Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
A piece of boiled beef, typically from the rump cap, slowly poached with root vegetables and served in copper pans with a clear broth, apple horseradish, chive sauce, roesti and creamed spinach.
Tafelspitz was a court-cuisine dish under the Habsburgs and became a bourgeois Sunday lunch in 19th-century Vienna. Each cut of beef has its own name and use: Schulterscherzel for tenderness, Beinfleisch with the bone in, Kruspelspitz with cartilage. Plachutta opened his Wollzeile restaurant in 1986 specifically to cook the dish, with twelve cuts named on the menu. The dish remains the canonical Viennese boiled-beef tradition.
5 editor picks for Tafelspitz in Vienna, ranked by editorial score. All Vienna signature dishes · Tafelspitz across every city.
Also in: Zurich.
Gasthaus Ubl on Pressgasse in Vienna's Wieden has been a family-run Beisl for over fifty years, the green-tiled stove and wood-panelled rooms turning out.
OrderZwiebelrostbraten with crisp onions; the kitchen's most-ordered plate.
TipCash only; book by phone because the room is almost always full.
Plachutta on Wollzeile in Vienna is the canonical Tafelspitz address, the boiled-beef pot served in copper pans with rösti, apple horseradish.
OrderTafelspitz vom Schulterscherzel; the cut Franz Joseph is said to have favoured.
TipOpen daily 11:30-23:30; the kitchen runs lunch through dinner without a break.
Plachutta Hietzing serves the family's canonical Tafelspitz across town in 1130 Hietzing, an opera-quiet 13th-district room that draws Schoenbrunn locals.
OrderTafelspitz with the full set of sides; the cut of the day is the recommended order.
TipA quieter Tafelspitz alternative to Wollzeile, especially at lunch; the 1130 postcode makes parking easier too.
Zum Schwarzen Kameel on Bognergasse in Vienna has stood since 1618, the 1901 Jugendstil dining room and front-of-house Stehplatz for canapés a single.
OrderTwo or three of the open-faced canapés from the front-counter glass.
TipThe standing-bar at the front is the quick-lunch entry; the dining room behind takes serious bookings.
Restaurant Rote Bar inside Hotel Sacher on Philharmoniker Strasse in Vienna serves classic Viennese cuisine in a red-damask room across from the State Opera.
OrderSacher's Tafelspitz, followed by the Original Sachertorte for dessert.
TipThe winter garden seats face the Opera directly; ask for one when booking.
Tafelspitz makes more sense with someone from Vienna explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
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