Vienna: a visit to Demel’s

My favourite café in Vienna was most definitely Demel’s. It’s one of the oldest cafés in Vienna and it’s incredibly welcoming. The staff are utterly lovely, the cake is wonderful (and so is the coffee), and the prices are really, really reasonable - not far off what I pay in M&S in Norwich.

The café itself is upstairs.

To get there, you have to go through the shop and past the kitchen, where you can see the staff making the cakes. (Everyone stands on the stairs taking photographs. No flash allowed or you’ll distract the staff. But it’s fascinating. Here they’re clearly making Sachertorte.)



And of course they’d be the ones to make a posh Lippizzaner cake.


Anyway. You choose your cake from the counter downstairs; they give you a blue ticket to give to your waitress upstairs. How do you possibly choose from such a wonderful selection?

I opted for Esterhazytorte (layers of almond sponge and hazelnut cream).



And of course a Wiener Melange (a cross between a cappuccino and a latte, pronounced mel-annj). Coffee and hot chocolate always come with a glass of cold water in Vienna. And if you have an 'ordinary' coffee, it comes with its own pot of whipped cream. (Proper whipped cream, too, not that vile sugar-filled stuff squirted from a can.)


And then, you just sit back and enjoy it.


You don’t have to have cake. Demel’s are also famous for their ice cream. And it’s beautifully presented.



Suffice it to say, we really enjoyed that particular visit! And that really sets the tone of Vienna for me. Lovely people, lovely food, beautiful surroundings and an ability to just chill out and enjoy life. We loved Vienna and I'd recommend it to anyone.