Called The ‘Capital Of Delight,’ Graz, Austria Is Rich In Culture, Food And Wine: Part One

You may be forgiven if the city of Graz (pronounced “Graats”) does not leap to mind when thinking of Austria. Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, perhaps Linz, but I suspect most Americans know little or nothing about Austria’s second largest city (after Vienna), which covers 50 square miles, with a population of nearly 300,000. Today the historic center consists of over 1,000 buildings, their age and architecture ranging from Gothic to contemporary.

Called the “Capital of Delight,” it is one of Europe’s most baroque cities, and it has its own sumptuous cuisine and dining scene that includes daily farmer’s markets—the oldest is Kaiser-Josef-Platz Markt near the opera—where more than 350 local farmers sell everything from indigenous fruits and vegetables and wines to prepared wursts, breads and pastries and cheeses. Here you’ll find Murodner potatoes, Kernöl pumpkin seed oil (widely used in the cooking here) and local beers like Reininghaus Edel Pils and Puntigamer Lager. In the fall the city celebrates the Graz Truffle Festival, with seven varieties offered.

My wife and I spent three days in Graz after taking a three-hour train from Vienna, which, this being Austria, left and arrived on the split second promised. We immediately found that much of the central historic city is blocked to vehicles, so our taxi route from the train station was circuitous to get to our hotel, but within the city the tram and bus lines are a phenomenon of efficiency, frequency and dependability, and they operate pretty much on the honor system of payment. (See my note on the Graz Card below.)

We checked into the Parkhotel (Leonhardstrasse 8; 43-316-36300), whose location as the Inn of the Golden Pear dates back to 1574, its present building to 1867, acquired by Maria and August Florian in 1934 as Parkhotel. Happily quiet (Graz is not a loud city at all), its décor, if dated, is very traditional and comfortable, with King beds and air-conditioning (not always a given in Austria); its restaurant Florian is elegantly composed and, to indicate how well Graz’s dining scene is doing, we couldn’t get a reservation that night there or at two other places. A buffet breakfast the next morning in the sunny enclosed terrace was as restorative as it was lovely.

We did get into a splendid restaurant named Gasthaus Stainerbauer (Buergergasse 4; 0316-821-106) that evening, set by candlelight with courtyard tables in good weather. Here chef Werner Wiener prepares all the Styrian “grandmother’s favorites,” including an excellent Wiener Schnitzel (€27.80); calf’s liver with mashed potatoes and horseradish (€23.80) and the boiled beef dish Tafelspitz (€25), as well as marinated Artic char with char mousse (€16.50); wild garlic cream soup with truffled ravioli (€6.90)l and medallions of venison with apple-elderberry gravy (€36.50). Scheiterhaufen is a dessert of bread pudding (€11.50) with apples and whipped egg whites is an airy, tasty ending. The wine cellar is very well stocked with Austrian bottles, but they serve no liquor or cocktails.

The next morning we were on our feet for five hours, walking through a city whose streets are impeccably clean, whose trams are quiet, and whose people all speak English to one degree or a another. We had a superb guide for a tour I’d recommend highly, named Sigrid Alber (sigrid@inode.at), who knew every building’s history, each baroque façade, every pane of stained glass and all the varied legends of Graz, leading us to the Rathaus Town Hall, up Castle Hill with its demolished fortress and Uhrturm clock tower that dominates the skyline, and the beautiful Gothic cathedral, whose frescoes portray the fearsome Landplagenbild (“plague of plagues”) that invaded the city in 1480—locusts, pestilence and, to top it off, the Turks.

The city center bans tall buildings and favors the historic ones, so the food stores and boutique have great local charm, although the tall Kastner & Öhler department store on Sackstrasse is as modern as in any major city, with six floors and a lunch café at the top, overlooking the city. At the foot of Schlossberg is the Genussladen, opened in 2002, a big, bountiful store specializing in products from small farms and producers, with more than 1400 delicacies to choose from.

We had lunch that afternoon at another aerie, Aiola Upstairs, located atop Schlossberg (43-316-818-797) on a glassed-in terrace with 120 seats (another 60 inside). Chef Michael Fischer offers an eclectic menu with several light items on it and a great deal of color, as in his white wine risotto with pumpkin, sheep’s cheese, chives and prawns (€37.50), and lake char filet with fregola Sarda, zucchini and black pepper foam (€32.90). For dessert have the “Love Handles: of chocolate, mango and passionfruit (€14.50).

After more touring we strolled through the curving and angled streets of the Lend and Gries Districts, old working class neighborhoods in the past avoided by tourist but now remarkably well gentrified, full of cafés, pastry shops, children’s clothing stores and wine shops—and if you crave any type of international food, including sushi, there are plenty of options. In late afternoon we walked through the park, designed by German architect Johannes Schirgie von Premstätten-Tobelbad, and past the truly lovely Café Promenade (Erzherzog-Johann-Allee 1’ 43-316-813-840), which has been here since 1870 and is ideal for breakfast, tapas or a light dinner. Sitting outside and watching passersby walk slowly through and around the park is one of the most delightful ways to spend time in the evening drinking coffee with pastry and a nightcap, which, with our hotel just blocks away, blissfully ended our first night.

If you go: Best way to enjoy Graz is to purchase the GRAZ CARD, which gives you free access on public transportation and many museums and sights around the city. A card for 24 hours is 26, for 48 hours 34 and for 72 hours 39. You can buy them on-line here:

Tipping: Tipping is not requisite in taxis or restaurants, but rounding off the bill is a congenial gesture. A restaurant tip of ten percent would be fine. Taxes are included.