This article is first of the two cafe topics in which I will be talking about my experience during my visit to Central Europe this April. Most of places I had visited in this article will be from Vienna.
Cafe Central @ Vienna, Austria
Price: EUR10 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 1 and 12 April 2011
Atmosphere: 7/10
Services: 6/10
Perhaps the most cafe in Austria and perhaps a must visit cafe for those new comers to Vienna. I was struck by the architecture upon walking through the front door of Cafe Central. The casual atmosphere with the sound of music from piano, the old fashion coffee house which is laid out with wooden floor and marble tables matching with red chairs, beautiful ceiling in arch shape and wooden windows surrounding the room. The attractive cafe is located conveniently in the centre of Vienna in the Palais Ferstl with a history of more than 130 years. The room is pretty large, nevertheless, a short queue is expected during busy time. I had a chance to visit this cafe on my first day of the trip and again returned on the last day. Totally fall in love with this cafe.
The first dish I tried was Viennese Potato Soup with Cep Mushrooms and Bacon Pieces. The taste was delightful and lightly creamy but not so smooth (6/10).
Tomato Cream Soup with Star Anise was rather sour in flavour with hidden sweet scent. It was again slightly creamy (6/10).
Spinach Cream Soup with Smoked Trout Fritters was more enjoyable than the first two. It was more creamy with hint of white wine. Trout Fritter was also soft (7/10).
The only main course I tried was Halibut Fillet in Curry Vegetables Stock with Butter Quenelles. I was not so impress with this dish, too salty to me but soft (5/10).
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| Viennese Potato Soup with Cep Mushrooms and Bacon Pieces |
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| Tomato Cream Soup with Star Anise |
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| Spinach Cream Soup with Smoked Trout Fritters |
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| Halibut Fillet in Curry Vegetables Stock with Butter Quenelles |
Coming to dessert, the first to try was Strawberry Vanilla Butter Cream. A delicious piece of cake I must say. Tender texture combined with sweet scent of vanilla and large strawberry filling and light butter cream (8/10).
Next was Berry Strudel: great mixture of sweet taste and natural sour of berry (7/10).
Vanillecreme was also stunning in taste. Crisp layer of pastry with thick vanilla cream that was not so sweet. A hint of burnt sugar taste. Only let down with too thick pastry (7/10).
Chocolate Mousse Vanilla Creme Brulee was also good for those chocolate lover. Strong in chocolate taste. Chocolate sponge base with chocolate mousse and finished with ganache. Not so sweet but not bitter. Like it (7/10).
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| Strawberry Vanilla Butter Cream |
Berry Strudel
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| Vanillecreme |
Despite of being tourist attraction, it is still one of the best cafe in Vienna that you must visit. Friendly service with lovely dessert with historical ambient. Recommend for a visit.
Cafe Central @ Vienna, Austria
14 Herrengasse
1010 Vienna
Austria
Open Hours: Monday - Saturday 08:00am - 10:00pm
Tel: +43 (0) 1 533 37 63 ext 24
Sacher Eck @ Hotel Sacher, Vienna, Austria
Price: EUR4.70 per person (what I paid for)
Visited: 1 April 2011
Atmosphere: 4/10
Services: 4/10
Sacher Eck is one of the cafe in Hotel Sacher Wien which is famous for its "Original Sacher Torte". The cafe is decorated in modern architecture. It is always packed and crowded. The well-known Sacher Torte was not so delightful as I had expected. It was rather sweet with dry sponge (5/10). It may not be one of the best cafe in Vienna but should still give it a visit to try its "Original Sacher Torte".
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| Original Sacher Torte mit Schlag |
Sacher Eck @ Hotel Sacher, Vienna, Austria
4 Philharmonikerstraße
Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
A-1010 Vienna
Austria
Open Hours: 09:00am - 01:00am daily
Tel: +43 (0) 1 51 456 699
Cafe Landtmann @ Vienna, Austria
Price: EUR13.85 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 1 April 2011
Atmosphere: 6/10
Services: 5/10
Cafe Landtmann, an elegant restaurant with long history, is situated in the centre of Vienna serving Austrian delicacies. It is located right next to the famous Burgtheatre. It may look really busy all the time but there are large amount of seats for guests of the coffee shop. This is one of the top rank cafe in Vienna surely: food was nice and service was efficient.
