Vienna Travel Forum

Hey. Me and my boyfriend are going to Vienna on weekend-break in June and I wea are both into eating a homemade deliscious schnitzel.
Anyone who knows a good place for schnitzel?
Thanx
Emma

Hi,

nice to welcoming you in Vienna next June !
You can get an original "Wiener Schnitzel" in most Viennese restaurants. The very best and world-renowned you may find in "FIGLMUELLER"-Restaurants, at a fair price. (For dinner a reservation would be recommendable, just to be on the safe side ! )
Figlmueller's is either in Wollzeile-street #5, first district or Baeckerstrasse #6
also 1st district. Have a look at the website and map and find telephone numbers at
http://www.figlmueller.at/

Excuse my curiosity but just what is your definition of "homemade"? Since it appears you are looking for a restaurant...

In the city centre most look too much touristy to me so I can warmly recommend the Salm Brau Restaurant and Brewery, they serve excellent traditional Wiener Schnitzel made of beef. (and not pork) Add to this, they have own traditional monastery brewery and excellent beer. 10 minutes from the city centre. www.salmbraeu.com

Hi,

Figlmüller isn't more touristy than Salmbräu (indeed a very good restaurant !)
BUT: "Wiener Schnitzel" ist definitely NEVER made of beef !!
Greetings from Vienna !

LOL

If the calf survived the state of being chopped into Wiener Schnitzel it could, being killed later, well become beef :-) So this comment was not totally wrong - but not correct either LOL

Wiener Schnitzel is made of veal. Where I live - in New Zealand - they offer Wiener Schnitzel made of beef, you cannot imagine the shoe soles you are chewing on! There is no veal available in the supermarkets, so the only solution - if you want to keep your teeth - is to use pork.

But if the Schnitzel is made of pork it is still delicious but definitely not a real Wiener Schnitzel.

I agree with the Figlmuller recommendation. I have a pic on my Vienna page before we started to eat and you can see the fillet is hanging over the side of the plate. And the salad with sweet/sour bacon dressing is scrumptious! I'm getting hungry just writing about it!

There is a well known place called Schnitzelwirt Schmidt at Neubaugasse 52. Schnitzels pretty close to the size of a placemat(sort of). And plastic bags and wrapping paper freely available because you wont be able to finish the meal. And they taste awesome. Its even earned a placemark on Google Earth. Search for 'Schnitzelwirt Schmidt'. Enjoy

Well, maybe I should have written young cow? I didn't remember it was actually veal, my point is that it was not the traditional pork. You need to know how to handle veal or beef properly to make it tasty and smooth as it should be for humans to eat.
In my case the schnitzel was just excellent and I went there also the next day.
In Germany I often eat schnitzel, they are very good even if made from pork, my German pages full of Schnitzel's ;-) Goten apetite.

Hi Gil,

you seem really to be a Schnitzel-expert!
The only most important thing is, that you liked it and the Viennese fair was
according to your taste.
Even Figlmüller (the restaurant I usually favor for eating Schnitzels) is very flexible with regard to the meat, he uses. Just the "original" Wiener Schnitzel is usually made of veal, but see, what Figlmüller writes:
"

The Viennese Schnitzel comes in many shapes and sizes and even it’s colour may vary. It can be made with lamb, pork or chicken and can be served with potatoes or chips and savoured with ketchup and so on.

Every tavern has it’s own advantages and the Schnitzel is definately Figlmüllers. Only the best personaly chosen farmers deliver the meat, the breadcrumbs are made from Kaiser rolls in a special bakery and if anyone thinks our Schnitzel is fried in a friteuse he‘s mistaken.

Thinly sliced filets of meat are fried for no longer than thirty seconds in a moderately tempered frying pan in pure vegetable oil which is naturaly disposed of after two or three courses.

That is, therefore, the secret of Figlmüller’s Schnitzel. The neccesary preparation is so important otherwise the meat would be too thick and would have to be fried longer in order to be cooked thoroughly.

It is obvious that Figlmüller‘s Schnitzel’s good reputation has come not only because of many famous personalitys praise but that it is indeed this refined culinary method of preparation which has given Figlmüller‘s Schnitzel it’s good name."

