Onkel Taa

Hidden away in a tiny village of the Italian Tyrol, Onkel Taa is a gourmet restaurant serving traditional Mitteleuropa cuisine, but it is also the fantasy world of the owner-chef, Karl Platino. He is known in Italy as Il Re delle Lumache, the Snail King, because not only does he serve a dozen dishes featuring snails, he also breeds these molluscs in the jungle-like gardens surrounding the restaurant. And this is only one of Onkel Taas passions: the decor of the cosy wood-panelled osteria is filled with his weird and wonderful collections everything from corkscrews to snail shaped fossils; and a whole museum is dedicated to the Habsurg Empire and Emperor Franz Josef in particular, whom, coincidentally, the chef closely resembles. And if you want to see something really special, ask to go upstairs from the dining room, where Signor Platino has over a thousand incredible antique wooden doors stashed away.