Getting there

Conveniently located right at the subway station “Rochusgasse” (line U3) this market welcomes you during day & night time with produce, convenience food, quick lunches and time for coffee or a drink at night.

Similar to the famous Naschmarkt most of the stalls are permanent structures looking almost like a compound. Many of them are rather restaurants or pubs than classic stalls where to buy produce. There are also temporary stalls like at a regular farmer’s market. Still the choice is wide and ranges from local products to international specialities and even brands.

The vendors and their future

As one vegetable stall owner said: “I wish we had more vegetable sellers, as with my small surface I cannot cater for all the demand”. But managing such a stall is hard work, getting up at 3 am to be at the Vienna wholesale market to get the right quality products and working until the evening hours. Him and his wife have done it for 32 years! So they have hard time to find staff adhering to such working hours, even though he closes the stall for 2 months per year to have some rest. He and and his wife will probably be without a successor when they retire.

Another aspect some vendors fear are the attempts of law makers to apparently only allow packaged products. It would make the difference between supermarkets and open markets much smaller in terms of offerings, e.g. cheese. Markets would then become less attractive. This reminds of the efforts some years ago in the European Union not to allow anymore cheese making from raw milk. This attempt failed at the end to the benefit of a culture of artisan cheeses as offered at the Rochus market.

The transition of the market

The market is changing over time. Once there were more classic businesses on this market, e.g. 3 butchers instead of one today. Now many stalls are lunch places, restaurants or pubs. There is even a fish franchise “Nordsee” from Germany selling fresh fish and fast food. This is good for people in need for some quick lunches or a drink in the evening, but it takes away the character of a typical picture book market.

Nebertheless the Rochus market benefits from a huge popularity and support according to the vendors. Business is not declining.

The offering

The temporary stalls offer a mix of standard and local offers or specialities. A Greek vendor is selling since 8 years artisan products like cheese, sausages and ham from the western part of Austria (Vorarlberg). I saw some nice porcini mushrooms, grapes from the south of Austria, local cowberries. This offering is positioned next to other seasonal products easily available in supermarkets as well, but probably in a better quality.

The permanent stalls have their own specialities as well. The cheese shop had a nice selection of Austrian and other cheeses. The spiced fatback (Gewürzspeck) sold there (!) caught my eyes, a real delight and easy to bring back home as it does not need refrigeration.

The butcher “Radatz” had a very wide offering in meats, sausages and convenience food. The marinated chicken and beef mixed with vegetables were ready made for the pan for quick cooking, a feast for the eyes. Organic beef was also available. Furthermore he offered a large variety of other prepared foods like baked chicken schnitzels and the like. All in all a good mix of basic products and convenience food.

All in all: Worth a visit when you come by, good for a quick lunch and some culinary souvenirs

A little link list:

• A quick introduction into the markets in Vienna from vienna-insight.at
• For those who can read Arabic letters, a post from Iranian Vienna

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The Naschmarkt in Vienna, the capital of Austria (old joke: not the country with the kangaroos) is a market with origins in the 16th century. It is a fairly huge one with permanent stalls serving daily needs as well as the ones of more ambitious cooks in the middle of the city.

The choices of vegetables, fruit and cheeses etc. does not only encompass Austrian produce but offers also those from distant countries. And their presentation is all about celebrating food. It is difficult to leave the place without  having eaten something, especially since there are quite a few stalls which have been transformed into little restaurants. Those ones give a nice choice of local and foreign cuisines. And it is a place to taste Austrian wine as well. As the produce stalls close down in the evening, these restaurants become real busy catwalks

The Naschmarkt is not only international when it comes to the produce, but also the vendors come from different countries, often from Turkey thus giving almost a melting pot flair. It is also a market full of discoveries: the selection of spices is tremendous, a lot of bakery goods are probably not known outside the country. The cheese selection is surpasses certainly the one of any supermarket, and there is meat parts available which is not common, like rumen etc. I liked a lot the Wandererschnitte – (hikers’ fruit bar) which is a pressed cake consisting of 13 ingredients, mainly dried fruit and nuts. It is something which can easily be transported back home.

Looking at this huge market as a whole, it is a probably one of the few  which is not only alive during the day, but also has a night life side, thus making money almost around the clock.

To my surprise this market is rarely mentioned in best of lists.

All in all: The Naschmarkt is a true celebration of food, definitely worth a detour

A little link list:

• The official website in English
• A post with lots of pictures from epicures
• On tripadvisor
• Naschmarkt by night
• Wandererschnitte – the nice hikers’ fruit bar

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Visiting an open food market on a rainy is not a very pleasant experience. Still if the offer and the setup are nice your face will smile. Well, Bregenz in Austria at the Lake Constance is a nice city. With nice museums and a known theatre with a stage on the lake itself.

The local food market does not follow this route, it is small and therefore the choice not too large. The choice of local food is there but not to a wide extent.But it tasted good.

It is located along a smaller street in the heart of Bregenz which gives a bit a of a cozy feeling. The presentation of the offerings was fairly standard and did not take advantage of the surroundings.

It is certainly more joyful on a sunny day watching from the cafe next to the market people doing their purchases.

All in all: a very simple market, still with some quality produce.

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The Naschmarkt is certainly Vienna‘s most known market. At night the stands are closed but many eating places are open, especially on the North Eastern half.

Walking along the South Western part in a winter night no trash will be found from the busy daytime. Graffiti, concrete blocks to stop drunken drivers from entering the areas and scarce lights gives this empty space a special ambiance which will trigger your phantasy for rather darker movies.

Here the post on the Naschmarkt during daytime.

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