A hotel without an on-site restaurant can be a mixed blessing. It can be inconvenient, but it can…read morealso lead to pleasant discoveries elsewhere in the area. The latter was our experience during a recent trip to Salzburg where we'd booked a quaint hotel that did not have an on-site eatery.
We had taken our adult children and grandchildren to Germany and Austria to visit some of the multitude of Christkindlmarkts, including those in Salzburg. One can only have so many bratwurst, pretzels and cups of Glühwein so, after exploring the markt at the famous Mirabell Gardens on our first evening in town, my wife and I stole off on our own and discovered the Sky Bar.
The name "Sky Bar" as represented on numerous advertisements around the midtown area is a bit misleading, as it's much more than just a bar. Situated on the sixth floor of the Imlauer Hotel Pitter, it is also home to a very nice restaurant as well as a lively bar.
With food available in both settings, we chose a table in the bar area for our post-markt munch.
A glass of local Riesling started things off, and the bar had one with a "trocken" or dry finish. "Halb-trocken" or, more recently, "fine-herb," indicates an off-dry wine while "sü" (seuss) is sweet.
While my wife enjoyed a small salad, I opted for their beef tatar. Properly prepared, it came with a caperberry buried in the seasoned, ground meat topped with a fried quail egg and accompanied by a chutney of balsamic and shaved onion. Delicious! In fact, so delicious that the fellow at the next table who had just finished his own tatar saw me enjoying mine and waxed rhapsodic about how delightful it was.
He wasn't wrong.
The next night, we decided to save our appetite so we could enjoy a complete dinner rather than nibbles. Certainly, we visited some sites and strolled through some of the city's markts but dinner time found us again ascending to the sixth floor and making our way to the bar area.
This time, our entrees included venison for my wife and a boar chop for me. We'd both had venison before - including during a previous trip to Austria and Germany - but I had never had boar. Though our server said his English was "not very good," he was able to understand my question about whether the boar would have a gamey taste, and assure me that it had been farm-raised so it would not have a game flavor.
A little research showed that boar is often considered a slightly lighter alternative to pork, and indeed it was. A bit less fat but just as much flavor and, properly cooked, tender and juicy. As was the venison, with only a hint of game flavor.
Our third and final night in Salzburg brought one more trip to the Sky Bar for a farewell glass of wine and a last look at the city from our sixth floor perch.
The facility's location may not seem to fit the definition of a "sky bar" but it's plenty high enough for Salzburg. Guests who step onto the outside patio can see the lights of bridges spanning the Salzach River, Fortress Hohensalzburg which sits watch over the town, and dozens of other sights. One might also marvel at those hearty folks who opt to sit outside and enjoy their drinks and dinner in freezing weather. But hey, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.
If you're looking for a change from stereotypical Austrian fare, we highly recommend the Sky Bar at the Imlauer Hotel Pitter.
