yaokui: Cafe Katja

Address: 79 Orchard St, New York

Phone: 212-219-9545

It is not easy to discover a restaurant like Café Katja in the Lower East Side unless it was from word of mouth since the restaurant is tiny and quite hidden. Our loyal blog readers and friends, Ravi and Laura, had recommended this restaurant for our first dinner together, and I was very excited since I have not tried Austrian cuisine before. But what is Austrian food anyways? It seems like the dishes such as Bratswurst, Beef Goulash and Spaetzle are quite similar to those dishes served in the Polish, German and Italian restaurants. I don't know much about Austria, but I read that it is a multi-ethnic country, and that probably explains why its cuisine is so familiar.

For appetizers, we ordered Aufschnitt Teller which has a variety of cured and smoked meats, spreads and home-made pickles and Liverwurst with red onion jam. I thought the appetizers were not bad, but they were not really my favorite since I am quite picky when it comes to eating cured meat. But I love my main dish. I ordered the Home made Bratwurst with sauerkraut and finished everything before Gan got a chance to taste it. Lucky for me, I got a taste (or two) of Gan's Beef Goulash with Spaetzle and I thought it was a nice hearty dish. There were only two types of desserts served at the restaurant - Gan and I shared a Linzer Torte while Ravi and Laura had the warm chocolate cake. Our Linzer Torte was tasty and Ravi and Laura's warm chocolate cake (which they were kind enough to share some with us) was delicious as well.

Overall, this is a restaurant I would go back again for good, simple and cheap Austrian food. Be sure to order a cup of mulled wine when you are there as well, Ravi introduced it to me and I am totally hooked now!