HOME / VIENNA

VIENNA…full of inspirations!

Vienna - as romantic as Rome, as friendly as Kraków and as trendy as Milano. For those who visit Vienna mainly seeking relaxation, the city offers hundreds of cafes and restaurants serving excellent coffee and mouth watering sweets. Numerous tourist routes among one of the most beautiful monuments of Europe, as well as over 100 museums housing the most renowned masterpieces await those who come here mainly for sightseeing. Vienna is a city of inspirations for the contemporary visitors who may simply reach for the works of the greatest artists, including Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert or Chopin, or visit - when in Vienna - the National Opera. A feast for the senses guaranteed - and we are still at the starter!

Austrian cuisine is homogenous all over the country. Despite its eight neighbors, there are no obvious foreign culinary influences from the neighbors. Wiener Schnitzel (veal meat, breaded and fried) certainly should be mentioned as the most popular dish. Desserts are Austrians' unquestionable specialty. Austrian confectioneries are world renown for their delicious pastries, cookies and various chocolate creations. Strudel, Austria's most popular pastry, is usually filled with fruits. Equally famous are Viennese cheesecake and Sachertorte, with the obligatory cup of strong, aromatic coffee.

Wiener Schnitzel

Ingredients (Serves 4 people):

  • 600 g lean veal
  • 1 large or 2 small eggs
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 60 g flour
  • 100 g breadcrumbs
  • lard or olive oil for frying
  • 1 teaspoon butter

Preparation:

Pound the meat evenly (1 cm thick). Prepare three bowls: 1 for flour, 1 for the whisked egg, salt and a teaspoon of olive oil, 1 for breadcrumbs. Dip the escallops in flour first, then in eggs and in breadcrumbs. Remove slightly extra breadcrumbs and don't press the breadcrumbs into the meat. Place the escallops in a hot frying pan. Make sure you don't fry too many escallops at the same time - they should have enough space to float in fat. Fry until golden brown, swirl so that fat floats on top of the meat and turn (fry for about 2 minutes on each side). Remove from the pan, allow the oil to drain off in a paper towel and serve immediately.

Sachertorte

Ingredients:

  • 150 g bitter chocolate
  • 150 g soft butter
  • 100 g powdered sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 50 g sugar
  • 150 g flour
  • pinch of salt
  • high quality apricot jam

Topping:

  • 200 g bitter chocolate
  • 200 g sugar
  • 100 ml water

Preparation:

Melt the chocolate over a hot-water bath and beat with butter in a light mixture. Add powdered sugar and the egg yolks one at a time. Beat the egg whites with 50g of sugar until they form soft peaks. Add flour, pinch of salt and mix with the chocolate mixture. Butter a baking pan (24 cm in diameter), dust with flour and pour in the batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes in preheated oven to 180C degrees. Let it cool completely and remove from the pan. Heat the apricot jam and glaze the cake. Let the cake cool for a few hours.

Topping: Melt the remaining chocolate over a hot-water bath and mix it with sugar. Add water and boil on low heat for about 5 minutes, continuously stirring until the mixture thickens. Quickly smooth the topping all over the cake.