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The sausage stand and the coffee house are two Viennese institutions
and you will probably spend much of your time in Vienna at
both.
The Sausage Stand
Pizza vendors and burger stalls are almost non-existent in
Vienna. The truly traditional Viennese snack is the sausage.
The sausage stands or Wurselstands are to be found
literally on every street corner of the city. The Wurstelstand
has a mind-boggling array of sausages, some of the most popular
of which are:
Wurstel mit senf - Classic Frankfurter sausage served
with a dollop of sweet (suss) or hot (scharf) mustard (senf)
and a semmel, a white bread roll.
Debreziner - a thin, spicy, peppery sausage
Bratwurst - fatter version of the Frankfurter
Weisswurst - meaning 'white sausage', this is even
fatter than the Bratwurst.
Kasekrainer - a.k.a. the 'pus-filled' sausage this
is similar to a bratwurst but injected with cheese. Careful
when eating as the cheese invariably spurts out everywhere
- definitely a favourite.
Leberkase - although not really a sausage, it's worth
a mention. Most sausage stands sell 'liver cheese' - its like
a loaf of baked sausage meat and cheese.
A recommended stall to be initiated into the Viennese school
of sausage is Wurstelstand Leo which is situated outside
the Blau Stern café, at Doblinger Gurtel 2,
9th District. The lovely Leo will even juggle with his sausage
equipment while-u-wait!
Coffeehouses
This is where the Viennese famously come to be alone, in company.
Trying to get 'coffee to go' in Vienna can prove to be something
of an impossibility - they just don't do it, so when in Rome,
be prepared to wait. Coffee is to be savoured and enjoyed
in a relaxed atmosphere and the coffee house is where to do
it. There are a staggering 1,717 of them in the small city
of Vienna and each has its own style and atmosphere. However
they do usually have one thing in common - snooty, grumpy
waiters in tuxedos who serve you very much in their own time.
Pilot recommends:
Café Hawelka (Dorotheergasse 6) - an institution
in itself, the Hawelka has been run by Mr. & Mrs. since
the end of the 2nd World War. Very dark and smoky, you get
a feeling of turn-of-the-century intellectual Vienna.
Kleines Café (Franziskanerplatz 3) - a lovely
place to come in summer, as the seating outside is in the
pretty Franziskanerplatz. The service is friendlier than many
other places and you can get good food here too. The atmosphere
is bohemian.
Café Alt Wien (Backerstrasse 9) - Covered in posters
advertising everything from concerts to demonstrations, the
Café Alt Wien feels like a good place to come if you're
plotting a revolution. It dispenses with the tuxedoed-waiter
idea too.
Other Places to Eat in Austria:
Salzburg
K + K StiegelBrau Restaurant
Rainerstrasse 14
Cheap weekday lunches, moderate prices (15 Euro head), three
choices of beer, a salad bar, good Austrian food and a garden.
What more could you want?
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