Please note: This article was first published on The Vegan Tourist and last updated December 4, 2019.
Address: Schwedenplatz 3-4, 1010 Vienna
Opening Hours: Mondays – Fridays 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM (2019 opening hours, which might change in the future).
Company Holidays: No information available
Phone: +43-(0)699-1192 9658
Website: No
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KardamomRestaurant
Email: vegetaria1@gmail.com
Free WiFi: Yes, and there are also computers – this is an Internet café
Austrian Debit Cards: No
Credit Cards: No
Bathroom Facilities: Yes
Dogs Welcome: Yes
Seating Available: Yes
Outdor Seating Area: Yes, in a pedestrian zone, very small
Kardamom is an Internet café which offers printing and scanning services in addition to Internet access. This restaurant, which opened in April 2013, used to be strictly vegetarian, unfortunately they are now giving customers the option of ordering meat dishes during their special events, oriental dinners with live music performed by musicians from Iran.
I did consider not listing this restaurant as a “vegetarian” Viennese restaurant, but decided to grandfather it in – it was included in the printed book (and Kindle) editions of “The Vegan Tourist: Vienna,” published in 2014 and 2016. Also, a vegan Swing Kitchen restaurant opened right next door to Kardamom, and I fear that this restaurant’s revenue might be affected by the competition – I hope they manage to stay open. Kardamom’s lunch options are still exclusively vegetarian.
Kardamom offers vegetarian Persian lunch specials during the week (but not on the weekends or on public holidays). Entrees cost 8.50 Euros, soups are also available (small: 3.00 Euros, large: 4.00 Euros) (2019 prices, which are due to change in the future). On my first visit, the lunch special wasn’t vegan, so I ordered à la carte and chose tofu in a lemon-tomato sauce, vegan raita, saffron rice, rice with Berberis berries, tomato salad, and a salad of mint leaves. Occasionally, the daily entrée will be vegan. That was true on my second visit, when it consisted of textured, seasoned soy meat, vegan raita, rice with dill, Berberis berries, pilaf, fava beans, mâche salad, and pickled vegetables. You can’t get vegan dishes like these anywhere else in Vienna.
I can recommend the home-made ginger lemonade (2.70 Euros) and the muskmelon juice with rose water (3.70 Euros). There’s a small outdoor seating area, which consists of only a couple of tables. But it’s in a pedestrian zone, set back from the busy traffic of nearby Franz-Josefs-Kai.
Original blog post: December 4, 2019 by Ingrid Haunold
Updates to this blog entry will be posted at a future date.