Austria Going Out

Food and Drink

Viennese cuisine is strongly influenced by southeast European cuisine, notably that of Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Dalmatia. Austrian desserts and cake are particularly renowned.

Things to know:
The main meal of the day is lunch. All restaurants have waiter service, as do most bars and coffee houses. Bills are settled with the arrival of drinks.

National specialities:

Wiener Schnitzel is a traditional dish of breadcrumbed and fried veal escalope.
Tafelspitz is regarded as Austria's national dish and consists simply of boiled beef.
Palatschinken (Austrian pancakes). 
Apfelstrudel is the classic pudding.
Mehlspeisen is the national term for cakes and puddings. There are around 60 varieties of Torte, which is often consumed with coffee.

National drinks:

• Local wines (often served in open carafes) are excellent and cheap: most of the wines are white and Riesling and Veltliner are particularly well-regarded.
Obstler is made by distilling various fruits. It is usually very strong, well-flavoured and cheap.

Legal drinking age:
16 (for beer and wine); 18 (for spirits).

Tipping: On restaurant bills, a service charge of 10 to 15% is included, but it is usual to leave a further 5%. Attendants at theatres, cloakrooms or petrol pumps, expect to be tipped €0.15-0.25. Railway and airports have fixed charges for portering. Taxi drivers expect €0.25-0.50 for a short trip and 10% for a longer one. 

Nightlife

Viennese nightlife offers something for every taste: opera, theatre and cabaret as well as numerous bars and nightclubs. There are cinemas of all types, some of them of architectural interest, showing films in different languages. A good way to spend a summer evening is in one of the beer gardens found all over Austria. The wine-growing area around Vienna features wine gardens (Heurigen) where visitors can sample local wines in an open-air setting.

Shopping

High-quality goods such as handbags, glassware, chinaware and winter sports equipment represent the cream of specialist items found in Austria.

Shopping hours: Shops and stores are generally open from Mon-Fri 0800-1800 (with a one- or two-hour lunch break in smaller towns) and Sat 1200-1700. Big stores and shops in tourist resorts now open Mon-Fri 0800-2100 and Sat/Sun 0800-1800.
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