Holiday Foodsteps: Aida Cafe, Vienna

Think about Vienna and images of classical music, history and beautiful architecture get conjured up. It really is all that they say it is and if you love music from days gone by or if one of your favourite composers is Mozart or Schubert (like me), it's an absolute haven. My favourite spot in the city, though, isn't Stephansplatz or The Schonbrunn Palace, it's a huge pink cafe right by Stephansplatz. 

I remember walking past the cafe on our way to lunch and being immediately attracted - I put it down to the girlish pink that called out to me. We fueled up at Wienerwald and asked the waitress for a recommendation on where to go for dessert. 

"Aida! Many, many, many types of cakes!"

I was sold.  

 

Aida Cafe

Singerstr. 1
1010 Wien
Neighborhood: Innere Stadt

If you've never sat at a counter at a bakery or patisserie with too many cakes to choose from right in front of you, I highly recommend that you try it sometime - trust me, it's fun. We sampled a variety of cakes and pastries and these are some of my favourites:



Mozart Cake. Created in memory of the musical genius on the 250th anniversary of his birthday, this is a simple chocolate cake made intruiging by the layer of pistachio marzipan in the middle. I noticed that all confectionery with Mozart's name on it had this common pistachio-marzipan theme running through, even the little chocolate balls in the supermarket. As much as it is a novelty, you probably can't go to Aida without ordering a slice of this. 

 
Apple strudel. I'm always a bit apprehensive when it comes to apple strudel - there has been far too many a time when the strudel pastry has been rubbery and rather unpleasant. This one had nice layers and could easily be cut with a fork, always a good sign!

 

I'm a nutty nut-lover so when mum picked out a walnut-topped hazelnut slice on one of our visits to the cafe, I was thrilled. I had high hopes for this one, and I wasn't disappointed. Light, fluffy, and yes, nutty - it was the perfect foil to all the choclate that we'd been having.

 

This is why Vienna will always have a special little place in my heart - iced coffee. Say "iced coffee" anywhere else in the world and you get well, coffee and ice but in this city, you get 2 shots of espresso and a generous amount of creamy vanilla ice cream. I daresay that out of all the iced coffees that we had while we were there, my favourite one was Aida's. You'll probably recognise it as affogato and really, that's the only form of iced coffee that the Vienna knows. My dad attempted to order a glass of black coffee with ice and our poor waiter was rather confused at the concept. I'm all for iced coffee being just the way it is in Vienna. In fact, I think they should make a little amendment in the dictionaries: iced coffee = affogato!

The cafe also serves some light savoury snacks but you'll know at once that the cakes and pastries are the real stars. Oh, and the coffee, of course.