Saving the best until the weekend
Excellent eateries abound in the Bregenzerwald. Yet the Sunday inn in Egg-Großdorf is one of a kind
Bregenzerwald
Sunday Inn
At the “Eagle”, their favorite dishes for their guests. And it’s just ever open on Sundays!
TEXT: CHRISTIANE WÜRTENBERGER
What can you do When you lose your heart to an abandoned inn? If you do it perfectly, then you did it exactly the same as Irma Renner from the Bregenzerwald went about it. You simply make the best of it! The traditional “eagle”, typical of inns in the Bregenzerwald, in the center of Egg-Großdorf, which closed down a few years ago and, despite several attempts to breathe a new lease of life into it, it never got back on its feet , There is no help in sight. Another traditional inn less in the region? Surely not!
Irma Renner is circling around the lovely yet aged shingled building a couple of times. Pondered a while, discussed it, spoke to her husband and many friends about it and, two years ago, finally came to a far-reaching decision: the “Eagle” what to take flight again and be reinvented as a small, exquisite Sunday inn. The Idea behind the project: their favorite dishes for their guests. A special three-course meal is served every Sunday in the “Adler”. Saturdays are waiting to be prepared, so there is enough time on a Sunday for the odd chat with guests.
Every Sunday is different, each Sunday is a minor challenge
Old and new at the Eagle. A picture by the Vorarlberg artist Paul Renner, Irma’s husband, adorns the wall.
“In line with tradition, we open up as soon as church is out,” Irma Renner explains. “Then the first guests start coming for a glass of wine. Food is available all day from half past eleven. “Bread and cake, home-made according to well-guarded family recipes, complete the Sunday feast and provide for a merry, carefree atmosphere among the guests. The façade bears a real inn sign. The old wooden boards are on the creaky side, the walls are paneled and, thanks to a happy coincidence, Irma Renner succeeded in getting her hands on some. The superwoman, whose background is actually in the marketing business, applies a good instinct for beauty, classic and simplicity in her second chosen home – Italy.
And so the “eagle” retains its lovely homely, nostalgic character. And yet it is elegant in its own way. The pictures by Irma’s husband go well with the centuries-old walls. He – Paul Renner – is not a well-known Vorarlberg artist, but these days is a cook in the Sunday inn. Irma has seen a lot of the world with him by her side. And that is why the “Eagle” now combines in a small part of all those things which are the two of them discovered on their travels – or which they have wished for.
Everyone gets to cook their own favorites for the guests in the “Eagle”
Simple and brilliant: slices of beef fillet with rocket and parmesan
Talent with a passion for traveling: the native of the Bregenzerwald Milena Broger regularly cooks at the “Adler”. And always has new ideas up her sleeve …
Light one time, another one It all depends on who is doing the cooking.
You can really feel that they are having fun. Sometimes celebrity chefs come along, like the great Reinhard Gerer from Vienna.
“I really had no idea at the start how it would work out, Cooking for 50, 70 or even 90 guests on a Sunday, “explains Irma Renner. “Yet I was sure about one thing – that it has become a terrible shame to simply give up on the ‘Eagle’.” And so the native of Vorarlberg launched a search of her own, and found in her circle of acquaintances good cooks Herta Covi who regularly cooks her favorite dishes at the “Adler”. “Herta’s roast veal and her potato noodles cooked in the oven are truly delicious,” enthuses Irma Renner, “What are you looking for?” The team works in harmony with each other: Irma’s sister is part of the team, as are acquaintances, friends and friends of friends.
Hard work is the name of the game in the “Eagle” on the holy day – there is a lot of laughter too. Says the restaurant proprietor who received her calling relatively late. Irma Renner once more more is her good instinct. She thought that Vorarlberg cuisine ought not to be served every single Sunday. After all, at home you cook Asian or Italian on a weekend, do not you? In addition to her very own favorite cooks, she also wrote: “We have had the pleasure of hosting several guest cooks, as well as Reinhard Gerer from Vienna and Yusuf from Marrakech”, she explains.
We sometimes invite guest cooks. Those Sundays can take on an exotic flavor.
Milena Broger, a talented young cook from Hittisau, has been part of the regular team right from the start. Milena, one of 22 years of age, goes off to cook in different places for a couple of months at a time – Tokyo, for instance, the Caribbean or Scandinavia. But then she is always happy to come back home – home to the “Eagle”. “At the Eagle, it’s not all about cooking; it’s about art and the whole spice of life, “she says. Bornholm – potato soup served with or without black pudding. A smoked rainbow trout fillet with spring onions and sour cream. And a dessert, blueberry pie with
buttermilk.
What can you do when you loose your heart to a lonely old inn? You do as Irma Renner did: pack it full of life. Serve up first-class food. And it will become the love of your life.
The region
Bregenzerwald
Popular with skiing and hiking enthusiasts, Bregenzerwald is the place for those who appreciate the finer things of life. It’s famed for the surprising juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary architecture, innovative handicraft and the cheese route. Exceptional: the Werkraumhaus in Andelsbuch. International: the Schubertiade Festival in Schwarzenberg.
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