DINING AT THE PFARRWIRT IN THE 19TH DISTRICT
Pfarrwirt boasts that it is Vienna’s oldest restaurant, dating all the way back to 1180, when it was first built as a mountain farm, or Berghof. Nestled in an enchanting, cobble-stoned square beside a picturesque church more than seven centuries (!) old, it’s easy to believe the claim. The whole locale oozes so much Old-World charm, you want to bundle it up and preserve it on the front cover of a Christmas greeting card.
The name Pfarrwirt combines the words Pfarr-, meaning parish or priest, with Wirt, meaning innkeeper or tavern. So Pfarrwirt quite literally means the priest’s inn or parish tavern. If you travel in German-speaking countries, you’re likely to find many Pfarrwirt restaurants located directly beside a churches. In medieval Europe, these restaurants were often owned or managed by the parish or served the parish community where churchgoers would convene after their hallelujahs.
VISIT BEETHOVENHAUS WHILE YOU’RE THERE
If you choose to dine here, consider combining it with a visit to the Beethovenhaus at Probusgasse 6, just a 1-minute walk around the corner. Ludwig van Beethoven lived there in 1802 and again in 1817. In fact, Beethoven had over eleven registered addresses throughout his life in Vienna, which makes me suspect that he was not nearly as good a tenant as he was a composer. Probusgasse 6 is now a small museum.
This part of Vienna is known as the 19th district (the two middle digits of Vienna zip codes indicate the district) and is called Heiligenstadt. “Heiligenstadt” lends its name to Beethoven’s heartbreaking letter to his brothers: the Heiligenenstadt Testament, in which he confesses his despair over growing deaf and coming to terms with what this diagnosis means for him. In the letter, that was never sent, he vows to persevere nevertheless and it is seen as a turning point in his life and creativity. That said, to be fair, it’s not quite a “redemption narrative” in the psychological sense, meaning, he didn’t take his lemons and make them into lemonade but he did find his life purpose:
““It was only my art that held me back [from ending my life]. Oh, it seemed impossible to me to leave this world before I had produced all that I felt capable of producing, and so I prolonged this wretched existence — truly wretched for so susceptible a body that a sudden change can plunge me from the best into the worst of states.”
Beethoven is said to have chosen to live in his house in the 19th because he thought that the nearby hot springs that were in the public bathhouse closeby might help alleviate some of his “wretchedness”. That, and the local wine served at all the surrounding wineries, which, apparently, the musician had quite a liking for.
DINING EXPECTATIONS
If you think some good wine, might do you good, consider the Pfarrwirt. When you go out to dinner, especially when entertaining guests from abroad, you really want three things from your restaurant of choice:
1) great food (and quality wine)
2) professional, attentive service that knows when to appear and when to leave you be, and;
3) an atmosphere that feels effortlessly perfect.
Pfarrwirt will give you all three.
If you want to enjoy the wine, opt to take public transportation there. It’s a short uphill walk (about 12 minutes) from the D tram (stop: Halteraugasse) or, normally, there is a bus stop close by though at the time of writing, it doesn’t seem it is taking its normal route. Just check www.vor.at for the best option.
PFARRWIRT DETAILS
Be sure to make reservations over their website!
Open Daily 12 – midnight
Pfarrplatz 5, 1190 Vienna
Website: https://www.pfarrwirt.com/
A note on outdoor seating and smoking:
My original post on Pfarrwirt was a disappointed rant about the restaurant’s smoking and non-smoking sections, which—let’s be honest— did little to spare non-smokers from the haze of the smoking section. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case indoors, which explains my wholehearted recommendation.
HOWEVER (!)
THE SMOKING PROBLEM
If you’re planning to dine in their lovely outdoor Gastgarten, and you’re sensitive to smoke, or just prefer to enjoy your meal without noxious fumes, I recommend calling ahead and asking to be seated far from any smoking tables. I, for one, would love to see Austria once and for all extend its indoor smoking ban to all outdoor dining areas, as Sweden has. After all, isn’t the point of dining outside to enjoy fresh air and the scent of nature, not cigarette smoke? It just seems wrong that this hasn’t happened (yet!). Hope — as they say — dies last.
