Maybe it's because I read all three Heidi classics when I was sick in bed at an impressionable age, but for me it's like one of those childhood tales when you travel up and up into an increasingly hilly landscape and then suddenly, you're met by a beautiful stranger who shares a secret with you that changes the course of your journey. George and Gabriela Pritchard's Austrian-style Gasthof sits on the side of Spinans Hill next to the recently re-discovered Bronze Age hill fort, Brusselstown Ring in west Wicklow. Reached by a lattice of winding roads which would put an apple strudel to shame, it's a magical contrast to the farms, barns and tractors which populate the area.
Designed and built (with the help of some professional bricklayers) by the couple themselves, the Gasthof is an Alpine chaletlike restaurant and home: it opened three years ago. It follows a policy of no large-scale advertising, so its Viennene winehouse style has remained a well-kept secret (until now) treasured by locals and holidaymakers.
"The idea is based on the Viennese Heuriger which are places in and around Vienna where they make and sell the current year's wine," Gabriela explains. "The food is prepared in advance and all you do is serve it." Having moved to Ireland when George took up a position as head of the graphics department in an advertising agency in Dublin, the Pritchards bought a house near the village of Hollywood, Co Wicklow.
"When I was first offered the job, we came for a two-week stay, fell in love with the country, went back to Germany, where we were then living, packed up and returned," George Pritchard explains.
He is of Anglo-French Indian background and his wife is a professional photographer and graduate of Vienna school of Photo graphy: in Ireland, the couple - who met in Vienna - soon gained a reputation as good dinner party hosts. Two children and several years later, they decided to go professional.
In keeping with the mountain chalet mood, the interior of the restaurant is wooden throughout.
As is the Heuriger tradition, a typical Gasthof meal centres around the meat dish - traditionally pork leg (Stelze), but roast beef is included on their menu - which is sliced and weighed at a counter in the presence of each diner. Another Heuriger characteristic which is also preserved is that of serving only one variety of Austrian wine, a red and white Burgenlander - sold by the glass or carafe. At the Gasthof, Gabriela slices the sizzling roast pork and tender, textured beef with a subtle appreciation of how carefully cooked quality meat can still (in spite of recent food scares) hold its own as the centre of a good meal. Customers then make a choice of accompaniments from bowls of red cabbage, saurkraut, green beans, roast potatoes and salads. All is served on simple, wooden platters.
Desserts involve a choice between delicately scrumptuous apple strudel, rich Austrian Linzer torte (whose special ingredients include cinnamon, almond and blackcurrants) and Topfen Palatschinke (Austrian pancake) served with chocolate sauce and icecream. An average serving of meat with vegetables/salad and potatoes and a glass or two of wine followed by dessert and coffee costs £8-£12.
The Gasthof is open on Friday and Saturday evenings from 8 p.m. and for Sunday lunch, 2 p.m.5 p.m. Tel: 0508 81766. Booking is essential.