibleck 2354m, to the west.
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| The Hochkönig Massif and the "Mandelwand" |
After removing snow shoes, we walked around the corner to find 20 people
basking on the terrace, the sun beaming down from its perch just above the
mountain opposite. We joined them and after studying what looked at first
glance, a simple menu, were treated to a feast.
It wasn’t just the quality of the food, nor the quantity, which was only
justified by the long uphill hike, but the presentation too was better than
many a hotel would produce. Roast pork was served with a mass of chantrelle
mushrooms, plates of ceps were served with a pile of fresh rocket, Thai noodles
were golden and spicy and the freshly-made pancakes, filled with apricot jam,
were served with a quartered baby pineapple and orange slices.
The hut, the Ostpreussenhütte at 1630m, is run by Anita and Pago who is
the ambitious high-altitude chef. They are open throughout the year and offer,
like all good huts, simple accommodation as well as good food, astounding views
and reasonable prices.
It would be a pleasant-enough surprise to find a place offering such
quality exotic dishes at modest prices in a village or town. But this hut is
far from the nearest road. And when a place is so good that it attracts
customers who can only reach it by hiking for hours up a mountain, then you know it has
something special – and the power to amaze.
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| The trail to the Ostpreussenhütte passes this farm building - in the background is the Tennengebirge |
Well it looks like the hike up would be fun, the food tasty, the view amazing and the ski down mighty craic! I'd be up for it any day!
ReplyDeleteHow do they get the food there?
ReplyDeleteI visited the hut last summer (2012) and was amazed at the cuisine Pago served us. There was no menu - he just came to us asked: "What would you like to eat? We have chicken and pork.". We said "chicken" and in 15 minutes came the tastiest and beautifully presented dishes I ever ate. In, the evening me, Pago and a couple of other guys played a very "dangerous" game: drive a 10 cm nail in a big log with the narrow end of a hammer. Whoever is last with his nail - buys everyone drinks. And though I had a huge hangover the next morning I can say we had awesome time. Btw. obviously Pago spent a log time in Vietnam as a chef and hence the excellent food. Unfortunately he is no longer there. According to http://www.alpenverein-koenigsberg.de/Ostpreussenhuette.htm, the hut has new owners.
ReplyDelete