In Vienna, haute cuisine is moving into a garage: Taubenkobel is opening the TurboTaube pop-up, with Barbara Eselböck and Alain Weissgerber taking over the first floor of the historic Astoria Garage in Josefstadt, offering two tasting menus priced at 120 and 220 euros; the dishes, however, remain a secret for now.
Photo by Irina Gavrich
In Vienna, to find the Taubenkobel’s next location, you’ll have to go into a garage. Not an industrial space repurposed for the occasion, but a multi-story parking garage that has been part of the city’s urban landscape for over a century. From November 13 to December 22, 2026, Barbara Eselböck and Alain Weissgerber will bring their culinary project to the Astoria Garage, located at Trautsongasse 4 in the Josefstadt district. The pop-up will be called TurboTaube and will occupy the first floor of the building, temporarily transforming a space intended for cars into a venue for signature cuisine. The idea is part of a journey that, since 2015, has led the duo to choose settings outside the usual restaurant circuits. Each time, the setting changes—and with it, the project’s aesthetic.
Two Menus, Prices, and Dates for the Pop-Up
TurboTaube will be open Monday through Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. The five-course “Le Mans” menu will cost 220 euros, while the three-course “Monaco” tasting menu will be offered for 120 euros, Monday through Wednesday. The concept allows guests to choose between two tasting menus of different lengths, both named after famous motorsports events. Information on the ingredients, preparation methods, or structure of the tastings is not yet available. For now, the motorsports theme is evident primarily in the project’s identity and the choice of location; the actual dining experience will reveal just how much this inspiration will shape the culinary offerings.
The Astoria Garage: From 1923 to Gastronomy
The building was constructed in 1923 and expanded in 1935. The ramps connect the different levels of the parking garage, while the preserved signage and exposed piping evoke the image of a structure designed to meet the needs of urban mobility. This is no mere ornamental detail: the Astoria Garage embodies a specific architectural history, linked to the rise of the automobile and the need to find space to park them within the city. In recent years, the parking garage has already hosted activities far removed from its usual purpose. Last September, for example, it hosted the Astoria Artshow; now the focus shifts to gastronomy, with the arrival of the Taubenkobel team from Burgenland. The first floor will thus become the setting for a pop-up restaurant within a space that retains a strong visual and functional identity.
From the Art Nouveau theater to the club: the geography of pop-ups
The Taubenkobel series of temporary projects also stands out for the variety of its settings. After Schraubenkobel, in 2023 Alain Weissgerber presented Wunderkobel, a multi-course menu held inside an Art Nouveau theater in Otto Wagner Park. In 2024, the Diskokobel project found a home at the Volksgarten, bringing the kitchen into a setting associated with nightlife and a club atmosphere. In 2025, Vogelfrei arrived, hosted at the Atelier Augarten. The transition from a workshop to a historic theater, from a club to an atelier, reflects a way of working in which the temporary venue changes with each event. It’s not just a matter of moving a kitchen from one location to another: the venue becomes part of each edition’s identity, even before the menu details are revealed. With Turbotaube, this exploration once again intersects with the world of motorsports. The choice of Astoria Garage evokes Schraubenkobel but introduces a new setting: a building constructed in the 1920s and expanded in the 1930s, where the architecture of the parking garage remains the most immediately recognizable feature. The project thus adds a new chapter to the series launched in 2015, without abandoning the ephemeral nature that defines its format.
Reservations are available through the official Taubenkobel website.
