Vienna has no shortage of great restaurants and I had a hard time picking the places where I think my wife Jun and I would enjoy greatly without necessarily being the most well-known or most celebrated (for instance, by the number of Michelin stars). In particular, I wanted to find a place that was somewhat flying under the radar yet could deliver a superb dining experience. [aend] was one such place that caught my eye and I decided to visit it on our second night in the city. Overall, there was plenty to like about many of the dishes coming from the open kitchen, although some didn’t quite hit the impact that we were expecting.

The kitchen is led by a young chef Fabian Günzel. It was nice to see him bring some of the dishes in person and explain how he put them together. There is a full course tasting menu available at €265 per person and a shorter option at €225 per person (each option with a €60 supplement for wagyu); we chose the full course without wagyu. The menu at [aend] describes two principal ingredients that go into each dish. The starter bites were quite promising, especially the corn “taco” with langoustine inside that Jun enjoyed very much or the playful take on chawanmushi with whey and king crab. The best parts of the tasting course were in the middle. The salmon trout with parsnip was quite delicious, especially with smoked eel added, and the sole “petit bateau” (using the sole fish from Brittany) and morel mushroom formed a wonderfully rustic dish that I kept thinking about for a few days after our dinner. The wild caught turbot (another fish from Brittany), accompanied by artichoke and tonka bean, was also expertly cooked and the white asparagus from Burgenland with caviar was a match made in heaven.

On the other hand, a few dishes missed the mark even though Jun and I appreciated chef Fabian’s attempt to combine seemingly incompatible ingredients in an ingenious way. The pikeperch was already delicious by itself, but the addition of poached oyster subtracted from instead of adding to the fish. Another puzzling dish was veal; it came with coffee sauce to emphasize earthy flavor so did it really need king crab on top? Among the desserts, I liked the first dish with Thai mango and coconut the best. On the other hand, despite its stunning presentation, the chocolate and caramelized banana with Steinpilz mushroom powder didn’t leave quite the impression that I was hoping for.

Getting a reservation at [aend] was relatively easy, and I was pretty surprised that the dining room was not very full on a Friday night. Speaking of the dining room, we liked the minimalistic décor with fun contemporary artworks on the wall that gave the vibe that the restaurant was not taking itself too seriously like other white tablecloth fine dining restaurants around the city. The wooden tables with full utensils in drawers in front of each diner was also a nice touch. Jun and I also complemented our meal with a wine pairing (€145 per person for the full course); overall, the pairing was thoughtfully curated, showcasing terroir-driven and food-friendly wines from Austria as well as other parts of Europe. I think the kitchen might be even better after toning things down in a few places, but overall [aend] was a very good casual fine dining restaurant with flashes of brilliance here and there.

KenScale: 8.25/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.0/10)

Address: Mollardgasse 76, 1060 Wien, Austria

Website: https://aend.at/en/

Reservation via Website