Viena Austria Restaurants
Viennese cuisine rates among the best in Europe, competing with Parisian and Roman in terms of sophistication, but far more sumptuous and hearty. It used to be rather conservative, though in recent years developed taste for ethnic cuisines, and now Asian and Indian restaurants can be easily found. Any visitor should necessarily taste the delights of traditional Beisl - an eatery, featuring typical local dishes. The world-famous Wiener schnitzel is a must, other specialties to be tasted are boiled beef (tafelspitz) and duck staples, often garnished with red/white cabbage. Beer there excels both in quality and amount.
The cuisine is seasonally influenced, in autumn there prevail dishes with thick hearty sauces, often with chanterelles, garlic and white wine. For Christmas roasted goose is traditional. Viennese Beisl also offer various kinds of goulash, adapted from Hungary, and different sausages.
Among the recommended locations Alte Backstube, a fine Baroque style family-owned restaurant originating from 1697. The house speciality - "Backstube platter" - is a dish of seasoned pork slices cooked in garlic with jus and rosti (grated potato).
Amon is a mix of Viennese and international cuisine, having a charming al-fresco bar. Arnter is a fine modern eatery, serving international dishes with emphasis on specialty cheeses, made by Artner family on their own farm.
Bierhof boasts superb draught beer from local Ottakringer brewery, Schneider Weisser is its decent counterpart. The location serves such meat delicacies as Debreceni sausage, Münchener weisswürste, Bierhof grillteller. Drei Husaren offer traditional Viennese specialties in extremely elegant setting. Griechenbeisl is a traditional restaurant, which hosted many famous Viennese artists. Ofenloch and Scweitzerhaus present Central European cuisine.
There appear numerous restaurants with fusion, Italian and Spanish cuisine, fish dishes with recipes from Adriatic coast. Vegetarian restaurants have good reputation. The city's famous coffeehouses originate from late Middle Ages and are not mere patisseries, but long-established literary cafes, where artists, poets and writers seek inspiration or philosophic conversations. The city boasts superb specialty coffees, far more than the famous Viennese coffee. Meierei Schonbrunn, Café Sperl, Cafe Pruckel and Espresso are among the best.