It was ending August on a train from Vienna (Wien) to Munich (München). I was prepared with plenty of snacks as well as Bernd’s Welt pastries because it’s a mere 4-hour train trip. One of the snacks was the Italian savory type by Panealba, in garlic. It tasted really good like a tiny garlic baguette cracker. You can find them at Spar gourmet groceries.
Thanks to Bernds, I had the opportunity to try a “freshly-made” vegan Marmorguglhupf, because most of his marble cakes were frozen at the distributors. But I only had a day and a day of train trip to finish the beautifully sculptured vegan marble cake with chocolate/vanilla twists (about 6″ in diameter, not sure, but it was huge though). But I managed to finish the sliced ones on my way to Germany. I fell in love with it instantly and it tasted gorgeous, beautiful and heavenly.
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I had the amazing opportunity to meet with the Baker, Bernd Hartner at Bernds Welt for a coffee on my last day in Austria. We chatted vigorously for hours, practically all morning from 7am. He’s so down-to-earth compared to other Austrian locals and a wicked genius in making pastries/strudels/bread “perfect”. He wanted the pastries/strudels/bread to taste the same as the original ones which was his goal.
Unlike how American pastries are known to make pastries being “dense” or “extremely heavy” with unnecessary large amounts of vegan margarine/butter/cream/oil, Bernd managed to create light, flaky pastries with similar textures like the non-vegan ones. The simpler it looked, the less dense it looked, the more flavour it contained and the more satisfied you will be.
The following vegan pastries I tried (photographed below in order):
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I bought a vegan walnuss-strudel for about €5 at Spar Gourmet (off Nußdorfer Straße in Wien, Austria), which was distributed by Austria’s #1 fabulous vegan bakery, Bernds Welt. The bakery is known for its vegan strudels and traditional Austrian pastries.
My thoughts: I was full of glee when I saw Bernds Welt‘s products in a small category at Spar Gourmet. I just cannot believe that I did not even look at that bakery up earlier since I stayed in Austria for 2 months, but I was so pleased to find them before my departure. It looked like any ordinary German or Austrian strudels you can find in the local bakeries–the texture and the appearance were so much alike. As I cut my first slice, the taste was wonderful. Not too heavy or light or too-sweet, but just right. I love how traditional Austrian pastries does not have to be made with dairy, but can be made vegan in such a delectable way. The interiors were vanilla-like pressed walnut paste and it tasted like a cinnamon roll loaf. It was the perfect “VEGAN” strudel ever, I assure you, you cannot get any better vegan strudels elsewhere. It’s NEITHER DENSE NOR HEAVY, it was FUCKING PERFECT. The exteriors are perfect, I swear it was some GENIUS strudel ever for a vegan version. Love the baked bottoms, it tasted so fresh out of the oven.
If you want to compare a vegan and original strudel, you cannot tell a difference, but you may tell that the vegan version may be lighter in some ways.
Ingredients:
Wheat flour, sugar, walnuts (18%), water, breadcrumbs (wheat flour, water, yeast, barley malt, salt, non-iodized), whole-grain oat drink (water, whole grain oats 11.5%, cold-pressed sunflower oil, sea salt), cold-pressed sunflower oil, yeast, some local rum, soy flour , baking powder, non-iodized salt, bourbon vanilla, dextrose, natural lemon oil, natural lemon juice.
(In German) Zutaten:
Weizenmehl, Zucker, Walnüsse (18%), Wasser, Brösel (Weizenmehl,Wasser, Hefe, Gerstenmalz, Speisesalz unjodiert), Vollkornhaferdrink (Wasser, Vollkornhafer 11,5%, kaltgepresstes Sonnenblumenöl, Meersalz), kaltgepresstes Sonnenblumenöl, Hefe, Inländerrum, Sojamehl, Backpulver, Speisesalz unjodiert, Bourbon Vanille, Dextrose, natürliches Zitronen Öl, natürlicher Zitronensaft.
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It’s been a week since I left Vienna, Austria. I don’t really miss it, but I really love how I can get out of the U.S. for awhile.
Here are the following remaining grocery items I bought in Vienna. Some of them are from a kosher shop called, “Kosherland” just off Kleine Sperlgasse and Merkur.
Want some decent authentic Israeli hummus or tahini?
Get it at Vienna’s Kosherland. I think it’s the only grocery store where you can find most of the yummy hummus at. BE WARNED that their hummus products run out quickly, once they do, they won’t be there for a week or so until they are in stock. This sucked and it happened to me. I went there almost everyday, and no luck. I wished I took 10 of them and kept them in my fridge during my stay in Vienna.
Austria sadly doesn’t really offer a lot of hummus products compared to France, Germany or Belgium. I’ve checked most of them at Spar Gourmet, Billa, Zielpunkt, and such. I’ve tried Merkur and Biomarkt, but they only offered expensive, small-sized hummus. Nothing quite as authentic as Israeli hummus.
Things I’ve bought in order divided by groceries.
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!
