The story
Heunisch & Erben in Vienna delivers a distinctly seasonal Austrian wine bar cuisine that balances historic charm with quiet innovation. Two restaurateurs purchased a historic property in early 2017 to establish a dedicated drinking room for local wine enthusiasts. They named the venue after the Heunisch grape, which serves as the parent variety for roughly eighty percent of modern cultivars. This botanical lineage sets the tone for an explicitly non-dogmatic approach where the atmosphere shifts between conventional comfort and unstructured ease.
Executive chef Michael Gubik guides the culinary program with a focus on harvest-driven produce and straightforward technique. His team avoids rigid regional classifications and instead prioritizes what tastes best during each specific month, keeping the daily menu aligned with seasonal Viennese cooking. Critics awarded the venue 16.5 points in their latest Gault&Millau guide, praising how the kitchen showcases premium products without theatrical fuss. The kitchen operates with a clear directive to let quality ingredients speak through precise preparation and balanced seasoning.
The menu features dishes like thinly sliced salmon trout tartare paired with fresh kohlrabi and calamansi sauce. White asparagus appears julienned alongside sweetbread and morel mushrooms during spring months. Other notable preparations include river pike perch served with tomato salsa and peanut sauce, alongside a rich farmer pastry layered with taleggio cheese and black truffle. These plates pair seamlessly with bottles drawn directly from the adjacent retail shelves, reinforcing the foundation of a refined contemporary Austrian kitchen.
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A wine bar is a wine bar, yet it is so much more than just a wine bar. You would be making a grave mistake if you only ordered bar snacks at Heunisch & Erben (though: veal heart pastrami!). Executive Chef Michael Gubik serves understatedly exciting dishes where exceptional ingredients are brilliantly showcased. A beautiful example to start with: a sensual, meaty salmon trout tartare with juicy, crisp kohlrabi, chive oil, and calamansi sauce. Those who think of “spring” here are absolutely right: white asparagus is cut into fine ribbons and elevated with sweetbread and morels, the hucho takes flight on tomatoillo salsa and peanut sauce heading toward global cuisine, and the juicy pan-seared chicken breast stays true to its roots but makes a bold move with a stimulating loquat sauce. A warning: the farmer’s pastry with Taleggio and black truffle likely falls under the narcotics act. A glass of wine with it? Yes! Address: Landstraßer Hauptstraße / Seidlgasse 36, 1030 Vienna, Austria Contact: +43 1 286 85 63 | erben@heunisch.at | https://www.heunisch.at/ Opening Hours: Mon–Sat 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM Team: Michael Gubik, Chef | Arnold Strasser, Sous-Chef | Markus Gould, Maître d'
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