BON VIVANT COMMUNICATIONS

Last night, Monday October 16th, the annual Rolling Pin Awards Austria was held at a packed Grand Hotel Wien in the heart of Vienna.

Here the top culinary representatives of the Central European country celebrated Taubenkobel’s sparkling hostess and co-owner Barbara Eselböck taking home the honourable title of “Maître des Jahres” in Austria.

Rolling Pin Awards Austria is considered as the “culinary oscars” and yesterday evening was the eight time Austria’s largest industry award was held.

This time with more than 8400 employees of the Austrian gastronomy and hotel industry had followed the call of the international gastronomy magazine Rolling Pin and nominated their favourites.

Together, they honoured the best restaurateurs, chefs, hoteliers, sommeliers, bartenders and etc of the year as part of a sensational gala in Vienna. This is the second time in 2017 that members of the Austrian restaurant industry points at Taubenkobel as being in the absolute top of the game.

In late-May Chef Alain Weissgerber – Barbara Eselböck’s husband, Executive Chef and co-owner of Taubenkobel was named Austria’s 4th best chef by an overall united restaurant industry.

View also: Austria’s 50 Best Chef List 2017.

… and see all last night’s winners via Rolling Pin’s website.

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ABOUT TAUBENKOBEL

Once the cheapest house of all Burgenland, Taubenkobel now boasts 12 luxurious unique guest rooms, an exquisite restaurant and the more casual “Greisslerei” next door, beautiful gardens and a small lake, transformed to be used as a natural swimming pool.

Opened 33 years ago by Barbara’s parents Walter and Eveline Eselböck, the place has quite literally grown and developed with the family, each generation bringing a new lease of life into what was simply a one room restaurant and kitchen. You feel how the family has built every stone themselves ever since.

Widely acclaimed amongst culinary opinion makers, the restaurant at Taubenkobel was awarded with two Michelin stars up until the guide in 2009 stopped rating in Austria outside Vienna and Salzburg, and overnight stripped the Austrian countryside of some 30 Michelin stars.

Taubenkobel is rated 18/20 by Gault and Millau, a very high rating, with the highest possible score of 20 having only ever been given twice in the guide’s fifty years. Add to this accolade 5* in A la Carte as well as 93 points of 100 in Falstaff – two of the German-speaking countries most respected culinary publications.

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BRIEFTAUBENKOBEL – POP UP PAR EXCELLENCE IN VIENNA

Taubenkobel brings the dazzling Belle Époque back to life in the Austrian capital this November & December.

After 200 years of being home to postmarks, stamps and packages, the grand rooms of the Alte Post building located at Postgasse 8 in Vienna’s first district will be transformed into the 5-week long “Brieftaubenkobel”.

November 17th to December 22nd.

Get ready for a culinary adventure full of variety and bold authenticity and allow yourself to be amazed by Alain Weissgerber’s international cuisine, which at Brieftaubenkobel features only the finest ingredients from across Europe, and enjoy the great expert service provided by the sparkling hostess Barbara Eselböck and her experienced Taubenkobel team.

An unforgettable evening awaits you in the dazzling chambers of the Post Palais where you’ll be whisked away to a world full of old-time Viennese flair. Servers in white livery and white gloves move gracefully through the handsomely appointed staterooms transports you back to a bygone age. If living in Vienna or visiting the city at the time this is a must!

ABOUT POST PALAIS

The Post Palais is situated in one of the most beautiful and appealing quarters in Vienna’s city centre, the Stubenviertel. This is precisely what makes it an exceptionally exclusive and coveted address – it’s one of those “hidden places” that are not easy to find.

Now taking shape in the imposing building complex with three quiet inner courtyards, are attractive and elegant owner-occupied apartments and a future international 5-star hotel with haute cuisine. The building already features a model apartment for the Post Palais, and guests of the Brieftaubenkobel are kindly invited to stop by for a visit.

Read more about the Post Palais through the official website.

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DETAILS IN SHORT

What: Brieftaubenkobel at Post Palais.

Who: Barbara Eselböck and Alain Weissgerber and all the Taubenkobel Family.

When: November 17th to 22nd of December.

Where: Post Palais, Postgasse 8, 1st district, Vienna.

Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday from 5pm onwards.

Reservations: + 43 (0) 2684 022 97 or through brief@taubenkobel.com.

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In 2012 Punto MX opened its doors betting on authentic Mexican cuisine, showing Spanish diners completely unknown products and elaborations.

A tiny but committed team of Mexican lion hearts and fiery souls armed with a vision, exotic flavours and a tight bank account took a chance at becoming the – then – quite risky culinary fine dining exponent of Aztec culture and tradition.

This May Punto MX reached its fifth year, its 712000th taco, 260000th avocado and 200000th cocktail, and invited four great and very different Mexican chefs to cook in the heart of Spain as a part of a four-month grand 5th year celebration.

This once local restaurant down the corner became one of the hottest dinner tickets in all of Spain. Punto MX is magic – Mexican magic in Madrid and there are numerous of reasons to love this fun-loving, heartwarming and utterly delicious powerhouse solidifying Mexican fine dining.

