The Organic Traveller
Monday, 27 November 2023

Salzburg: Organic restaurants, eateries, and cafes

To find a place offering at least partially organic meals, snacks or coffee isn't a big deal in Salzburg, and places like the Bio-Burgermeister are frequent tourist destinations. But there's more than just healthy organic fast food – from pleasantly modernized Austrian bars over cultured beer spots to slightly esoteric day cafes there's a broad range of places to choose from. What you shouldn't expect are authentic restaurants offering elaborated international cuisines, but that's probably not what you are here for anyway.

Burgers

When you're hungry and don't know where to go head for the Bio-Burgermeister in the middle of busy Linzergasse pedestrian street. With its liberal opening hours (no closing day, open until 10 pm) and central location this no-frills burger grill is serving both, meat, vegetarian, and vegan versions, purely made with organic ingredients. The service is swift, the burgers and side-dishes fresh, crisp and tasty, and most of the soft drinks and the beer are organic, too (though you have to check the bottles for organic labelling). The hot varieties I would describe as spicy rather than hot, and they come up with interesting seasonal versions like the pumpkin burger with a pumpkin patty. For meat patties you can choose between medium-done and medium-rare. The place serves neither desserts nor coffee.

Unfortunately it has implemented bad habits of conventional fast-food places, too: It produces a lot of waste since the meals are served on cardboard one-way plates, and the staff is neither busy cleaning the tables nor refilling paper towels.

ludwig

If the burgermeister is too crowded or you prefer to produce less waste a burger restaurant is just a few steps away: The Ludwig doesn't promise fully organic burgers, but organic patties made from organic beef, turkey or mushrooms, organic pulled pork and bacon. In addition to burgers the place also serves salad bowls, desserts and breakfast (including organic eggs in a number of varieties). Among the drinks fruit juices and teas are organic.

Located in a pleasant backyard with a small fountain this cafe cum restaurant is also a much nicer place to spend time with friends or family – during the warm season on the spacious terrace, on rainy or cold days in the large urban-rustic dining room.

Urbankeller

Austrian

The Urbankeller is not just a perfect address for a rustic meal accompanied by local organic beer, wine, juice or lemonade in the restaurant or a civilised drink at the adjacent bar. It also houses a stage for live acts – predominantly rock, jazz or experimental theatre, and the occasional crime play reading. Although the place is certified by Bio Austria not everything is organic. Fully organic dishes however are clearly marked with a green logo on the menu, and a good deal of the un-marked meat-based dishes (including nose-to-tail ones using offal) are served with organic meat (check for the "bio" keyword). Vegan and vegetarian options are also available. If you consider one of the typical Austrian flour-based desserts ("Mehlspeisen") make sure to come with sufficient appetite.

Schallmooser Hauptstraße where the Urbankeller is located changes its name to Linzergasse (or Linzer Gasse, the naming is not consistent) when it runs over into a pedestrian area towards the river Salzach. Amid its touristic jumble you'll find the Stadtkrug, a family-owned hotel and restaurant of old, with roots in the 14th century. The family runs an organic highland cattle farm north of Salzburg and serves the beef at the restaurant specialising in typical Austrian dishes. The farm has its own slaughterhouse on premise which allows the cattle to die as stress-free as possible within their known habitat. The chicken served in the Stadtkrug is also organic as are some hard cheeses and the ice-cream and other products made from sheep's milk. The breakfast at the hotel unfortunately is not organic.

Directly located on Linzergasse, almost down by the river, but nevertheless not a place that tourists will recognise at a first glance, the Innergebirg restaurant serves traditional Austrian mountain cuisine with local ingredients from the Pongau, the Pinzgau and the Salzburger Land areas. All the meat comes from the Rostatt organic farm (which also is a farm stay). Note that the restaurant is closed on Sundays.

Another beergarden down in the old town is associated with the local brewery Die Weisse specializing in weiss beer. They also brew one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic organic variety (watch out for the bio label) which nicely go together with a hearty Austrian meal – the beef here is organic and you may ask the waiter for likely other organic ingredients. Of course there's indoor seating, too.

