Big honour for the Stanglwirt

"The Stanglwirt never ceases to surprise me. And that is obviously because my good friend Balthasar Hauser, his family and all the Stanglwirt team always put people at the heart of what they do," declared Tobias Moretti in his highly emotional and very personal eulogy at this year's ceremony to present the Golden Roulette Ball on 26 June 2013 in the historic setting of the Gasthof Stangl.

The award, initiated by Casinos Austria and Gault Millau, has been presented to outstanding Austrian restaurants every year since 1982. "For the last 31 years, we have set ourselves the goal of recognising high standards of local hospitality," declared Dr Carl Stoss, Managing Director of Casinos Austria.

"It is a most pleasant feeling to be able to present the Golden Roulette Ball 2013 to people whom I know personally and who have long been friends of our company."

The 130 invited guests included friends and supporters of the Hauser family and much-loved regular guests, including numerous high-profile names from the worlds of politics, business, sport and entertainment, such as the musicians Hansi Hinterseer and Peter Moser, the TV stars Hans Sigl and Christian Wolff, director Otto Retzer, fashion designer Werner Baldessarini, the ÖSV Speed team led by Romed Baumann, Klaus Kröll and Georg Streitberger, and, of course, the Gault Millau publishers Martina and Karl Hohenlohe - and many, many more. On behalf of his whole family, Balthasar Hauser specifically thanked "the wonderful employees who make the biggest contribution of all to our continuing success" and declared: "Our award for tradition and consistency goes to what is at the very heart of the Stanglwirt - our food and drink. Our good old rustic inn, the Gasthof, is so called because it has a "Hof" (farm) alongside it, with cows and a dung heap, and it is around this that we have built our entire hotel." Balthasar Hauser concluded: "Everyone knows how much we value tradition. But the good old ways are only good for as long as you keep renewing them and caring for them. That's why our future is in the here and now. Provided we are good now, we will have a good future."