Let’s start with ten of them.

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1. Traditional mexican flavours and culture brought to fine dining level.

 “I believe that the biggest misconception about Mexican food is that it’s always cheap to produce, uses low quality ingredients and requires no technique to cook, which couldn’t be further from the truth. At Punto MX we follow the values and traditions of the Mexican heritage, while adding new and innovative techniques and flavors to great Spanish products. We integrate the two while staying true to our Mexican culture,” – Roberto Ruiz.

Read also: Ateriet – Q/A with Roberto Ruiz of Punto MX in Madrid.

2. Punto MX was the first Mexican restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star  (2015) and the first to receive two Soles (Suns) from the Spanish Repsol Guide.

Michelin states:

“A Mexican restaurant that steers clear of stereotypes. Both decor and cuisine are thoroughly modern. Traditional recipes are bolstered by a contemporary technical approach while at the same time adapting to local tastes. Highly interesting combination of Mexican ingredients and others sourced from Spain.”

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3. Spanish ingredients are perfectly integrated to their traditional mexican dishes.  The “Carabinero”; Scarlet King Crab mixing high quality Spanish produce with Mexican flavours and techniques being a great example.

Follow: The culinary adventures of Punto MX on Instagram.

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4. Natural Revolution: The essence does not change, the experience does.

The new tasting menus created by Roberto Ruiz. In the words of himself: “Change is a natural evolution. Over the last five years we have transferred the purest taste of Mexico into our cooking, today in this natural evolution.”

Punto MX used to be an a la carte restaurant but has transformed menus to only include tasting menus in the elegant downstairs restaurant where guests now can choose between 3 different menus:

The 5 year Anniversary Menu, the Natural Evolution Menu or the Cardinal Brothers Menu, that offer a tasting of 9, 11 or 13 dishes respectively.

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5. Culinary days. Celebrating their 5th anniversary Roberto Ruiz and his team greeted four of today’s top exponents of Mexican cuisine as guest chefs.

Priestess of Mole Juana Amaya of Oaxaca, Edgar Nuñez of Sud777 in México City, Diego Hernández Baquedano (photo) of Corazón de Tierra in Baja California and Jose Manuel Baños of Pinotepa in Oaxaca.

Look into: Honest Cooking – The Beautiful Mind of Chef Diego Hernandez.

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6. The once local restaurant down the corner that became one of Madrid’s toughest reservations’ tortillas were the first in Europe made using traditional methods and the ancient technique of nixtamalization.

In fact Punto MX has made over 800.000 tortillas throughout the past 5 years!

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7. The private orchard. An impressive 9 hectares of organic haven located north of Madrid. Created with the vision of bringing a piece of Mexico to Spain, the space grows over 25 different special Mexican seeds, corn, chilis and herbs and supplies the coveted restaurant on a daily basis.

Dig into: El País – The Secret of Punto MX in La Retamilla.

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8. “All tequilas are mezcals, but not all mezcals are tequilas.”

Tequila is a type of mezcal, much like how scotch and bourbon are types of whiskey. Mezcal is defined as any agave-based liquor which includes tequila. It can be made from more than 30 varieties of agave – the most common varieties used being tobalá, tobaziche, tepeztate, arroqueño and espadín.

Mezcal is mostly produced in nine different areas of Mexico: Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Michoacán, Puebla and Oaxaca, which is where upwards of 85 percent of all mezcal is made.

Punto MX’s Mezcal collection is the by far largest in Europe, with more than 100 references and 35 varieties, including all bottles only of “El ojo de Dios” (The Eye of God); a very limited edition composed of five unique bottles in the world.

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9. The Bone Marrow, charbroiled in ember oven and served with crushed, roasted tomato salsa and herbs. The fatty gelatinous bone marrow works perfectly with the slightly acidic salsa. Enough said.

See also: Punto MX – the powerhouse solidifying Mexican fine dining.

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10. Mezcal Lab; the gastro bar on the top floor of Punto MX.

A unique concept, a gastronomic space with the most representative dishes of these last five years and the most amazing mezcal cocktails served in an informal, beautiful space where the most Mexican of flavours combine with an exclusive and relaxed atmosphere.

Armchairs, high tables, and a bar consisting of the largest collection of mezcals in Europe, ideal to accompany the dishes created by Roberto Ruiz and his team.

Every night hungry bellies queue up outside Punto MX for a seat at this swanky yet informal room. Mezcal Lab accepts reservations for the first seating at 9pm, and from then on a first come, first served basis.

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Chef Roberto Ruiz exclusively offers his excellence to lectures, food festivals, consultancy and tantalising dinner parties.

In case of interest or/and press, please contact Kristian Brask Thomsen at:

ambassador@bon-vivant.dk

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Bon Vivant Communications is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.

The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 3000+ luxury diners around the globe.

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Hungry for more? Have a look at Bon Vivant loves Punto MX.

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Photos by Rodrigo Vazquez and Beto Troconis.