Austrian cuisine in general, and Viennese in particular is full of delicious dishes, pastries, and little snacks. We have chosen but a few here but suffice to say, if you’re going to Vienna for food tourism, you’re going to the right place.
Traditional Austrian breakfast
The traditional Austrian breakfast is similar to the well-known “continental” breakfast, but it has its particularities. It usually consists of some bread rolls, butter, coffee (and in recent years sometimes tea), muesli of various kinds, ham (sometimes also bacon and cut sausages), one boiled egg (or occasionally scrambled), Danish buns, variety of jams (not marmalades, though jam is called “Marmelade” in Austrian German), and the whole thing is topped off with orange juice.
There is also a “Viennese Breakfast” which usually gets served in cafés. Its less grand variety consists of bread rolls, jam, coffee (most usually Melange), butter and glass of orange juice. Some places offer ham and cheese instead of jam or throw a boiled egg into the bargain.
Austrian traditional foods
Austria has many traditional dishes, so to name them all here is near impossible, but we have selected a few that are simply a must-eat. First is the Tafelspitz which is said to have been beloved by the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I. It is beef boiled in broth (usually used later for soup) together with root vegetables and spices and it’s likely to be served with apple and horseradish and chives sauce.
Second is the Germknödel which is a sweet dish consisting of fluffy dumplings filled with Powidl (a thick and sweet plum jam). On top of them are usually poppy seeds, melted butter, powdered sugar, and sometimes vanilla cream. The third traditional food here is not a singular dish but rather an acknowledgement of the Austrians’ universal love for sausages. From Frankfurter (or Wiener sausage) to Krainer Wurst, Debreziner to Burenwurst, and to Grüne Würstl (“green” means raw here; it’s air-dried and boiled) there is no kind of sausage you won’t find in Vienna.
Famous Austrian food
We will talk about the most famous food from Austria, the Wiener Schnitzel, a bit later in this article but we’d like to bring your attention to some of these other delicacies that you might know. First is the famous Sachertorte (or Sacher cake) which is a chocolate cake with layers of apricot jam as a filling. It’s served with whipped cream in its most traditional form in which it has survived since the early 19th century. The second is perhaps lesser known than Sachertorte but no less important. Liptauer is essentially spicy cheese spread which is eaten on crackers, bagels, and toasts or is served as a filling in cold dishes like stuffed tomatoes, peppers, or even hard-boiled eggs.
Viennese pastry
Vienna is well-known for its love of sweet pastry, and it is said that one can find it just about anywhere, so we want to leave as much of it as possible for you to discover. But that does not mean we have no tips for you. Start with the traditional Apfelstrudel and its many iterations where the apples can be replaced by cream cheese, sweet or sour cherry, or even poppy seeds. Once you have had all the strudel you can handle, be sure to keep an eye out for Punschkrapfen (or punch cake). It is easy to spot for its hot-pink colour of icing. In it, you’ll find cake crumbs, nougat, chocolate, apricot jam and the whole thing is soaked in rum. If you want to explore this side of Vienna more we recommend a handy list of Austrian cakes.
Wiener Schnitzel
For those of you who somehow haven’t had the pleasure, Wiener schnitzel is a thin slice of fried veal or pork usually served with potato salad on the side. But for those of you who know what you’re after, you want to know which is the best Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna. Sadly, that is not up to us but up to your taste buds to decide. Though a good starting point is the Figlmüller restaurant which bears the name of the cook who reportedly made the first Wiener Schnitzel, and where you will find many a traditional dish we have mentioned here. It might be the best place to eat in Vienna, at least at the beginning.
