At Wien’s Biomarkt Maran bakery, we tried one of their vegan pastries: the banana-chocolate schokotraum. I believe schokotraum means chocolate dream; it was a strange German term for a pastry. I really like their schokotraums, they are very good and light! Plus, it was only € 2.59 per piece, and a decent price for a vegan schokotraum.
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Maschu Maschu Neubaugasse
Neubaugasse 20
Ecke Lindengasse 41
1070 Wien
I heard about Maschu Maschu through Happy Cow directory and it seems to have good reviews. It wasn’t difficult finding Maschu Maschu in Neubaugasse, in the seventh district of Wien, known as the huge populated shopping centre. The restaurant was almost empty before noon, but we had a large falafel plate so we can try all sorts of things.
The large falafel plate has falafel, hummus with tahini, eggplant, red cabbage, sauerkraut, green salad and one piece of pita.
Pros: Easy location and find. We were given a menu in English rather than German (thanks goodness). Tahini/hummous was a plus; love the creaminess. Falafel balls aren’t dry or wet with the meal. Pita bread was decent (wish we had more).
Cons: Customer service seems to be slow, or not attentive in a certain way when we need to pick up a check or make an order. No drinks such as water to go with the meals. A bit hefty price for a falafel plate (€ 8.50) compared to other falafel places in Europe. Only one piece of pita bread; seems a lot of salads to put in just one pita bread. Not too fond of eggplant salad (red mushy stuff, very common in a lot of falafel plates/sandwiches), I guess I’m not an eggplant salad fan since I usually go for Chinese eggplants.
The question is, will I go back there again? Yes, I would go back there occasionally, but I will probably go off with falafel balls with tahini/hummous with pita on its own without unnecessary salads if they do offer that. I enjoyed snapping food pictures of their plate; they have the best natural lighting in their restaurant, thumbs up to that.
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Spar groceries contain a small selection of amusing vegan-friendly products. You can go to their website to find the nearest locations if you are in Vienna or Germany, just type “Spar Österreich” in Google. Listed below are the following products:
1. Gemüse Tortelloni (Vegetable-contained Tortelloni). I did not like the flavour or the texture. It was as dry as a wheat pasta. I probably prefer cheaper gnocchi or spaghetti as long as they don’t contain egg or milk products.
2. Sugo Arrabbiata, Tomatensauce mit Chilischoten (Arrabbiata sauce which is tomato sauce with chili peppers). The flavour wasn’t that exceptional. I probably prefer organic tomato sauces at the Biomarkt Maran.
3. Braune Sauce (Brown sauce or gravy). It’s nice to know they carry these stuff.
4. Hollandaise Sauce. It’s amazing they carry a vegan version of Hollandaise. It’s actually very rare. It requires lactose-free cream, which you can find at Biomarkt Maran or Spar.
5. Bio Aufstrich (Organic Tomato/Italian spread). It’s a tomato-based spread, but ok with bread and crackers for sure. I think I prefer the vegan herb cream cheese at Biomarkt Maran.
6. Chili con soja mit reis (Chili with soy meat and rice). It tasted like rice with chili soup. I think I had better chili at home in U.S.A. but it was great to try it out. Nothing special.
7. Vegan faschierte laibchen and schnitzel (Vegan minced patties and boneless meat with breadcrumbs). I really like the patties, they are easy to break into crumbles to make bolognese sauce for spaghetti. The vegan schnitzel is great in sandwiches and wraps, especially on its own with garlic ketchup, but a bit greasy.
8. Dark chocolate covered pumpkin seeds. Great sweet snack, but small package. Usually these kinds of snacks are pretty expensive, about € 2- 3 for a small sized package.
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DM market has a small selection of vegan-friendly products such as pasta sauces (basil pesto and arrabbiata pesto) to soup packets (gluten-free potato soups or leek vegetable soup). Ingredients were in German, but there are no traces of dairy products including butter and creme.
It’s nice that they produce vegan version of basil pesto. I would probably recommend the arrabbiata if you are going for a mellow pasta flavour. For basil or salty fans, definitely stick with the basil pesto. They are great on gnocchi (€ 1) and pasta, especially as spreads on oven-baked bread roll.
DM carries a few vegan-friendly soup packets. My favourite one was Kartoffel-Lauch Cremesuppe (Gluten-free) and there are two shots of the soup I made. It was very creamy, hearty and flavourful and definitely not watery as the other usual German vegetable soups I tried. I hate watery or brothy soups, they don’t have anything else in it.
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http://www.dr-falafel.at/
Naschmarkt Stand 560
1060 Wien, Austria
It was our first time trying Dr. Falafel since it was listed in Google Maps as vegetarian and of course, “falafel.” It was a bit difficult finding that place in Naschmarkt, which was one of Vienna’s largest and popular markets at the Wienzeile over the Wien River. Naschmarkt is known for its fresh produce, exotic herbs, cheese, baked goods, meats, and seafood (yes, stinks as fish). I just had a falafel sandwich which was worth €3.
Pros: Fast customer service. Great salad selections for falafel sandwiches. Falafel are average, at least not dry or wet, but just good. Decent size (not too big, but small). Vegetarian-friendly.
Cons: Too difficult to find especially if it’s not in a specific location, but within Naschmarkt. Not much hummous or tahini sauce in the sandwich at all. It will be really good with more tahini sauce in it 
It’s better to go early before tourists come, otherwise this restaurant will be packed and you may have difficulty ordering upfront.
Photo by Doni.
She is not a backpacker nor a tourist: She actually lives wherever and travels around the world to experience the vegan cuisine and products. Born in Taiwan, Growing Up in the East Coast, Rika in her 20's that travels around the world and documents on vegan cuisine, groceries, airports, products, especially cooking. This vegan blog was started in late July 2011. So welcome to Vegan Miam!
