Quote: Always keen to try a local beer when travelling we didn’t hesitate to step into Hallstatt’s Braugasthof; as it turned out it’s not a brewery tap or even a beer-hall but we did enjoy a tasty lunch and as it was starting to rain quite heavily, it made a useful and timely stop.

This hotel and restaurant boasts one of the best positions in the village, on the road that winds along the lakeside. It has a small terrace on the other side of the road right on the water’s edge but this was closed on the September day we visited as the rain was pretty constant. From the terrace the views across the lake are wonderful; it really is a scenic spot. The building itself is well maintained and is notable for its lovely colourful window boxes.

Due to the small windows of this old building, the views from inside the restaurant are not so good which is a shame but the interior is cosy and quaint so you can grant yourself just a short time away from the scenery. The restaurant is family run and there’s a friendly ambience with mostly young but very efficient serving staff who politely indulged my German but who all appeared to speak several other languages.

There’s a very Austrian feel to the décor without this feeling like a theme restaurant. It’s slightly old fashioned but I quite like that. There’s a mish mash of tables and chairs and with the traditional cloths and curtains it all looks very shabby chic folksy. We took a table on a raised section towards the rear of the main dining room which gave us a good view of the whole room.

We had a restaurant picked out for dinner that night so we didn’t want to eat big; this was a late lunch for us, as we had just come out of the salt mines later than anticipated, whereas some of the elderly diners appeared to be having a very early evening meal. We were pleased, then, that we were able to order just what we fancied without feeling like the staff thought we should be having more and as it was wet and cold soup seemed like just the ticket. I ordered a clear beef soup with noodles in it while Himself ordered the mushroom soup. Bread was free and we were brought a plate of several different kinds, all tasty and just warm. Both soups were good but the mushroom soup deserves a special mention: it contained a few different types of mushroom which certainly gave the impression that it was homemade.

Service was exceptionally quick and the drinks arrived just as the waiter was walking away having taken the order. How so fast? Well it’s done using a tiny electronic device which tells the bar what drinks are being ordered as well as sending the food order to the kitchen: makes sense, especially for days when the restaurant is really busy. Himself had a beer and I had an apple juice spritzer. Drinks aren’t cheap here it has to be said, but this being a very touristy little place, you’ll pay more or less the same at most places.

Alas the beer was something Austrian, probably a Stiegl from nearby Salzburg, good but not what we'd hoped for. The restaurant gets its name from the fact that this ancient house used to be a brewery; in fact it got its brewing rights from Maximilian I in 1507 and brewed continuously until the First World War when the copper brewing vats and pipes were requisitioned for the war effort. It’s a shame they don’t make beer on the premises any more; Hallstatt seems just the right sort of place to deserve its own brew. The history of the building goes back further than its brewing days. There are records of the this being a salthouse in the fifteenth century; the salt was dried in the house then carried across the lake on barges, taken first down the river Traun and onto the Danube bound for Salzburg from where it was traded.

For those with more time or more appetite there are main meals available, and there was a note in the menu to say that the cooks Austrian, Hungarian and Slovakian influences, which no doubt influences the meat-heavy nature of the menu with plenty of pork among other choices. There's fish fresh from the lake and an house specialty of apple cake which seemed to be a popular dessert for most diners. For vegetarians the cheese and spinach strudel was recommended.

Hallstatt is a bit of a tourist trap, it can't be denied, so there's nowhere that could be described as cheap. We paid approximately €14 for our lunch including drinks.
From journals Under the Shadow of Grimming