Austrian charm

01 January 2000
Austrian charm

Few towns can claim to have an Austrian Scottish restaurant, but now Stirling can boast just that. Eight weeks ago Hermann's at the Tolbooth, a restaurant and brasserie, opened for business, owned by Austrian Hermann Aschaber with his wife Kay.

Hermann has worked in the industry for about 15 years in Austria, South Africa, Australia, the UK and the USA, and has long since wanted a place of his own. But it was while working as restaurant manager at Cameron House hotel in Loch Lomond 18 months ago that he decided the time was right. Two sites in Glasgow fell through before he found the Tolbooth six months ago.

The restaurant is located in the old courthouse of Stirling, which dates back to 1470, but the existing building is just under 300 years old. It is split into two levels, with a 36-seat stone-walled restaurant upstairs and a 40-seat conservatory downstairs.

The Aschabers have introduced an Austrian/Scottish theme to the interior of the restaurant. Flags and pictures of Austria and Scotland are used to decorate the restaurant, while the two countries' cuisines come together on the menu.

Hermann's offers a seasonally-changing à la carte and table d'hôte menu in the main restaurant (which is open for lunch and dinner during the week and evenings only at weekends), a brasserie menu in the conservatory (open from 10.30am-6pm Monday to Saturday) and a Sunday brunch menu in the conservatory (from 11am-3pm).

Hermann compiled the current menu with Austrian chef George Haberl, who was taken seriously ill just two weeks after the opening. He will assume a consultancy role at the restaurant. Martin Muir, most recently a head chef with contract caterer Gardner Merchant, has been appointed as head chef and oversees a brigade of four including second chef Darren Thornborough.

The restaurant receives a fair amount of passing trade, but Hermann says most of his business is local custom. Tourists plump for recognisable local dishes such as smoked Scottish salmon platter (£5.40) or medallions of venison with bramble and red wine sauce (£10.40), while the locals will choose Austrian dishes. Among those are gemseü strüdel, a vegetarian dish served with fresh tomato coulis (£6.95), and from the brasserie menu, würste platter (£4.50), a selection of speciality sausages served with sauerkraut and potatoes.

No Austrian restaurant could think of opening without serving a schnitzel of some description. The current menu carries wiener schnitzel (£10.20) and Hermann's plans to feature other variations such as paprika schnitzel (schnitzel fried in butter with onions, paprika and sour cream) or Champagne schnitzel, made with mushrooms.

The wine list carries 23 different wines and embraces most wine-making countries. Hermann, not surprisingly, recommends Austrian wines to complement his food - Lenz Moser's Pinot Blanc and Blauer Zweigelt (both £12.90).

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