an aussie in austria

Austria is well known for many different types of food – some you will definitely have heard of: strudel, schnitzel, goulash etc. Each region also has specialties they call their own. Though consider that Austria has nine states in a total of 84,000km² (compare that to Australia’s 8 in 7.7million km²) – this means that a dish ‘local’ to one area is very often found in other places too.

I live in the state of Carinthia (Kärnten) and I work in the state of Steiermark (Styria), so I’m familiar with quite a few.

This week I’m taking a look at Kärntner Nudeln.

Kärntner Nudeln are delicious, best homemade (if it’s on a menu you want it to say ‘Hausgemacht’) and cheap. You’ll get between 3-5 ‘Nudeln’ on a plate, and they are usually served with a salad for less than 10€.

Traditional Kärntner Nudeln are filled with cheese (topfen), potato and mint, and encased in fluffy pastry like noodles – like big ravioli one might say. But then they take these cooked (boiled) Nudeln and they pan fry them in BUTTER, coating them and generating a crisp outer shell. The Nudeln will then be then served on a delicious puddle of butter, and if you’re very lucky you might get a small container of melted butter to pour over as well. Nudeln are very popular, and along with the traditional Kärntner Nudeln there are also many other varieties filled with different vegetable or meat fillings.

Look, I’m not saying they’re healthy, I’m only saying their delicious. And they come with salad, so it’s a real meal.