Cucina Cipriano

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Mediterranean Breeze Near the Mariahilferstrasse

On Aegidigasse 15, a quiet side street just steps from one of Vienna's busiest shopping avenues, Cucina Cipriano offers something the city rarely delivers: the honest, sea-driven cooking of two people who grew up on Mediterranean shores. The restaurant is the project of Carmela and Andrea, and their philosophy is stated plainly on their menu — "food is culture, and culture is above all communication, in whatever language."

That spirit shapes everything here. The menu reads less like a fixed document and more like a daily conversation, one that changes according to what arrives from the water. Almost all fish is wild-caught, and the selection of whole fish — sea bass, gilt-head bream, turbot, monkfish, dentex, scorpionfish, gurnard — shifts with the catch. Provenance is specific: fish comes from Orbetello in Tuscany and from wild fisheries in Italy, Croatia and France.

Carmela & Andrea's Kitchen

The cooking moves between the Italian regions Carmela and Andrea call home. Starters include Sicilian green olives from Belice, crispy prawns with a liquid tomato-mozzarella caprese, and airy salt cod cream with sweet-and-sour peppers. Sardinian fregola arrives in a fish-based marinara, while crispy dentex ravioli come with yellow tomatoes and stracciatella. House-made brioche bread, served with pepper butter and anchovies from Grado, signals the attention to sourcing that runs through the entire menu. Desserts are equally considered — a Piedmontese hazelnut and Domori chocolate cake, tiramisù shaped like a Magnum, and house-made gelato and sorbets.

The recognition from Gambero Rosso — Italy's most authoritative food and wine guide, which awarded Cucina Cipriano 2 Forks — reflects precisely this kind of rigorous, personal Mediterranean cooking practised far from the Italian coast.

The Wine List

The wine program, curated by Carmela and Andrea, is a serious document in its own right. It leans heavily on Friuli-Venezia Giulia — with producers like Edi Keber, Venica & Venica, Jermann and Blazic — and extends through Campania, Puglia, Tuscany, Piedmont and Sicily. A dedicated natural wine section adds bottles from Damjan, Cos and Foradori. By-the-glass pours cover both whites and reds from across the peninsula, and a thoughtful grappa and amaro selection rounds out the evening.

The room sits in an Italian-inflected setting with outdoor seating available, and the restaurant accommodates private dining as well as wine pairing menus — making it as suited to a long Friday lunch as to a considered dinner.