Humboldt-Stubn patio

On the other side of the Salzach river September 2018 saw the opening of a new fully organic, predominantly biodynamic restaurant and bar opposite the museum of modern art inside the Mönchsberg cliff, the Humboldt, a pleasantly modernized version of an Austrian "Gaststube", with geometric dark-wooden interior, a light-and-steam installation serving as a fire place surrogate, green cushions, table-clothes made from felt, and a green-lighted bar. For lunch on weekdays you can choose between two set menus consisting of a soup or salad (your choice), and a vegetarian or omnivore main dish which come at 9 or 11 euros, respectively. In the evening the kitchen emphasizes on Austrian signature dishes like the Viennese Schnitzel (a delicate, crisp, yet melting dream), boiled filet ("Tafelspitz"), and pancakes ("Palatschinken") as dessert (which were quite unexceptional). The menu clearly marks organic, biodynamic, vegan and vegetarian items and also lists the sources of all ingredients which usually are Austrian farms and producers, often located in the vicinity. In all drink classes organic options are available, and often you have no choice but to drink organic. The bar keeps open until late each day, making it the perfect place for an evening out, and there's outdoor seating, too.

Indian

Back in town, just a few steps from the Stadtkrug vegetarian fusion food with roots in the Indian cuisines has been served for almost 20 years at Spicy Spices. This pleasant eatery may not be the place for the romantic dinner but is a nice location for a chat with friends, accompanied by a healthy lunch, a coffee, chai and/or cake, all organic. You can also shop for their home-made spice mixtures, chutneys and pickles which make tasty gifts.

International

The second surviving organic restaurant of old also draws its inspiration from the subcontinent and East-Western fusion. The Heart of Joy is a vegetarian (vegan friendly), predominantly organic cafe cum eatery run by followers of Sri Shinmoy. The latter is openly presented which may not be your idea of the perfect surroundings for a recreational sip of coffee or an Italian, Austrian, oriental or Indian inspired lunch in this otherwise pleasant location. Students are entitled a ten percent discount, and breakfast on weekends is being served all day.

For a simple lunch or a piece of home-made organic cake you may also try the A* bar in nearby Auerspergstraße.

If you are near the main train station on a weekday during daytime the bistro Leichtsinn ("carelessness") is worth a try. You'll find it if you leave the train station in western direction via Südtiroler Platz and walk in southern direction along Rainerstraße parallel to the tracks until you reach Elisabethstraße. Tea, beer, and cheese are always organic here, and the owners promise to prefer organic and regional ingredients, but admit that some ingredients such as avocados definitely won't be organic. Unfortunately I did not get an answer to whether the meat and other products of animalic origin are organic, so better ask about them. The menu changes daily, and you always have the choice between a soup, one vegan, one vegetarian and one meat- or fish-based dish in addition to salads (mix your own from the salad bar), home-made foccachia sandwiches, wraps, quiches, and empanadas (the owner-chief originates from Ecuador). The place is great for breakfast, there are home-made cakes (also vegan), shortbreads and fair-trade coffee, and if you need provisions for your travel, simply order to take away.

Fine dining restaurants in the 2020ies can be reasonably expected to work together with small-scale organic gardeners, bakers and/or butchers, but they often do this in the closet. So I found the Genussprojekt at Ursulinenplatz, with a view on the river Salzach, but I am disappointed to report that the only classified organic ingredients on their menu are fruit juices and beef. Beef-lovers may give it a try and ask about the veges, the flour, and whether there are natural wines, too. So far no first-hand review from me yet.

Italian

Arguably the city's best pizza can be had when entering a non-descript entrance on Franz-Josef-Straße south of Paris-Lodron-Straße: Here you find a place boringly dubbed Organic Pizza Salzburg, and this is exactly what it is: A totally unpretentious venue serving glorious 100% organic pizza in vegetarian, vegan and omnivore varieties, all well worth their 9.80 to 16.80 EUR. Instead of the standard base made from wheat you may order one made with spelt. Choose your drinks from the fridge (most, but not all organic), and have a home-made organic and vegan cake with fairly traded ingredients and/or a locally produced ice-cream to end your meal. No frills, just love, and in contrast to other fast food places covered here you will be served on real plates instead of paper waste. Unfortunately the place is closed on Mondays and Sundays.

Vegan

For Italian and decidedly vegan food (including pizza) you have to wait for the re-opening of Vegitalian. This no-frills restaurant stepped in as the hotel restaurant of The Keep near Salzburg Hauptbahnhof train station between spring and autumn 2022 and is planning a re-opening in Nonntal. It's not 100% organic, but most ingredients come from regional and/or organic producers. No further review here (yet) since I haven't had the chance to visit.

