As experienced travelers, Rachel and I saw everything we wanted to see in Vienna in two days. On our last day, a classmate of mine recommended we consider a pastry tour with Wolfy’s Adventures. The price was steep for us college students, but after a quick email request, Wolfy offered a 50% discount for us! Unfortunately, the only dates he had available were after our time in Vienna, so we organized our own pastry tour instead.
Vienna’s coffee culture is much different than the American coffee culture. I like to joke that Americans drink coffee as medicine instead of a morning beverage. Some of my European friends do not understand the purpose of Starbucks’ “mobile order pickup.” I think ordering a takeaway coffee would genuinely offend an Austrian. To Austrians, drinking coffee is a quiescent event lasting a couple hours. To drink coffee is to enjoy someone’s company, either in conversation or in silence while people-watching or soaking in the sunlight. Everything in the café is of the highest quality, and the waiters are attentive to the needs of the guests- I felt like royalty leaving each café. Here is a list of the restaurants and coffee houses we visited.
Café Central This café is over 130 years old and was the favorite meeting point of some prominent historical figures such as Sigmund Freud and Leo Trotzki. We split two slices of cake, the Himbeer Harmonie (raspberry, brownie, and chocolate mousse) and the Central Schnitte (layered puff pastry with vanilla custard cream). I liked the bittersweetness of the Himbeer Harmonie and the crunch of the Central Schnitte.
Aida’s Here, we shared a cream cheese Danish and an apple strudel. Aida is another family-owned business since 1921. The menu had a few pages about the café’s history and the company culture, which emphasizes that customers should leave Aida’s happier than when they came. The café had a fun, retro vibe and the waitresses were friendly and happy.
Café Landtmann The two cakes that we split here were the Mozart Torte and the Esterházy Torte. The Mozart is chocolate pistachio cream cake and the Esterházy is a Hungarian, almond nougat cream cake with hints of rum. Both cakes were sweeter than what we ate in Café Central but equally delicious.
Figlmüller Don’t worry, we had “real” food in Vienna as well. We were fortunate enough to get seats at Figlmuller’s, the restaurant where wiener schnitzel was invented in 1905. Many celebrities and politicians have eaten here, and it is frequented by both locals and tourists. I think we finished our glasses of wine well before we finished our meal because the schnitzels were bigger than our plates! The lemon wedge on top seemed arbitrary, but after a quick Google search, I learned that the lemon juice helps cut the grease from the schnitzel. The more you know!
Naschmarkt We ate a few times at the large open-air market, which was right across from our hostel. We had breakfast at Stella’s, a small restaurant in the center of the market. Rachel tried the Viennese breakfast and I had shakshuka. Although not a traditional Viennese food, shakshuka is popular here because of the lasting influence of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th – 17th century. (Coffee is also a lasting influence from the Turks.) I think shakshuka is my new favorite food, and I can’t wait to try making it!
Each time we passed through Naschmarkt, we tried something new. One time, I had shawarma and Rachel had a kebab. Another time, we shared small Picante peppers stuffed with cheese. To start our pastry tour, we split a slice of baklava and a mohnzelten (a potato pastry filled with a poppy seed paste) from the market. All were delicious, of course.
Café Sacher Located next to the Vienna State Opera is Café Sacher– the home of the famous Sachertorte. The cake was invented in 1832, when a 16-year-old apprentice, Franz Saher, was tasked with creating a special dessert for Prince Metternich when the head chef was sick. The Sachertorte is a dense chocolate cake with apricot jam and chocolate icing served with unsweetened whipped cream. It was well worth the 30-minute wait because it was the best cake I’ve ever had: soft, rich, and just the right level of sweetness. We also tried Guglhupf- a traditional, vanilla Bundt cake made with ginger, lemon, orange, and nuts. I also enjoyed this cake because it was so different than the other ones we tried.
At the end of our pastry tour, we rated our favorite cakes. My top three cakes were the Sachertorte, the Guglhupf, and the Central Schnitte. Rachel’s top three were the mohnzelten, Central Schnitte, and the Himbeer Harmonie. There were a few more cafés on our list to try but we had no more space in our stomachs or adequate energy to indulge in more sweets. Still, we’re glad we organized our own pastry tour and spent our last day experiencing the Viennese coffee culture. 🙂
I have one more week of classes and exams and then I am finished with the semester! It is hard to believe that I will be in Europe for only 30 more days. I have a few more trips planned that I will certainly share on the blog.
kira vesta 
Love this one…and now I’m hungry!
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