Vienna had been my destination of many business trips over the years, but – as with most business trips – there’s not much room for touristic excursions, and so we thought it a nice idea to go there only and exclusively for touristic reasons.Anzeige*
Destination | Vienna, Austria |
How I got there | Eurowings, direct flight from from Cologne-Bonn Airport |
Where I stayed | Fleming’s Selection Hotel Wien |
Restaurants | Plachutta Wollzeile (https://www.plachutta.at/ ) Restaurant Lugeck (https://www.lugeck.com/ ) Buschenschank Mayr am Nussberg (https://www.mayeramnussberg.at/en/ ) For most restaurants you need to reserve a table ahead (Lugeck and Plachutta Wollzeile at least two weeks, maybe more) |
Things to do |
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Recommendations in a nutshell | Culinary expeditions – heavy, but worth it. Highlight: Sachertorte at the famous Sacher Hotel |
recipe | Tafelspitz (boiled beef) |
Vienna is famous for its music – places like the Opera or the “Musikverein Wien” (https://www.musikverein.at/en ) are famous. You can try to get tickets for both of them during the season – over summer there are some “out of season” concerts as well. As I had been in the opera before, we did not try. But we wanted to get into the Musikverein, as the premises are spectacular. Unfortunately, we did not book any guided tour in advance, and when we arrived, it was sold out. So, if you want to make sure that you get in: book in advance!
Instead, we went for a guided tour at the Museum of natural history, which turned out quite nice as well:
We took the “rooftop tour”, which leads to their collection of skulls (a bit creepy!) and further to their rooftop:
with great views of the inner city:
Close by, there’s the famous Hotel Sacher – famous in particular for their cake called “Sachertorte”. Usually, there’s a long queue in front of the entrance to the café. Instead, you can go without any waiting time into the hotel bar, and they’ll serve their cake there as well. Unfortunately, they don’t put the recipe into the web. Of course, there are some recipes out there, but I’m not sure how close to the original they get.
Another tourist hot spot is the Stefansdom or St. Stephen’s Cathedral in English, famous for its roof:
And the view from the tower is great:
As it is located in the very city centre, there’s almost no way around it when walking the streets of Vienna. And – despite the millions of tourists – it is nice to see. However, we liked more the silent alleys and small streets between the “Basilisk house”, the Catholic Church Maria Rotund, the Jewish Neighborhood, small alleys in the old towm:
nice little restaurant yards like this of the “Buchsbaum”:
…and the old St. Ruprechts Church. And St. Peter’s Church – spectacular!
Vienna is full of nice old buildings, like the “Hofburg”
Beautiful by day and night:
Vienna is a great place to go if you like the Austrian cuisine. Which is pretty heavy, but – to my taste – delicious. During our 3 day stay, we tried as much of the “classics” as possible, like “Wiener Schnitzel”, “Tafelspitz”, “Sachertorte” and “Palatschinken”. A major part of this post is dedicated to the dishes we tried, as there are:
Tafelspitz at the Restaurant “Plachutta Wollzeile”
The Plachutta group consists of 6 different restaurants scattered over Vienna. Despite their heavy advertisements (you’ll see them already at the airport) – giving them a really touristy touch – they are very good. And are frequented by the locals. The “Wollzeile” location is the most central one and therefore we decided for this one. We went there for Sunday lunch, and fortunately we had reserved a table weeks in advance. The restaurant was completely booked and bursting full of people. We got a table in a small corner in the back of the premises, which turned out nice as we didn’t have to deal with all the people coming and going between the tables. Our chosen dish “Tafelspitz” was VERY delicious. And Plachutta even puts this recipe in the web (https://www.plachutta-wollzeile.at/tafelspitz ), so it is really easy to reproduce it at home. For those who are not able to read the recipe in German language, you’ll find it below in English.
Wiener Schnitzel at the Restaurant “Lugeck”
The Restaurant “Lugeck” in Viennas City centre belongs to the small “Figlmueller” restaurant group, all of them famous for their “Wiener Schnitzel”. Still it is not completely clear whether the Austrians or the Italians invented the breadcrumb-coated veal cutlets, but it seems that in the year 1857 Feldmarschall Radetzky brought the recipe from Italy to Austria. Nowadays, there is a slight difference between the “Viennese Schnitzel” and the “Piccata Milanese” – in Italy the breadcrumbs are usually mixed with a bit of cheese like Parmesan, the Austrians use plain breadcrumbs. Otherwise the recipe is virtually the same: veal cutlets, preferably very thin sliced, are slated and peppered, coated with a little bit of flour, rolled in an egg-water-mixture (1 egg plus 1 teaspoon of water) and then in breadcrumbs. Then they are deep-fried in buttered oil (“Butterschmalz”) and served with potatoe salad and a slice of lemon on top.
White wine at the Buschenschank “Mayr am Nussberg”
Last but not least, we tried one of the famous wine bars. There are basically two groups of wine bars: the “Heurigen” Bars, which are usually located in solid buidlings and are open throughout the year. And the “Buschenschank” type, which is a lot more “basic” and usually an “only outside” place. They are open only in summer, and only if the weather forecast suggests good conditions. So, you’ll have to check on their websites on the day if they’re open or not. But they are often located in spots with a great view, and are mostly reached only by foot. So, it’s a good opportunity to get some exercise (very appropriate after all these heavy meals…).
We went to the Buschenschank “Mayr am Nussberg”, going by bus to the “Kahlenberg” and walking down to the wine bar. After some glasses of really good wine, some snacks and great views over Vienna…
…we went further down the hill towards Nussdorf, and from there via tram back to the city center.
I gained about 3 kg of weight during the three days in Vienna (despite the hike to the Buschenschank) and struggled for many weeks to get rid of them. But it was worth it!
And here’s the faous PLACHUTTAS Tafelspitz Recipe:
Ingredients for 6 persons:
- 2 kg von beef (or veal) Tafelspitz meat (ask your butcher and look at the drawing proided by Plachutta: https://www.plachutta-wollzeile.at/tafelspitz )
- 6 pieces of marrowbone
- 1.5 l water
- 300 g root vegetables (carrots, yellow beets, celery in equal amounts)
- ½ stack of leek
- 1 large onion with skin, cut in halves
- Black peppercorns
- Salt to taste
- Garden lovage
- Shive for decoration
Preparation:
Brown the onion halves in a coated pan until dark brown. Heat the water until cooking, add the meat, salt, pepper, lovage and onions. Skim the appearing foam from the surface. Let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Then add the vegetables (cut into small pieces) and let simmer for another hour. Add the marrowbones just 5 minutes before serving.
Cut the meat perpendicular to the fibers into 1 cm thin slices and put it back into the broth. Add some chives and serve.
How to eat Tafelspitz:
- Serve the broth out of the pot.
- Cut out the marrow of the marrowbones and spread it on roasted (or plain) dark bread (like pumpernickel or similar), salt and pepper, serve.
- Serve the meat (already cut into slices, see above) together with fried potatoes, vegetables (or corn salad, as I prefer), chives sauce and apple-horseradish (you’ll have to google the recipies)
Greetings from Vienna!
*According to a German Court decision, all texts containing links to commercial pages (e.g. links to Tripadvisor, Airline, hotel or restaurant websites) have to be identified as “commercial” (in German “Anzeige”). As my texts do contain links like that, I therefore identify each post and page containing a link as “Anzeige”. However (and referring to the “About Me” page) I would like to point out that I do NOT post any sponsored content in my texts. I pay for all my trips myself.