Wild Garlic Cream Soup with Deep Fried Shrimps was dense in garlic flavour. An enjoyable traditional dish (7/10).
Goulash Soup here was rather thick and strong in taste. Not particularly different from other places (6/10).
Landtmann's Sausages (Frankfurters with Gherkin, Mustards, Horseradish & Goulash Gravy) was something that should not go wrong any in this country. Ok for me (6/10).
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| Basket of Breads |
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| Wild Garlic Cream Soup with Deep Fried Shrimps |
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| Goulash Soup |
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| Landtmann's Sausages |
Cafe Landtmann @ Vienna, Austria
4 Dr. Karl Lueger-Ring 4
A-1010 Vienna
Austria
Open Hours: 07:30am - 12:00pm daily
Tel: +43 (0) 1 24 100 100
Teufner @ Melk, Austria
Price: EUR3.75 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 2 April 2011
Atmosphere: 4/10
Services: 5/10
Teufner is a medium size cafe in the town of Melk. It is situated pretty close to the Melk Abbey on Wiener Strasse. This is a lovely and friendly cafe which serves reasonable price of food. It is also the holder of Guinness Record of the World Longest Apricot Strudel.
We had a chance to try just 4 things during our breakfast: Apple Strudel, Schaumrolle, Cappucio, and Hot Chocolate. All were delightful to me. Apple Strudel was soft with thin layers of dough and sweetness from apple and hint of somewhat like marmalade (7/10). Schaumrolle was just light and crisp, I love this one (7/10). Cappucino was nice with rather good espresso while Hot Chocolate was also good.
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| Apple Strudel |
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| Schaumrolle |
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| Cappucino |
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| Hot Chocolate |
Teufner @ Melk, Austria
36 Wiener Strasse
A-3390 Melk
Austria
Open Hours:
Tel: +43 (0) 2 752 52 442
Demel @ Vienna, Austria
Price: EUR3.95 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 12 April 2011
Atmosphere: 8/10
Services: 5/10
Demel is a pretty large cafe which has been in operation more than 150 years. To me, this is one of the most favourite cafe in Vienna. Impressive decoration of the shop with pretty delicious pastry, what more would you want. Upon walking through the front door, I was impressed by all sorts of pastry in the counter, drooling smell hit right on my nose. What really impress visitor here was the vitreous show bakery on the ground floor: wonderful process of how to make such lovely cake is shown all day long. The main cafe is decorated in Viennese old fashion which is prestigious and elegant in style.
I had a chance to try just two pieces of cake from this legendary "Demel". First was Mozartschnitte. A pretty piece of cake it was. Having tart base with chocolate sponge followed by vanilla sponge soaked in strawberry sauce and fresh strawberry, and finished with vanilla cream and meringue. On a little sweet just to accomplish the task. One of the best cake in all cafe in Vienna I had tried so far (8/10). The other was Annatorte. It was a chocolate base cake similar to the famous Sacher Torte. It had layers of chocolate sponge and chocolate butter cream. Strong chocolate taste of rather good quality and beautifully decorated. There was also a hint of hazel nut. This would be great with a cup of tea (8/10).
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| Mozartschnitte |
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| Annatorte |
Demel @ Vienna, Austria
14 Kohlmarkt
A-1010 Vienna
Austria
Open Hours: 09:00am - 07:00pm daily
Tel: +43 (0) 1 535 17 17
Web: http://www.demel.at/
Cafe Diglas @ Vienna, Austria
Price: EUR3.90 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 12 April 2011
Atmosphere: 6/10
Services: 3/10
Cafe Diglas is a typical Viennese cafe. I was not so impressed with the service here. I had a rather large room. Cake here was not bad. We again managed to try two types: Cheese Cake with Berry Compote and Coffee Cream with Meringue and Raspberry Jam. For the Cheese Cake, I felt it was smooth but perhaps too much gelatin. Berry compote was rather sour but good (6/10). Coffee Cream was light in both taste and texture with little jam in the middle layer (5/10).
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| Cheese Cake with Berry Compote |
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| Coffee Cream with Meringue and Raspberry Jam |
Cafe Diglas @ Vienna, Austria
10 Wollzeile
A-1010 Vienna
Austria
Open Hours: 07:00am - 12:00pm on Monday - Friday
Tel: +43 (0) 1 51 257 650
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