What to eat in Vienna
Viennese food beyond the cliché: a real schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Beuschel, coffee house ritual, the late-night sausage stand and a Heuriger wine tavern.

[ ] Eat a Wiener Schnitzel
    Veal beaten to the thickness of a coin and fried in swimming fat so the breading puffs and lifts away from the meat. A real one is veal only; pork must legally be sold as Schnitzel Wiener Art.
[ ] Try Tafelspitz
    Beef rump simmered for hours and served in its own broth with apple horseradish, chive sauce and roast potatoes. It was Emperor Franz Joseph's favourite and is still a Viennese Sunday.
[ ] Order Viennese goulash
    Not a soup but a thick beef stew with a huge amount of onion cooked down into the sauce. A Beisl serves it with a dumpling or just bread, and in the morning as a hangover breakfast with a sausage on top.
[ ] Try Beuschel
    Veal lung and heart cut into fine strips in a sour cream sauce with capers and mustard. A Beisl classic that visitors skip for no good reason: the flavour is mild rather than offaly.
[ ] Eat Backhendl
    Chicken in the same airy breading as a schnitzel, fried in pieces and served with lemon and potato salad. It began as Viennese fairground food and is still the main order at a Heuriger.
[ ] Stop at a Würstelstand
    The city sausage kiosk, open deep into the night: Käsekrainer studded with cheese pockets, spicy Burenwurst, dark mustard and half a bread roll. Everyone eats here standing, from students to the opera crowd.
[ ] Try Liptauer spread
    A curd cheese spread with paprika, capers, onion and caraway, pink from the pepper. The standard beer and wine snack, spread on dark bread.
[ ] Try Erdäpfelsalat
    A warm potato salad dressed with stock and vinegar rather than mayonnaise, often finished with Styrian pumpkin seed oil. It comes with schnitzel not as a side but as half the dish.
[ ] Eat Kaiserschmarrn
    A thick pancake torn into shreds with a spatula, caramelised with sugar and raisins and buried in icing sugar. It comes with Zwetschkenröster plum compote and works as a full lunch.
[ ] Try Sachertorte
    A dense chocolate sponge with a thin layer of apricot jam under a mirror glaze. It is deliberately dry, which is why unsweetened whipped cream always comes beside it.
[ ] Try Apfelstrudel
    Pastry stretched until you can read newsprint through it, filled with apples, raisins and buttered breadcrumbs. Served warm with vanilla sauce, and in some coffee houses stretched in front of guests.
[ ] Drink a Melange in a coffee house
    Coffee with hot milk and foam in a small cup, served on a metal tray with a glass of water and a spoon laid across it. The spoon on the glass signals that the water is fresh.
[ ] Try an Einspänner
    A double espresso in a glass under a cap of cold whipped cream that you do not stir: you drink through it. Named after one-horse cab drivers who needed a hand free for the reins.
[ ] Drink Almdudler
    An Austrian herbal lemonade tasting of alpine meadow, drunk on its own and mixed with beer. In Austria it competes with cola for shelf space.
[ ] Drink a Grüner Veltliner
    Austria's flagship white: dry, peppery and high in acid, and a perfect match for schnitzel. At a Heuriger it is poured into quarter-litre mugs rather than wine glasses.
[ ] Spend an evening at a Heuriger
    A wine tavern on the city edge where the grower pours only their own wine and the food is sold by weight: smoked meats, cheeses, Liptauer, strudel. A pine branch over the gate means it is open.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/food-vienna