Just a few steps from Organic Pizza Salzburg you'll find a novelty in the city: a crowd-founded vegan cafe. The Gustav serves breakfast, sandwiches, soups and salads as well as smoothies and cakes, everything predominantly organic. Unfortunately it is closed most days of the week, so check below to avoid a bad surprise.

For a vegan or vegetarian, partially organic lunch, dinner or weekend brunch the neighbourhood of Gneis was a pleasant destination before the Covid-19 pandemics. Then chef Julia and her happily carnivore dog announced a refurbishment of the The Green Garden, and I am still waiting to see a re-opening. The place consisted of two locations, a daily (except Mondays) open restaurant, and a cafe cum wine bar annex. There was no general commitment to organic certification, but Julia promised to use predominantly fresh seasonal Austrian ingredients as far as possible produced without chemically synthesized fertilizers and preservatives. The tea (including iced tea), most wines, some beers, eggs and goat cheese were certified organic. On the menu you were to find bowls, soups, salads, vegan burgers as well as pasta and vegetable versions of Austrian signature dishes like the schnitzel, but the place was great for breakfast and healthy snacks, too. During the nice season The Green Garden sold vegan organic ice-cream to both, guests and passers-by.

Coffee and cakes

For the real coffee thing head for Röstzimmer 15 a few meters from "Spicy Spices". A cosy living room serving artisanal (though not necessarily organically certified) chocolates and pastries with Ethiopian organic coffee roasted in the room next door where you also can have a small lunch.

An Italian-style coffee drink prepared with organic milk can also be had at Fabis Frozen Bioyogurt.

Fancy an organic coffee drink on the go, made with organic milk or plant-based drink, on your way from the old town before crossing the Mozartsteg pedestrian bridge over the river Salzach? Take your coffee mug and stop by what's arguably the city's tiniest coffee house, We love coffee. Unfortunately they do not have any eathenware and will serve their Italian-style coffee or flat whites in a paper cup. What a waste – since I did not have a cup at hand I cannot say anything about the quality.

When you take a stroll or bicycle tour along the river Salzach in southern direction (towards castle and zoo Hellbrunn) stop by the farm cafe of the Bienenlieb beekeepers. You may simply step by for a coffee break or a home-made organic soup with honey bread, but if you are planning to have breakfast on Saturday (from March through December) make sure to call upfront for reservation.

Map of all places listed in this article

Temporarily closed

Closed or no longer organic

2023-11-27 17:00:00 [Salzburg, organic, lunch, dinner, takeaway, restaurant, cafe, eatery, coffee, ice-cream, fastfood, vegetarian, vegan, Austrian, Indian, burgers, pizza, supermarkets, grocery, wine, beergarden] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Sunday, 05 November 2023

Salzburg: Zero Waste

While buying organic requires only a little extra effort in Salzburg, minimising waste is an entirely different issue. If you wish to carry home your purchases in your own re-usable containers you depend on the cooperation of the shop, which (even in organic supermarkets) can be surprisingly little. The covid-19 pandemics marked the beginning as well as the end of the (to my knowledge) only dedicated organic pay-by-weight grocery, GenussProGramm (a pun which can be translated as both, "pleasure by the gram" or "pleasure program") in the neighbourhood of Andräviertel.

Medousa

So what's left? As in other cities farmers' markets are a good bet: The Medousa market booth at the Grünmarkt opposite Fabi's Frozen Bio Yogurt within Mozart's birthplace offers to fill Italian-style antipasti and other mediterranean and vegetarian delicatessen into your jars, provided you ask for it. Although the market at Grünmarkt is held daily, there are no organic boothes on Mondays and Thursdays; the Medousa booth is here on Saturdays only. On Thursday mornings you can find it at the Schrannenmarkt opposite Mirabell castle.

At the Schrannenmarkt you'll also find the market booth of the Ökoprodukte Feldinger organic farm which in the past used to run a fully organic supermarket in town. The booth is located next to Ändra church.

