A beef gulasch slow-cooked with onions, sweet paprika and marjoram into a thick, dark sauce. Served with a Semmel (white roll) and a fried egg on top in the Beisl tradition, or with bread dumplings as the dinner plate.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
Gulasch travelled from the Hungarian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and became a defining Viennese Beisl dish by the late 19th century. The Vienna version (Saftgulasch) reduces the sauce thicker than the Hungarian original, and the Fiakergulasch adds a fried egg, frankfurter, and gherkin on top. Cafe Anzengruber's Croatian-Viennese kitchen has cooked one of the city's most-defended versions since 1949.
Common allergens: Gluten
Cafe Anzengruber on Schleifmuehlgasse in Vienna's Freihausviertel keeps the kitchen open until midnight Monday to Saturday, the Croatian-Viennese Goulash carte one of the city's latest serious meals.
Try: Goulash and Wiener Schnitzel
Tip: The Schanigarten on the corner opens from April; the room turns into a football crowd on big-match nights.
Gasthaus Poeschl on Weihburggasse in Vienna's first district is a Hermann Czech-renovated Beisl turning out the canonical Viennese carte, the quiet centre's most reliable mid-priced Wiener Schnitzel.
Signature: Wiener Schnitzel, Backhendlsalat
Order: Wiener Schnitzel; the Backhendlsalat is the lunch alternative.
Tip: Open Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00, kitchen to 22:00; book the back room for a quieter table.
Why locals love it: Tucked on a Wieden side street with no signage from the main artery, locals book and tourists rarely find this serious-offal Beisl in 1040.
Tip: Dinner only, Monday to Friday from 18:00; the Beuschel and offal carte is the regulars' default order.
Plachutta on Wollzeile in Vienna is the canonical Tafelspitz address, the boiled-beef pot served in copper pans with rösti, apple horseradish, and chive sauce in a 1010-postcode dining room.
Signature: Tafelspitz, Beuschel
Order: Tafelspitz vom Schulterscherzel; the cut Franz Joseph is said to have favoured.
Tip: Open daily 11:30 to 23:30; the kitchen runs lunch through dinner without a break.
Glacis Beisl inside the MuseumsQuartier on Breite Gasse in Vienna runs a strong weekend brunch carte in the walnut-shaded back garden, the 7th-district room's seasonal-only outdoor seating.
Order: Wiener Schnitzel from the lunch carte, with a Pfiff of Gemischter Satz.
Tip: The walled garden under the old walnut trees is the room's best seat; book ahead for warm-weather weekends.
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