A veal cutlet hammered paper-thin, dredged in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, then fried in clarified butter until the breading lifts off the meat in a golden hood.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
The Wiener Schnitzel is documented in Viennese cookbooks from the late 19th century but is older as a court-cuisine technique; the breaded cutlet may have travelled from northern Italy in the cotoletta alla milanese tradition. The veal version is the Austrian protected name; the pork version (Schnitzel Wiener Art) is the cheaper everyday plate. Figlmueller on Wollzeile has hammered the dish since 1905, Lugeck and Meissl & Schadn cook the veal version, Plachutta the canonical veal at Wollzeile.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg
Tip from the editors. Hot fat and gentle swirling lifts the breading off the meat into the signature hood; cool fat soaks instead and the dish is ruined.
Figlmueller has hammered Vienna's most famous Schnitzel on Wollzeile since 1905, a plate-overhanging pork cutlet fried in three fats and served.
OrderThe Original Figlmueller Schnitzel; one is plenty for two appetites.
TipBook ahead; the room runs at capacity from 11:00 every day, kitchen closes at 21:30.
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.
OrderWiener Schnitzel vom Kalb; the veal version is what the dish was originally meant.
TipLess of a crush than the two pork outlets around the corner; book the Schnitzel Academy upstairs to learn the technique.
Meissl & Schadn on Schubertring in Vienna revived a pre-war Ringstrasse name in 2017, the Schnitzel pounded behind an open glass kitchen and served.
OrderWiener Schnitzel vom Kalb in butterschmalz, the kitchen's signature.
TipOpen daily 12:00-23:30, warm kitchen to 22:00; book a ringside table to watch the schnitzel pounder.
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.
Skopik & Lohn on Leopoldsgasse in Vienna's Leopoldstadt runs the dining room and bar until 01:00 Monday to Saturday, the late-night Schnitzel a 2nd-district.
TryWiener Schnitzel
TipThe bar at the front runs later than the kitchen behind; the cocktail carte continues to the door.
More cities are in research. Want wiener schnitzel covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.
