Kaiserschmarrn

Lugeck Figlmueller ★ 4.4

Lugeck on Lugeck square in Vienna's first district is the Figlmueller family's wider-menu room: the original veal Schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Backhendl and steaks inside a 14th-century building rebuilt in 1897.

Signature: Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb, Tafelspitz

Order: Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb; the veal version is what the dish was originally meant to be.

Tip: Less of a crush than the two pork outlets around the corner; book the Schnitzel Academy upstairs to learn the technique.

Figlmueller Wollzeile ★ 4.5

Figlmueller has hammered Vienna's most famous Schnitzel on Wollzeile since 1905, a plate-overhanging pork cutlet fried in three fats and served with potato-cucumber salad in a 1010-postcode dining room.

Signature: Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein, Kaiserschmarrn

Order: The Original Figlmueller Schnitzel; one is plenty for two appetites.

Tip: Book ahead; the room runs at capacity from 11:00 every day, kitchen closes at 21:30.

Cafe Landtmann ★ 4.4

Cafe Landtmann on Universitaetsring in Vienna has poured at the Burgtheater corner since 1873, Sigmund Freud's preferred coffeehouse with a long carte of cakes and a serious lunchtime kitchen.

Signature drink: Grosser Brauner

Tip: Open daily 07:30 to midnight; the front-room bench seats face the Burgtheater across the Ring.

Plachutta Wollzeile ★ 4.6

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.