A day in Vienna | Where to eat

I was inspired to write about our Viennese food experience by a direct message I received on twitter. I am glad I was able to separate it from things to see in Vienna as cuisine is totally worth writing about. It deserves its own blog post haha! This one will be short and sweet. It will point you towards where to eat if you are in Vienna for a day.

With our lovely hotel came breakfast which made it easy for us to have a lie in, go downstairs for breakfast and still have another lie in before exploring each day. After all, we were on holiday, right?! For lunch and dinner, we tried out a few places. From fancy spots to street food; our main goal was to eat Viennese cuisine. Therefore, all our food experiences were tailored to that.

Even though we visited a few different spots, as recommendation, I have decided to go for quality over quantity. I will give an overview of the best spots we ate at. There is no point recommending somewhere we did not enjoy. If you are spending your coins, it better be for the good stuff!

Let’s get into it!

1. Café Central

Must see, must go, must eat here. Boujee AF! It was established in 1876. For where to eat in Vienna, you start at Café Central. It is located in Herrengasse 14, 1010 Wren and is THE actual centre of Vienna. How cool is that?! We decided to have dinner there since we were in Stephansplatz anyway. We ended up having to wait on a queue for about 20mins since we did not have a reservation.

But I will admit, it was well worth the wait.

Once we were seated, we took in the classical beauty of the huge drawing room. We listened to the pianist who was playing a medley of the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. The atmosphere was lovely and the food was delicious. We went full on Viennese for our order. For starter, we shared the Sacher Wurstel which was 2 Sacher sausages with mustard, horseradish and bread rolls. Our main, I had the Wiener Schnitzel which was breaded veal cutlet with parsley potatoes – their national delicacy. Mr E had the Rosa Gebratenes Huftsteak which was Pink-roasted sirloin steak with baked potatoes, home-made BBQ sauce and corn. Every dish was soooooo yummy!! After our mains, we were too full to try any dessert.

Click for Menu

Wiener Schnitzel and Rosa Gebratenes Huftsteak at Cafe central

Service was amazing and I would say it is quite reasonably priced. We had to give 10% tip, which was puzzling because it was not stated on the receipt. However, we were too satisfied to even question it. They do have a lovely dessert menu, which they are quite famous for. A lot of people who dine there do so just for the desserts.

2. Street Food – Wiener Wurstel Kiosk

When you think Germany and Austria, what food comes to mind? That’s right – SAUSAGES! We were determined to find the best street sausage seller after we had the yummiest ones in Berlin. Innere Stadt Vienna did not disappoint. We had seen a few queues in front of different kiosks especially in tourist locations but we wanted a more “local” one.

We found the Wiener Wurstel kiosk just on the corner and decided to try it out. They had Kante Bratwurst (spicy), Burenwurst (a little spicy), Bratwurst (normal) and Kaserkraner (with cheese). I had the Burenwurst and Mr E had Kante Bratwurst. Ok, these were so yummy! Mr E thought they were better than the ones we had in Berlin. I would say it was a very close tie!

It was a yummy, messy eat. I had ketchup and mustard with mine but I did not mind the awkward stares from people when I was biting into my Burenwurst! It was filling as well. For less than 5 euros, it was more than worth it!

3. Café Mozart

Located in Albertinaplatz, this café was so lush!! I spotted it when I went up the Albertina museum and thought it had a cute al fresco vibe. The fact that it was named after the great composer, Mozart was also a selling price for me. This traditional Viennese coffee house has been in existence since 1794. It is known for its extensive selection of Viennese pastries and delicious coffees. It also offers the Albertina Breakfast (which includes a glass of prosecco), Full English and Viennese breakfasts.

I ordered the Banana chocolate bread and hot chocolate. Mr E had the Nut Caramel Tartlet and a G&T. This place is great for people watching if you decide to dine al fresco. It sits on the same street as the Albertina, the ultimate luxury Hotel Sacher (guests have included Queen Elizabeth II and JFK). Not far away is the popular Hotel Bristol where you will find the crème de la crème of Vienna.

Website – Café Mozart

You can reserve a spot so you don’t have to wait to be seated as I am sure it does get quite busy in the summer. We got there at 5.30 pm, waited 20mins to get seated which is the norm in fancy Viennese coffee houses.

Honorary mention to our hotel, H+ Hotel. They had a cute bar downstairs and this meant that we never had to stay out late. We could come back “home” to have drinks in the evening and retire to bed afterwards.

…..this concludes my Vienna series.

It was such a fun visit and we loved every moment of it. Having visited a few countries in Europe, the Viennese food has been one of the tastiest of the bunch. For someone quite finicky with food, I was surprised by how much food I was willing to try in Vienna.

Bisous, ‘Bugo x