Offsite tourist tracks but on your way to Hellbrunn castle or zoo you'll find what until spring 2023 was Salzburg's only branch of the organic supermarket chain Basic. Prior to its insolvency this organic retailer had a focus on reducing one-way packaging. While the German Basic supermarkets were bought by the conventional tegut chain, the two Austrian branches (the second one is located in Vienna) will continue as fully organic supermarkets of the Dennree chain.

However, I do not know whether gravity bins with dry food survived here as Denn's has never had a focus on refill. As in most organic supermarkets fruits and veges usually are not pre-packaged, and serviced desks for bakery and dairy products allow you to take home products in your own boxes. There's also a slowly increasing range of products in returnable jars and bottles, but unfortunately these are usually more expensive than their counterparts in one-way packaging.

To refill milk around the clock head for the milk vending machine at the Erentrudishof organic farm in Morzg, a pleasant bike ride from the city. There's also a farmshop, of course with more restricted opening hours, where you also can buy eggs, spelt, wheat and rye produced by the farm.

Artisanal bakeries

When buying bread, rolls, cake or snacks from organic bakeries you should by now no longer meet strange looks when presenting your bag or container. But organic bakeries in town seem to be afraid of advertising themselves as "bio", so it can be difficult to spot them.

The most stylish one of them is the Salzburg branch of Joseph Brot vom Pheinsten with its open baker's workshop a few steps away from the Mönchsberg elevator. Apart from deliciously smelling bread, rolls, cakes and snacks there's a small selection of dairy products, jams and preserves. You can also order organic (coffee) drinks and sit down on a table to have a snack or enjoy their patisserie. The bakery keeps open on Sunday mornings and public holidays.

Elisabethen-based artisanal bakery Pföß has a shop next to the Sternbräu area in the old town. Unfortunately only the bread is promised to be organic, the white rolls tasted bland as if they were made of conventional flour. On the other hand the Krapfen doughnuts were a real delight, crisp and still a little warm, filled with fruity apricot purree instead of oversweet jam. If you come here for a snack stay away from the conventional softdrinks, and you may wish to ask whether the sandwiches are made with organic toppings.

If you want to be sure to get 100 percent organic bakery products, visit the Grünmarkt at Universitätsplatz: Three days a week you'll find the booth of Bio-Bäckerei Itzinger on its Eastern side, near the Ritzerbogen hallway. The bakery also offers vegan bread and rolls and has a focus on wholemeal products. On Thursdays you can find it at the Schranne Biomarkt.

Plastic-free lifestyle

Zero waste starts with the food, but does not end there: In order to reduce the amount of plastics ending up as microplastic in our environment and finally in ourselves it's crucial to reduce the use of the (undoubtedly useful) polymers in general: Don't throw them all away at once (as the biggest part of the carbon footprint of goods is in their production), but replace your plastic household items or clothes with plastic-free alternatives as soon as they are about to degrade.

In Salzburg there's a store to help you with that: Damn Plastic in the Europapark mall in Taxham offers almost the entire range of plastic-free (or recycled) non-food, for inspiration or replacement. Unfortunately their original shop in the inner city does no longer exist.

Map of all places listed in this article

Closed

2023-11-05 18:00:00 [Salzburg, Vienna, organic, vegetarian, zero_waste, unverpackt, cafe, grocery, supermarkets, bakeries, deli, market, breakfast, coffee, snacks, farms, fashion, bodycare, household] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Friday, 25 November 2022

Sustainable shopping in Salzburg

To buy organic products in Salzburg couldn't be easier: Even the random conventional supermarket has a sufficient selection of it, hence availability is not an issue as long as you are familiar with the EU and the Austrian organic logos (mainly the AMA organic seal, the Austria organic guarantee, and the Bio Austria certificate).

To shop for the arguably most famous Austrian organic brand head for busy Linzer Gasse pedestrian street: At Sonnentor you'll find teas, tisanes, dried herbs and spices, as well as a selection of sweets and natural body care – the contemporary version of a medieval chemist's shop, with an abundance of products based on herbs grown in Austria itself.

Weltladen Gneis

The flagship store of the second famous brand, fair-trade confectioner Zotter unfortunately closed in February 2019, but sweet teeth will find the hand-made chocolate bars all over the city, among others at the Weltladen, a dedicated fair trade shop just a stone's throw away. Step by this nice place to shop for all kind of gifts – both eatable, wearable, and decorative. There's a second "world shop" in the neighbourhood of Gneis with a focus on fairly traded natural and organic fashion.

