AUSTRIA - Best of Europe 2014 - page 84

Experiences in Vienna
Vienna's Café Culture
InVienna,thelivingroomisdownthestreetattheneighborhoodcoffeehouse.Thistradition
is just another example of Viennese expertise in good living. Each of Vienna's many long-
established (and sometimes even legendary) coffeehouses has its individual character (and
characters).Theseclassiccaféscanbeabittired,withashabbypatinaandfamouslygrumpy
waiters who treat you like an uninvited guest invading their living room. Yet these spaces
somehowalsofeelwelcoming,offeringnewspapers,pastries,sofas,quickandlightworkers'
lunches, elegant ambience, and “take all the time you want” charm for the price of a cup of
coffee.Ratherthanbuythe InternationalHeraldTribune aheadoftime,spendthemoneyon
a cup of coffee and read the paper for free, Vienna-style, in a café.
As in Italy and France, Viennese coffee drinks are espresso-based. Obviously, Kaffee
means coffee and Milch is milk; Obers is cream, while Schlagobers is whipped cream.
Americans who ask for a “latte” are mistaken for Italians and given a cup of hot milk.
Cafés
ThesearesomeofmyfavoriteViennesecafés.Allofthem,exceptforCaféSperl,arelocated
inside the Ring (see map on here ) .
Café Hawelka has a dark, “brooding Trotsky” atmosphere, paintings by struggling
artists who couldn't pay for coffee, a saloon-wood flavor, chalkboard menu, smoked velvet
couches, an international selection of newspapers, and a phone that rings for regulars. Frau
Hawelka died just a couple weeks after Pope John Paul II. Locals suspect the pontiff wanted
hermuch-loved Buchteln (marmalade-filled doughnuts)inheaven.Thecaféremainsfamily-
run (Wed-Mon 8:00-21:00, closed Tue, just off the Graben, Dorotheergasse 6, U-1 or U-3:
Stephansplatz, tel. [phone]).
Café Central, while a bit touristy, remains a classic place, lavish under Neo-Gothic
columns. They serve fancy coffees (€4-6) and two-course daily specials (€10), and entertain
guests with live piano—schmaltzy tunes on a fine, Vienna-made Bösendorfer each evening
from 17:00-22:00 (daily 7:30-22:00, corner of Herrengasse and Strauchgasse, U-3: Herren-
gasse, tel. [phone]).
Café Sperl dates from 1880 and is still furnished identically to the day it opened—from
the coat tree to the chairs (Mon-Sat 7:00-23:00, Sun 11:00-20:00 except closed Sun July-
Aug, just off Naschmarkt near Mariahilfer Strasse, Gumpendorfer 11, U-2: MuseumsQuart-
ier, tel. [phone]; see map on here ) .