It is one of Europe’s most elegant cities where an intermingling of art, architecture, music and food seduces all the senses. Arriving just in time for a New Year indulgence in the art of Pieter Breugel at Vienna's Kunsthistoriches Museum, the opera Andrea Chenier at the State Opera House, and a performance of Mozart’s Requiem at Karlskirche - we indulged in a week of Austrian cuisine.

There is wonderful food everywhere in Vienna. A city of extraordinary soups, we dined on Gasthaus favorites like Consummé with Liver Dumplings and Oxtail Soup with Frittaten (thin slivers of crepes). Even the food kiosks which dot the pristine city have a perfect ‘fast’ food. It is the Kasekrainer - a Viennese sausage studded with little chunks of Emmentaler cheese and served hot off the grill with German mustard. In Vienna’s Naschmarkt, truly a culinary wunderland, a labyrinth of food stalls display a stunning array of beautiful fruits and vegetables, cheeses, cured meats, exotic spices, prepared food and pastries. The elaborate Jugendstil façade of the Otto Wagner apartments, presides in view of the Naschmarkt’s many little cafés where we dined on Goulash Soup and Speck (cured ham) before returning to the art of Wilhelm Klimt and the music of the Vienna Boy’s Choir. 

The Viennese claimed Germany’s Beethoven as one of their own – as they did Italy’s Veal Milanese which became their famous Wiener Schnitzel. These crisp cutlets of tender veal are served with potatoes or a simple cucumber salad – and in the hands of the Viennese brought to perfection. Vienna is also a city of great chocolates and wonderful desserts – and it just happened that the balcony of our room not only overlooked the Vienna Opera house but also the famous Sacher Hotel. It is here, presented with schlagobers (whipped cream) that their famous chocolate torte and apple strudel is served in one of the city’s most stunning dining rooms. And to end each glorious day – we returned to the opulently appointed Bristol Hotel to find on each pillow, a small gold box with a luxurious bite of Austrian chocolate Imperial Torte.