If your in the mood for a coffee during your shopping spree in the Linzergasse area step by Röstzimmer 15, a small scale coffee roaster's specialising in organic fairly traded traditionally grown Ethiopian coffee dubbed "Urkaffee". In addition they sell organic chocolates, tea, and honey from within the city boundaries. Careful with the bread: only a selection is organic. Unfortunately this cosy little shop is closed on Saturdays (and Sundays). Roestzimmer

A short bicycle ride along the Salzach river (in southern direction towards castle and zoo Hellbrunn) gets you to the new (opened in 2019) farmshop of the organic Bienenlieb beekeeper's. Along with their own honey (in reusable glasses) and gin you can shop for other bee products, sustainable beekeeping and gardening equipment, bee-friendly seeds, plastic-free food containers, as well as Bioaustria certified local organic products like tea, herbs and more. There's also a small cafe on the farm.

Shoes and fashion

Once home to a vibrant shoe industry there's not much left of artisanal shoemakery in today's Austria. If it wasn't for the "Waldviertler" – robust enduring footwear which you can buy at Gea alongside fashionable leather bags, sustainably made furniture with a sometimes anarchistic touch, bedding, eco fashion accessoiries, organic tea and tisanes, or gift items. The company is a major driving force within the Economy for the Common Good movement, and all products are made in sustainably driven, socially conscious workshops by artisans in Austria and its neighbouring countries.

For sustainably produced shoes of play- and colourful designs – light city wear in contrast to the down-to-earth design inspired by the farm lands of the Waldviertel – head to the Think! flagship store in the old town. The founder of this brand also comes from an Austrian shoemaker family, and the company is headquartered in a small Upper Austrian village, Kopfing.

If you want more sustainable shoe brands or are looking for children's footwear, cross Mozartplatz and head for Vega Nova, another Think! affiliate which also offers, among other brands, two favourites of mine: French Arche and Spanish Braco shoes. They also have sustainable chairs, beds and other furniture.

While Gea provides you with socks, scarfs, gloves and other textile accessoiries it's not a clothes boutique. For eco fashion you may try Bella Boutique. Formerly located in Linzer Gasse (and further back in time in Wolf-Dietrich-Straße), one had to check labels carefully as the entrance area showed off tourist rip-off like cheap Chinese down jackets made from 100% plastic materials. The shop relocated to Alter Markt during the covid-19 pandemics, but during my last visit I did not have time to make sure it's still there.

Zerum

If you love hemp and other re-discovered plant-based fibres head for Eberlin-Frenkenberger Naturmode in Dreifaltigkeits­gasse, a nice fashion boutique with a classical approach, and definitely alive and kicking.

Unfortunately it was night and a public holiday when I discovered a new and promising sustainable fashion store in Wolf-Dietrich-Straße opposite my favourite Indian restaurant in town. So there's no inside review of Zerum here yet, a fair-trade Austrian fashion label with stores in all major Austrian cities, offering clothing, home textiles and utensils for the entire family.

Map of all places listed in this article

Closed

2022-11-25 18:15:00 [Salzburg, organic, fair, coffee, tea, gifts, spices, honey, fashion, shoes, shopping, confectioners] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Sunday, 13 November 2022

Salzburg: Hotels serving organic breakfast

Organic luxury combined with responsible corporate culture: My favourite hotel is Bio Austria certified, family-driven, family-friendly Hotel & Villa Auersperg in the old town. Before covid-19 almost all items on their breakfast buffet were organic, but in 2022 it seems that this has decreased. It's still possible to have a fully certified organic breakfast though.

Hotel Auersperg

When it comes to the contents of the mini-bar and the complimentary selection of tea and herbal tea on the room I was delighted to discover that some sweet and savoury snacks still are organic (though not as many as about five years ago), the same applies to tea bags and refreshments. The organic shampoo and liquid soap are produced by a manufactury in town, the towels are washed with ecological detergents, and the complimentary good-night chocolate on the bed is organic and fairly traded.