Have fun and many good trips to Vienna !
Willy aka WStat

Ha ha, ok, thanks for the details, I should remember to try that place as well the next time when in town.
But now as we talking, I actually remember that usually while in Germany I'm ordering a zigeuner schnitzel which is a little bit spicier to my taste.
Anyhow, now its time for cooking, kids are asking for some food, on the menu today, some Thai chicken ;-)

Now I give you the last detail about Schnitzel and especially Wiener Schnitzel ;-)

Although one of the experts would call a Schnitzel made of pork or chicken or whatever still Wiener Schnitzel this is not correct. Well, he could probably get away with it in Austria (I do not know the rules there). However, in Germany the law says that you can only call a Schnitzel "Wiener Schnitzel" on a menu if it is made of veal (young cow LOL). If they are made of other meat they have to be labelled "Schnitzel Wiener Art" (Schnitzel Vienna style). Calling a pork Schnitzel "Wiener Schnitzel" would be misleading, as the veal Schnitzels are a lot more expensive than pork Schnitzels. Of course, also all other kinds of Schnitzels are delicious - just not the ones made of beef (old cow LOL). This is a very bureaucratic approach - but I think justified because often restaurants have tried to sell you cheap pork at the price of expensive veal Schnitzels.

I will cook "Schnitzel Wiener Art" tonight, mmmmmmmmmh!

With Zigeunerschnitzel and Jägerschnitzel you just describe the sauce the Schnitzel comes with, Zigeuner (gypsy) with paprika and peppers, Jäger (hunter) with creamy mushrooms... Neither the gypsies nor hunters go into the pan... ;-)

Hi Sissi,
I never surmised to find such a competent "Schnitzel-Expert" in beautiful New Zealand! Your statement is totally correct and leaves nothing to be added; (have you probably been a civil-servant at the EU-offices in Brussels??)
However, I wish you guten Appettit und (wie in Wien üblich") "Mahlzeit" für das
heutige Abendessen!

Grüße aus Wien! Willy

Figlmüller in 1st district is the obvious choice,
Schnitzelwirt in Neubaugasse (7th district) is recommended by lots of locals,
for a "younger" atmosphere, check out one of the many Millimeter restaurants (for example in Spittelberg 7th district, behind Museumsquartier).

My best tip is for the "homemade" feeling and ambiente is
Restaurant Hummer, corner Florianigasse/Lange Gasse in 8th district.

Hi Willy,

I was never a civil servant, the opposite is the case (criticise them as a journalist LOL).

I am only a passionate Schnitzel eater and orginally from Germany, so have a long-time eating experience - but you will not believe that I only cook Wiener Schnitzel myself since I have been living in NZ because mine are just better than the ones you get in the restaurants here. My Kiwi husband's favourite meal is Wiener Schnitzel (Schnitzel Wiener Art) mit Bratkartoffeln. Gestern war er sehr zufrieden, es hat wieder mal super geschmeckt.

Viele Grüße vom anderen Ende der Welt,

Sissi

I can't want to visit NZL one day and check the local lamb dishes, I surely do not going to try any schnitzel there ;-)

Hi Gili,

oh yes, the lamb in NZ is delicious. However - you will not believe it - I am on a lamb dishes boycott because I enjoy those cute lambs jumping around and playing on the paddocks so much that I cannot bear the thought of them being slaughtered and ending up on my plate ;-) So I have pork schnitzels instead LOL

Sissi

I had a look at the menu of Figlmüller and there I did not find any explanaition what kind of meat is used for that Schnitzel.
In Austria a restaurant is not allowed to write "Wiener Schnitzel" when it is not made of veal, and for some reason Fiegelmüller does not call it Wiener Schnitzel on their menu, BUT "Figlmüller Schnitzel" , that is quite strange and I will go there and ask, it is just a few hundred meters from my work.
The price of 12,6o just for the meat + 3,50 for a salad + Rice or potatoes for 2,80 extra, so that is quite expensive.
One of the "secrets" of a good Wiener Schnitzel is the steel-hammer that has lots of small, sharp steel-pyramides on the hammer and that is the way that you get even a small portion of meat into quite a large Schnitzel and the meat gets very soft that way.

there is something else about Figlmüller that you should take a look at, when you go there:
at certain times the restaurant is full and you see people walking around,searching for empty spaces and seats that might be empty soon...
not really the way that I would like to enjoy my meal with someone standing behind my chair, waiting for me to get out...