Vienna Café

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2009 – in the shops now or buy online.

On a corner site with large windows, offering good views of the local buzz in Hyndland Street with its trendy shops and bars. Vienna Café’s sister business is the neighbouring Polish Taste deli, so it should possibly be called Café Krakow. But instead the Polish owners have opted to try and capture the atmosphere of a Viennese coffee house. Vienna is also a crossroads for cultures, thus allowing them to cook food from a number of East European cuisines. A solo violin hung on the wall is another nod to musical alt Wien, café-style wooden tables, chairs and newspapers in holders lend a continental feel. The welcome is friendly and food is sehr gut. There is a selection of different international city breakfasts, offering a flavour of their respective cities: Parisian, Frankfurter, Viennese and a vegetarian option. There is a inviting choice of warming soups, sandwiches, terrific coffee, authentic home-made pastries and cakes, which includes a fruity, moist, dense Polish baked cheesecake. A selection of main courses include Polish gnocchi, a herring platter and Wiener schnitzel – a pork cutlet breaded and fried, served with a pickled salad and fresh horseradish. It’s as good as anything I’ve consumed in Austria. Guten Appetit.

• High point: The real McCoy of East European food
• Low point: No alcohol licence

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