The hotel also has a gastro bar cum cafe dubbed A* bar where you can have a hearty meal or cake, organic coffee and organic wines, teas and juices. Its small, yet carefully selected daily menu caters for vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike, with generous servings, until around 22:30 pm. With the relaxed atmosphere of a mundane hotel bar the place is also worth a visit when you're not staying at the hotel. Their assortment of spirits for a relaxed drink at the bar includes organic Gin Bien, a gin made by Salzburg-based organic bee keepers, and the O gin and vodka, both of Austrian origin. Speaking of bee-keeping: The hotel has its own bee cubes located in its pleasant garden.

The hotel which consists of two spacious adjacent houses (the "hotel" and the "villa") is driven in accordance with the Economy for the Common Good principles. What could have been a pleasant park in the backyard of the villa is unfortunately an embarassing parking lot for the guests' obese cars. Much more pleasant: Next to the Tesla charging stations you may fetch a bicycle for a city ride. Unlike the parking fee bicycle rental is however not included in the (by now honestly quite hefty) price for the night.

If you are inclined to spend a luxury night in the old town, but cannot afford Auersperg prices you may check out Hotel Stein: The hotel with its view on the river Salzach provides organic body care products, but since its beautiful (but independent) Rosencafe breakfast restaurant gave up in May 2022, I don't know whether you may expect a 100 percent organic start of the day.

Smaller purses should have a look at the budget self-check in hotel The Keep just a few steps from the main train station. It has colourful eco-conscious basic rooms, family rooms and appartments with upcycled furniture at very affordable prices. Their vending machine offers organic snacks, bamboo toothbrushes and vegan condoms, there's a community kitchen and a focus on reducing waste.

In 2022 they had a partially organic vegan Italian pop-up restaurant on their premises, the Vegitalian, but this is moving to another location. The hotel's website still promises a daily open restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, and dinner Wednesday through Saturday. Since it is announcing X-Mas opening hours, they probably found a new operator, but I cannot say who/what it is and whether it is organic.

Grünes Hotel zur Post

About ten minutes away from the city centre, in the neighbourhood of Maxglan, you will find another family-driven Bio Austria certified retreat, the Green Hotels member Hotel Zur Post. It consists of three houses which are less luxuriously designed, but clean and comfortable, and the Villa Ceconi a little down the road. All rooms and apartments are equipped with organic cotton towels, organic soap from the local manufacturer mentioned above and organic tea bags. The hotel uses carbon neutral heating and produces its own photovoltaic electricity. You will be served fully organic breakfast, including yummy cakes and home-made vegan and vegetarian spreads (try the pumpkin seed oil one!).

Unfortunately the hotel does not have a bar, and although it is listed as a bicyle-friendly bett-und-bike hotel there's no bike shelter for guests.

In the Eastern neighbourhood of Parsch you may try the Heffterhof, another Salzburg hotel emphasizing on local, predominantly organic supplies in their kitchen. It has a focus as a conference hotel and offers fully organic breakfast. Let me know about your experience when you stay there.

If you prefer to spend your nights in the quiet of a natural park, far from the city's noise and yet only 20 minutes by bus from Salzburg's main train station, Stadthotel St. Virgil in the neighbourhood of Aigen is the place to stay. The hotel is part of a modern, sustainably driven conference and educational complex and as such serves Bio Austria certified organic breakfast and lunch, preferably with seasonal Austrian ingredients. Its Parkcafe also offers breakfast and lunch to passers-by, a nice and comparatively cheap option if you're out for a walk in the surroundings of the Salzburg hills. Unfortunately there's no lunch on Sundays, and on little frequented days the cafe may be closed.

If you plan a visit to Hellbrunn castle or the adjacent zoo, the Kaiserhof Anif is nearby. Their organic breakfast restaurant is open to the public, after pre-order by 8 pm the day before. Children up to five years won't be charged.

And for the sake of completeness: The Motel One design hotel chain runs two houses in Salzburg (one centrally located near the main train station, one on the way south to Hellbrunn castle) and promises at least partially organic breakfast and fairly traded coffee. They are not an option when travelling as a family.

Map of all places listed in this article

Not or no longer organic

I felt in love with Salzburg during a stay at Altstadthotel Wolf Dietrich which once upon a time was Salzburg's first organic hotel with a lovely organic restaurant. Unfortunately they turned into a conventional hotel almost ten years ago. You will likely find a few organic items on their breakfast buffet, but I haven't questioned them for the past eight years.

If you read my post on eating out in Salzburg you might be wondering whether the Hotel Stadtkrug in Linzergasse was offering (partially) organic breakfast. Unfortunately this is not so.

