The foodie trilogy at hip spot Mraz & Sohn, Vienna

In Vienna’s unassuming 20th district, hidden from the high gloss of the city’s classical façades, lies a gastronomic legend: Mraz & Sohn. This is a place where food, family and finesse meet in one of Austria’s most compelling culinary narratives, shaped over three generations with precision, mischief and soul.

Founded by Karl Mraz and now helmed by his son Markus, with grandson Lukas in the kitchen, Mraz & Sohn is a collaboration of lineage and creativity that resists the stiffness so often associated with fine dining. It is playful, expressive and joyfully unpredictable. Manuel Mraz, once part of the team, now devotes himself entirely to visual art. His works still hang on the restaurant’s walls, and his gallery, just a few steps away, adds another creative thread to this family tapestry where food and art continuously echo one another.

Mraz & Sohn is known for its shape-shifting tasting menus that blur the line between experiment and intuition. There is no printed menu, only a sequence of beautifully assembled surprises that appear with an easy rhythm, often introduced by the chefs themselves, sometimes with a wink or a story. Ingredients might include fir-smoked Danube salmon, fig leaf curd, fermented pumpkin or maybuck game in early spring. A dish of oysters might arrive doused in pine oil, followed by a playful nod to the humble schnitzel, reconstructed or deconstructed with charm. The pairings are bold, the flavour deeply intuitive, and the plating often poetic, with colour and composition in quiet conversation.

The restaurant’s recent transformation by Viennese architectural studio BÜRO KLK complements its culinary rhythm. Coarse spruce tabletops, untreated black steel and tactile clay plaster create a space that feels grounded, honest and quietly elegant. The artworks on the walls, including pieces by Manuel Mraz, draw the eye into moments of reflection. Flos lighting casts a soft, deliberate glow, placing the spotlight not on the room but the dishes it frames.

Despite its accolades, Mraz & Sohn remains unpretentious, warm and welcoming. The kitchen moves with easy confidence, the team relaxed but precise, and the energy is more atelier than altar. It is a place of invention, where food is treated as craft, and creativity is passed through the family line like good humour or a well-seasoned pan.

Keeping it in the family, Peggy Strobel, married to Markus and long-time restaurant manager at Mraz & Sohn, now brings her own slice of whimsical Viennese culture to life at Die Cafetière, her soulful espresso bar nearby. Housed in a lovingly preserved 1960s coffeehouse, complete with curved brass counters and a mosaic mural of questionable taste, the café serves roasts, toasties and seasonal treats with the same generosity of spirit that runs through the Mraz name. The toasts, named Karl-Heinz and Gerti, are a tribute to her father-in-law. It is, like the restaurant, a place where flavour meets feeling and nothing is ever quite by the book.