Vienna Off the Beaten Path

Café Sinfonia
Schubertring 4
A laid-back Viennese café,
between Schwarzenbergplatz and Stadtpark,
with a lovely upstairs dedicated to non-smokers.
Serves what may well be Vienna's largest Melange,
that perfect Viennese Java marriage
between Italian cappuccino and French café au lait.

Café Teitelbaum
Dorotheergasse
This fine small place, tucked away in Vienna's Jewish Museum,
serves excellent poppy seed strudel
(can I be sued if I say it's probably Vienna's best?).
The ambrosial poppy seed filling
sashays onto your dessert plate almost in the nude,
covered only by a few caramelized layers
of see-through, paper-thin fig strudel dough leaves.
Oh, what a luscious way to sin!

Wiener Werkstätte Textilmuseum
Schwarzenbergstrasse 10
The Textile Museum in the downstairs rooms of
the Backhausen Interior Design shop showcases works by
Josef Hoffmann, Kolomon Moser, Otto Prutscher,
and other artists of the Viennese Arts and Crafts period.
Backhausen, an Austrian textile manufacturer
with more than 150 years of tradition,
was a supplier to the Wiener Werkstätte cooperative,
and produces their original designs to this day.

On the Left Bank
Of the Vienna River
A great way to walk off some of the calories
one cannot avoid when living the
Kaffeehaus life.

The easiest access to the Left Bank Promenade
leads through the beautiful Art Nouveau River Gate,
at the southernmost edge of the Stadtpark.

Pavillino
Lounge & Bar in the Stadtpark
Johannesgasse 33
Easy transition from Coffee Hour
to Happy Hour and beyond!
Tree-shaded gardens on balmy evenings,
or from the inside looking out through glass walls,
whatever the season,
here's an easy place to forget the bustle of the city.

Footbridge over the Wien River
Stadtpark
City Park

For more secret city tips
from around the world,
follow this link to
The Guardian's travel blog,
by columnist Benji Lanyardo.

Thank you
to Elizabeth of "About New York",
who asked me to take part in this quest.
Click on the Johann Strauss image above,
to find out about her Manhattan secrets!

*

Photographed yesterday,
on a rainy Saturday morning
in November.