The hills are alive with the sound of music with songs they have sung for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music. My heart wants to sing every song it hears.
Salzburg, Austria. Situated in the west of the country close to the German border, it’s probably best known these days as the home of the Von Trapp family and the location of The Sound of Music (oh, and Mozart’s birthplace if you prefer your music to be a little more classical). Who can forget Julie Andrews on the hilltops singing her love of the landscape? K and I visited Salzburg on a day trip from Munich, primarily so I could explore some of the locations used in the filming of the movie.
Having a fantastic lunch at Restaurant Brunnauer was really just the icing on the cake! Relying primarily on Tripadvisor reviews, I chose Restaurant Brunnauer as a restaurant that could offer us the best ‘bang for our buck’. With main courses regularly costing over 25 Euro at this restaurant, their daily lunch menu offering of two courses for 16 Euro was a real bargain. With the added bonus of a 5 Euro daily dessert (normally 14 Euro), it was an offer too good to pass up.
Located a little bit out of the main area of Salzburg in a residential neighborhood, we were easily the only tourists in the restaurant (located in a cave under one of Salzburg’s many mountains in case you’re interested). All around us were local businesspeople having long business lunches – suits were a plenty, and K and I felt a bit underdressed in our T-shirts and jeans! The waitresses were very nice to us despite our casual wear, and easily switched to perfectly fluent English.
We had a large bottle of sparkling water of course, and K ordered an additional drink – a House-made Lemonade with Mint. It was just as described – probably on the sourer side without the addition of too much sugar.
The first course of the set lunch menu that day was Smoked Halibut with Beetroot and a Horseradish Cream. The beetroot was sliced paper-thin and was very very sweet – perfectly fresh and in-season. The horse-radish cream gave just the right kick to the sweet beetroot and the halibut. As it was quite a lean fish, it meant that the flesh wasn’t quite as creamy and smooth as other smoked fish. It was very interesting as a change of pace from the usual smoked salmon though!
The second course of the set lunch menu was Grilled Lamb Cutlets with Ratatouille. The lamb was amazingly tender, and cooked to medium so it was still quite pink inside. The bread basket came in extremely handy at this point to sop up some of the extremely rich (wine-enhanced?) sauce of the ratatouille – which to be honest, was almost too strong!
We finished by sharing a single dessert from the daily menu – the Orange Mousse with Cumquats and Pistachios. There was a more traditional chocolate mousse on the menu, but we thought the orange mousse would prove to be more of a palate-cleanser after the intense rich flavours of the previous lamb dish. This was definitely the case – the orange mousse was light and airy, and a perfect way to finish off a meal on a delicate and refreshing note.
Restaurant Brunnaeur is a gorgeous little restaurant. No doubt a lot fancier at dinnertime, they are more relaxed at lunch and will welcome walk-ins on weekdays, even if you’re dressed casually as a tourist in a T-shirt, jeans, and hiking shoes! It’s an unusual space as well, being right inside the mountain in a cave-like room. It makes me wonder how long the space has been there, and what it was before it was turned into a restaurant…perhaps a hide-away for rebels like the Von Trapp family against the Nazis?
Restaurant Brunnaeur is located at 13A Augustinergasse, Salzburg.
Salzburg itself is a gorgeous city, and offers a bit of everything. If you like picturesque old towns, it’s got that in spades. If you like music, it is the birthplace of Mozart and there are regular performances in its theatres and concert halls. If you’re outdoorsy, there are mountains all around for you to hike up. If you like joining a tour, there’s plenty available – many Sound of Music themed, but some general tours as well. It’s a fantastic destination for a daytrip from Munich!