2022-11-13 19:00:00 [Salzburg, Hellbrunn, Anif, organic, hotel, accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bar] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Salzburg: Organic ice-cream

Decent artisanal ice-cream made from organic milk has been readily available in Salzburg's inner city for years, but the first 100 percent organic gelateria opened only in March 2019: Höfingers Eisladen located next to Mozart's birth place at Universitätsplatz may be new as a light and pleasantly decorated ice-cream shop, but the Höfinger family has been making ice-cream in town since 1933. (Given the year I'd expected some historical details on the company's website, but unfortunately there are none.)

Höfingers Eisladen

At present the ice-cream is being sold from the very plastic containers that the manufacturer also delivers to restaurants like Organic Pizza Salzburg, but the ice-cream tastes delightfully fresh and creamy and is well worth the 1.80 € the single scoop. Two scoops come at 3.40 €, three at 4.50 €, every additional flavour adds an extra 1.40 € to the bill. As for all other ice-cream makers in this blog post the ice-cream is heavier than you may be used from Italian gelaterie, and there's a range of flavours (like the poppy seed ice-cream) that are special to Austria.

The place is used by an organic confectioner's shop during the cold season – most of the ice-cream shops listed here re-open somewhen between mid of March and early April. However, the second Höflinger shop, the Kiosk "Unten am Fluss" at the Southern side of Marko-Feingold-Steg (the pedestrian bridge with the love locks) sold organic ice-cream already early in March, 2022.

Fabi's Frozen Bio Yogurt

The Höflinger shop also sells coffee drinks from a small home-sized coffee automat, but you may prefer to proceed next door to Fabi's Frozen Bio Yogurt located within the very building of Mozart's birthplace which sports a real bar-sized Italian pressure machine. This clean, no-frills ice-cream parlour uses organic milk, both for their extremely tasty frozen yogurt and the Italian-style coffee drinks.

In addition to the plain yogurt they occasionally have a passion fruit variety. Unfortunately the organic promise in the name of the place is restricted to the milk. Neither the toppings (with a notable exception of some caramelized nuts) nor the coffee sold here are organic. The yogurt comes in small, medium and large sizes, always in cardboard cups with a plastic spoon. So even if you choose to sit down with your frozen yogurt at one of their tables in- or outdoors you cannot avoid waste. This is not comprehensible as the coffee drinks are being served in creamware, and even worse: you pay less when taking it away in a one-way coffee cup.

During the cold season (which lasts from November through February/March) or on a (very) rainy day the only ice-cream made from organic milk comes from a local chain dubbed Icezeit and is offered by Cafe Timeless a few steps off the Linzergasse pedestrian area. Prices vary depending on the flavour: Basic ones like coffee come at 1.50 EUR the scoop, more elaborated ones like Rafaello (coconut-white chocolate) at 2.70 EUR.

Icezeit prefers fairly traded and sustainably grown ingredients, and runs several ice-cream shops both, north and south of the river Salzach during the warm season. Creamy, and with a mouth-watering selection of flavours ranging from the usual suspects to greek honey yogurt or peanut caramel, this ice-cream is hard to resist. Avoid the (additional) toppings you can buy on top as none of them are organic. They also have a frozen yogurt shop opposite the ice-cream parlour in Kaiviertel near Residenzplatz where you pay by weight, and in 2019 a new ice-cream shop opened in the tourist hotspot of Linzergasse.

All Icezeit shops keep open longer than given below when outside temperatures are high while you may find them closed on extremely bad weather days.

Eis-Greissler

Almost side-by-side with the new Icezeit shop in Linzergasse you'll find the Salzburg branch of Eis-Greissler, a Kulmbach-based organic dairy farm producing their ice-cream from the milk of their own cows, often scented with organic spices from the Sonnentor farms (which by coincidence, have a shop next door).

The second fully organic ice-cream shop in town is located in the neighbourhood of Gneis and specializes in vegan ice-cream: The Veganer Eisladen is affiliated with The Green Garden restaurant, cafe and bar and a pleasant destination for a bicycle tour.

Ceased to exist

The following places do no longer exist, even though you still might find references to them on the web:

2022-05-25 14:00:00 [Salzburg, organic, vegan, ice-cream, frozen_yogurt] Link

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