Punschkrapfen
Vienna is known for pastries, all of which are delicious. But perhaps my favorite is the bite sized (ok, a few bites) Punschkrapfen. So it was with great excitement that I received an email from a local Viennese pointing me to a place I can order Punschkrapfen for family and friends outside of Vienna. The site is WienerPunschkrapfen.com. I think I’m going to have to run down the street and grab one!
Kurkonditorei Oberlaa
If you want the best coffee and cake in Vienna and perhaps anywhere in the world, skip the more well known Demel (too much sugar) and Cafe Sacher (cakes are too dry), and make your way into Kurkonditorei Oberlaa (perfectly delicious!). You can find their various locations throughout the city here. If you love chocolate, you need to try their incredible Schoko-Mousse Torte:
Schoko Mousse Torte
If you don’t like chocolate (how could anyone not!), they’ve got plenty of alternatives:
Oberlaa Cakes
Their windows are always beautifully decorated with seasonal specialties…and if you happen to be in Vienna around Christmas, their Christmas truffles are nothing short of heaven in a little round ball:
Christmas Truffles
You can find a review of Oberlaa’s pumpkin soup here, and more comparisons of Oberlaa to Demel and other cafes here. Enjoy!
Wiener Schokoladekönig
If you like chocolate and fancy old shops, you definitely need to visit the Wiener Schokoladekönig! It’s a new business in a famous old location that used to specialize in buttons for clothing. They still have a collection of old buttons lining the top of the shop, along with a selection of delicious chocolate buttons.
Chocolate Fondue
You can make your own chocolate fondue, or choose from a huge variety of incredible chocolates, most of which come in fun boxes and wrapping and make great gifts.
Box of Chocolates
Inner Wrapping
Even if you don’t like chocolate, the store is worth checking out just for the great atmosphere.
Wiener Schokoladekönig
It’s easy to miss if you don’t know where to look… When walking down the Graben, turn and walk to the Peterskirche. Walk around the right side of the Peterskiche to where you dead end on the back street, and take a right. Wiener Schokoladekönig will be at the next corner on your right. Here’s a map:
Tichy
Every stay in Vienna must include visits to numerous cafes and Konditorei. Vienna is the capital of coffee and pastry, and rightly so. But if you visit in summer it would be a travesty to miss out on what just might be the best ice cream in the world…of course I’m talking about Tichy, a real Viennese institution.
Tichy
Tourists are likely to see advertisements for Tichy on streets and in subway stations, but since it’s not located in the city center very few tourists make it to this incredible ice cream salon. Unlike most ice cream shops and stands, Tichy ice cream is made from real ingredients. The fruit flavors are made from real fruit, hazelnut ice cream (possibly the best in the Universe) is made with real hazelnuts, etc.
Schneeball
In addition to the delicious, pure ice cream, Tichy also has a number of fantastic concoctions. The Schneeball (snowball) for instance is a ball of ice cream with passion fruit in the middle, covered with meringue and sitting in a warm chocolate sauce. And of course everything they serve in the salon arrives in classic Viennese style…on a silver platter!
So how do you get there? It’s very easy. From Stephansplatz, jump on the U1 line to Reumannplatz, get off at Reumannplatz, and walk across the street to Tichy.
You can then enjoy the best ice cream in the world sitting inside the salon, or exploring the interesting surroundings where mostly Turkish and eastern European immigrants walk down the pedestrian only shopping street, Favoritenstrasse. Enjoy!
