Paper-thin strudel pastry stretched until you can read newsprint through it, wrapped around grated apples, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, and toasted breadcrumbs.
Where to eat it: 9 restaurants across 2 cities.
Strudel pastry travelled across the Habsburg empire from the Ottoman baklava tradition, taking hold in Vienna and Budapest in the 17th and 18th centuries. The paper-thin dough is the test of every Konditorei. Vollpension on Schleifmuehlgasse bakes by grandmothers from a recipe family tradition; Demel and Cafe Landtmann both serve the classical version on a silver tray.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Stretching the dough is the hardest step; a small tear is fine, just let the filling cover it. Do not skip the toasted breadcrumbs, they soak the apple juices and protect the base.
Café Frischhut off Munich's Viktualienmarkt has fried the Bavarian Schmalznudel doughnut since 1973; this is the morning sweet-counter for breakfast.
Order: Schmalznudel sugar-dusted Bavarian fried doughnut with filter coffee
Tip: Closed Sundays; queue is shortest at 09:00 weekday mornings; cash usually preferred.
Rischart has anchored Munich's Marienplatz with bakery and café since 1932; Prinzregententorte and Münchner Kindl are the house specials, with a long.
Worth the queue: Prinzregententorte
Spatenhaus an der Oper, opposite the Bavarian State Opera in Munich's Altstadt, pours Spaten beer and cooks classic Bavarian; the suckling pig.
Signature: Wiener Schnitzel, Suckling pig with red cabbage
Order: The Wiener Schnitzel with cucumber salad; the suckling pig with braised red cabbage if you want one big plate.
Tip: Book the upstairs room for opera pre-shows; the ground floor is the casual side.
Privat-Bäckerei Wimmer has been an original Munich family bakery since 1932 with 50+ city branches; the Schwabing Friedrichstrasse counter sells pretzels.
Worth the queue: Pretzel with butter (Brezn mit Butter)
Demel on Kohlmarkt has been a court confectioner since 1786, the Eduard-Sacher-Torte and Anna-Torte from the K. und K. Hofzuckerbaecker still served.
Signature drink: Hot chocolate
Tip: The first-floor dining room takes the queue; the ground-floor takeaway moves faster for a Sachertorte to-go.
Cafe Landtmann on Universitaetsring in Vienna has poured at the Burgtheater corner since 1873, Sigmund Freud's preferred coffeehouse with a long carte.
Signature drink: Grosser Brauner
Tip: Open daily 07:30 to midnight; the front-room bench seats face the Burgtheater across the Ring.
Vollpension on Schleifmuehlgasse in Vienna's Wieden hires Viennese grandmothers and grandfathers to bake the menu of Strudel, Torten and Mehlspeise.
Signature: Apfelstrudel, Topfengolatschen
Order: Apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce, made that morning by one of the resident grandmothers.
Tip: The dining room fills fast on weekends; the Naschmarkt branch at Stand 343 takes the spillover.
Cafe Sperl on Gumpendorfer Strasse in Vienna's Mariahilf has poured since 1880, the bentwood Thonet chairs, parquet. At Gumpendorfer Strasse 11.
Signature drink: Melange
Tip: The carambole tables at the back are still in play; ask the kitchen for a Sperl Torte with your Melange.
Cafe Korb on Brandstaette in Vienna's first district runs a weekend coffee-house brunch with the 1960s artist-cluttered room intact, the Strudel and Melange.
Order: The Apfelstrudel and a Melange, finished with a small Pfiff beer.
Tip: The basement bowling alley still runs on Saturday nights; reserve a lane two weeks ahead for the brunch-and-game combo.
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