Naschmarkt, the famous market in the heart of Vienna, offers a wide variety of delicious food. Antipasti is one of them. The problem, especially in case of buying Antipasti, is, that if you’re not used to market trade habits you’re going to pay a price for your Antipasti that’s probably higher than if you would ship it from Southern Italy by yourself.
Most merchants act very clever and Naschmarkt is not only a tourist trap, but a huge trap for locals too. People easily end up spending a fortune on food and that is, even though the food still is excellent, sort of a frustrating Naschmarkt experience.
A few observations I made during my last Antipasti buying adventure:
- Whenever you hear the phrase “take another 2 and get one for free”, don’t believe it. It’s a trick to increase the order. Nobody there is giving you anything for free, you’re going to pay every piece.
- If you want to avoid a bad surprise at the end, ask after every second ordered piece the current total price. It’ll drive the merchant crazy but helps you to keep an eye on the money you’re going to spend.
- Antipasti conserves better if it’s put into oil. But don’t let them put oil into your box, they’re going to weigh and prize your food together with the oil. You can fill the box up with oil at home too, no problem and way cheaper.
- The first price they tell you is very likely the double of the real price. After a first shocked sounding “You must be kidding me?” the price drops easily by a third, the rest depends on negotiation talent.
- Needless to say that they try to sell as much as possible and continuously offer you other food and start putting things into your box you didn’t ask for.
Naschmarkt shopping can be quite stressful, especially on Saturdays when the market is packed with people, but the food is still worth it.