Viennese cuisine is strongly influenced by southeast European cuisine, notably that of Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Dalmatia. Austrian desserts and cake are particularly renowned.
Things to know: The main meal of the day is lunch. All restaurants have waiter service. Generally the strict registration laws mean that the quality of the wine will be fully reflected in its price. Most bars or coffee houses have waiter service and bills are settled with the arrival of drinks.
National specialities:
• Wiener Schnitzel is a traditional dish of breadcrumbed and fried veal escalope.
• Tafelspitz is the most famous food, regarded as Austria’s ‘national dish’ and consists simply of boiled beef.
• Calf’s liver with herbs in butter (Geröstete Leber).
• Goulash, which is made of beef, pepper, paprika and onion.
• Kaiserschmarrn (dessert of shredded pancake and stewed fruit).
• Palatschinken (Austrian pancakes).
• Powidl is a plum stew.
• Apfelstrudel. the classic pudding.
• Cheese Danish, which is sweet and stuffed with raisins.
• Various types of smoked and cured pork.
• Dumplings (Knödel) with sauce.
• Mehlspeisen is the national term for cakes and puddings. There are around 60 varieties of Torte, which is often consumed with coffee.
National drinks:
• Local wines (often served in open carafes) are excellent and cheap: most of the wines are white and Riesling and Veltliner are particularly well-regarded.
• Obstler is a drink found in most German-speaking countries, and is made by distilling various fruits. It is usually very strong, and widely drunk as it is cheap and well flavoured.
Legal drinking age: 16 (for beer and wine); 18 (for spirits). There are no national licensing laws in Austria, but each region has local police closing hours.
Tipping: Widespread, but large amounts are not expected. On restaurant bills, a service charge of 10 to 15 per cent is included, but it is usual to leave a further 5 per cent. Attendants at theatres, cloakrooms or petrol pumps, expect to be tipped €0.15-0.25. Railway and airports have fixed charges for portering. Taxi drivers expect €0.25-0.50 for a short trip and 10 per cent for a longer one.

Viennese nightlife offers something for every taste: opera, theatre and cabaret as well as numerous discos, bars and nightclubs. There are cinemas of all types, some of them of architectural interest, showing films in different languages. A good way to spend a summer evening is in one of the beer gardens found all over Austria. The wine-growing area around Vienna features wine gardens (Heurigen) where visitors can sample local wines in an open-air setting.

High-quality goods such as handbags, glassware, chinaware and winter sports equipment represent the cream of specialist items found in Austria. A 20 to 32 per cent value-added-tax (called MwSt) is included in the list price of items sold. Shopping hours: Shops and stores are generally open from Mon-Fri 0800-1800 (with a one- or two-hour lunch break in the smaller towns) and Sat 1200-1700. In tourist resorts, shops are usually open Mon-Fri until 2100 and Sat/Sun until 1800.