The original Wiener Schnitzel. Vienna. Austria.

The Wiener Schnitzel is world famous. It was invented in my home town about one and a half centuries ago. The original version is veal escalope pan fried in an egg / breadcrumb crust. If not veal, but pork or chicken, it must not be called “Wiener Schnitzel”.

There are hundreds of places in Vienna alone where you can get (Wiener) Schnitzel. However, there is one restaurant, that is special. It’s name is Meissl & Schadn. It was the place to eat out and be seen during the heydays of the Austro Hungarian Empire (until 1918), and epitomised the classic Viennese cuisine.

Meissl und Schadn has just been re-opened a couple of years ago and brings the old traditions of the Viennese cuisine back to life.

The interior is classic and gives a bit of a feel of past times.

Recipe for Wiener Schnitzel: Thin veal escalope. put in flour, then through whisked eggs, and covered with white bread crumbs, before it goes into the pan in boiling lard.

That’s exactly how the perfect, original Wiener Schnitzel should look like: quite large, but thin, with a golden brown pan fried crust. The Viennese way of “tempura” so to say.

The classic side dish to a Wiener Schnitzel is a potato salad: cooked potatoes with red onions in a vegetable broth / vinegar / oil / sugar dressing. Topped with parsley. On top of the Schnitzel one slice of lemon with one anchovie. yummie.

I am a happy boy. Lucky as I am to call this city my home base, I will remain a regular at this great and authentic place.