Eating through five weeks in Europe
Part 1: Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, & Geneva
I quit my job in March, finished my MBA in April, and flew to Vienna, followed by train travel to Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Lyon, Brussels, Antwerp, and London. I ate dinner at 33 restaurants and lunch at around the same number. I’m spoiled, grateful, and cooking dinner for the foreseeable future.
This is one half of my attempt to document the highlights. Part two will cover Lyon, Antwerp, and London. All recommendations are linked to Google maps for easy saving and every mention is a place I would go again.
Since it’s fun to pick favorites, however reductive and arbitrary, my top three cities were Vienna (beauty, art, cafes), Zurich (exceptional beauty; extends to everywhere I went in Switzerland), and Antwerp (dare I say vibes). Munich is a close contender for the vibes award; my favorite two hours of the trip were spent alone wandering the grounds of Nymphenburg Palace. I’m not even factoring London (which I love) into the ranking, since it’s in its own category in my brain, like New York, Paris, Rome; too major.
Some rules: rent the museum audioguide, make dinner reservations in advance, and take public transit as much as possible. The bus allows you to see the city better than the metro, but the tram is best of all. Read about attractions before you visit them, or at least find a quiet corner to do so once you’re there. It makes it so much more fun. Learn about some history and some art, don’t be a baby, and lean into what sparks your interest.
Finally, talk quietly in restaurants and be polite to servers, even when it takes them forever to bring the bill, which will happen almost every night. Get up and going early, but have quiet time in your hotel room in the late afternoon. Remember traveling is a muscle and an immense privilege.
Vienna
If you’re unfamiliar with Vienna, read Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World by Richard Crockett before your trip. Also, read a book, not just the spark notes, on the Habsburgs. I read this one. Watch The Empress on Netflix about Empress Elisabeth of Austria (“Sisi”). It’s fun, if silly.
Cafés: Café culture in Vienna was and is critical to the fabric of the city, more so than other European cities. This isn’t the place to try new, trendy coffee shops; go to the historic cafes. They are great for breakfast and an afternoon dessert. Order the Viennese breakfast in the morning and add the jammy egg. In the afternoon, order apple strudel, sachertorte, or my favorite, Kaiserschmarren (sugary bits of pancake served alongside plum compote). Visit Café Korb, Café Landtmann, Café Prückel, Café Tirolerhof, Café Schwarzenberg, and Demel (this last one specifically for Kaiserschmarren). Some are open late and are good for a nightcap. Always take a look around the inside (if you’re shy, use the bathroom as a ruse), even if it’s a beautiful day and you’re sitting on the patio. The interiors are transportive.
Breakfast at Café Korb my first morning in Vienna Food: I hope you like schnitzel, because you have to eat it in Vienna. Save it for Figlmüller Bäckerstraße, where you should go for dinner. It is an institution and where you will have one of the best, and certainly the largest, schnitzels of your life. There are several Figlmüllers in Vienna; the Bäckerstraße location is the most charming. Other Viennese institutions I enjoyed were Bitzinger Sausage Stand for a hot dog; Trzesniewski for finger sandwiches; and Loos American Bar, designed by art deco architect Adolf Loos, for a martini. For a more modern, wine-bar-type dinner, go to Café Kandl. In the same vein, I wanted to have dinner at rosebar centrala, but unfortunately it was closed the week we were in town. Bruder is also on the list for next time.
Art, culture: Visit Hofburg Palace (the Habsburg’s main palace in Vienna); St. Stephen's Cathedral; explore the Volksgarten and Burggarten; visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Albertina, and Belvedere (particularly important if you like Klimt); and set aside a full day for Schönbrunn Palace, the Habsburg’s summer palace.
Huge s/o to my lifelong friend Tara, who invited me to Vienna in the first place and let me stay in her hotel room while she attended a climate conference as part of her Harvard PhD. Legend.
Berlin
I took the night train by myself to Berlin, an experience everyone should have at least once. I paid extra for a cabin with a bunkbed (shared with one other person) so I could properly sleep. It felt safe and was very fun. I talked a lot of politics with my German bunkmate in the morning.
Before your trip, read Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood and brush up on your Third Reich and WWII history.
Food: Have dinner at Alt Berliner Wirtshaus Henne (order the potato salad and the sauerkraut to accompany your broiler chicken) and Borchardt for classic German food. Borchardt makes a great schnitzel. For a more modern German restaurant, go to Trio, where you should order the goulash and the eggnog for dessert. Also, eat Turkish food. Berlin has a big Turkish population and they know how to COOK, certainly better than the Germans, sorry. Go to Adana Grillhaus in Kreuzberg for dinner and get the meze platter, kebap, sarma beyti, and künefe for dessert. You also need to eat currywurst in Berlin; find a shop near you with good Google reviews or go to Curry 36. Eat kepab for lunch most days. Again, just find a place near you with good reviews, excellent kepab is plentiful in Berlin and I don’t think you need to trek across the city to go to a specific lunch place. Drink a martini in the hotel bar of the historic Adlon Kempinski. Finally, if you see spaghetti ice cream on a dessert menu… don’t hesitate.
Schnitzel and dessert at Borchardt; eggnog, goulash, and chicken schnitzel at Trio Art, culture: Book a walking tour for your first day. Since much of Berlin was destroyed in the 40s, a guide helps you better understand the city center, visualize how it used to look, see the main sites (or where they used to be), and understand just how terrible the Third Reich and the war were for Berliners. We booked a private tour with Original Berlin Walks. A British man named Jimmy was our guide. He was fantastic. We also enjoyed walking in the Tiergarten and visiting the Altes Nationalgalerie, which has one of the most extensive collections of art from the period between the French Revolution and WWI. If you like antiquities, go to the Altes Museum and the Neues Museum. We didn’t have time to go to Charlottenburg Palace or the Neue Nationalgalerie, both are on the list for next time. Also, Paris Bar. I’ll ignore the poor reviews because Keith McNally said it’s his favorite restaurant in the world.
Meze, sarma beyti, and künefe at Adana Grillhaus
Munich
Bavaria has a distinct culture from the rest of Germany and you can feel it while you’re there. Read about that beforehand.
Food: The best dinner we had in Germany was at Gasthaus Waltz, an Austrian restaurant. It uses seasonal ingredients, so the menu likely changes a fair bit, but the outstanding dishes we had were ramp soup and house-made ice cream with pumpkin seed oil from the chef’s grandma’s farm in Austria. We also enjoyed a more old-school dinner at Weinhaus Neuner, a Bavarian and Austrian restaurant. Order the chicken fricassee pie and the Kaiserschmarrn. Both restaurants served bread from Julius Brantner and I was so impressed that I intend to visit the bakery next time I’m in town. It’s necessary you go to Hofbräuhaus München for beer, but skip the food.
Art, culture: Visit the Alte Pinakothek, which has a fantastic collection of Old Masters, particularly Rubens. Dedicate a day to Nymphenburg Palace and fully explore the grounds. Visit Lenbachhaus, which has the world’s premier collection of Blue Rider paintings.
Zurich
We spent a night in Zurich on our way to visit family in Neuchâtel, so my advice is more limited. Just walk. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Walk both sides of the Limmat River that runs through the city, including down to where it meets Lake Zurich for stunning views, explore all of the Altstadt (Old Town), which is relatively small and doable. Go into shops, particularly cheese and chocolate. See Chagall’s famous stained glass windows at Fraumünster Church. Enjoy how rich everyone looks, how clean everything is, and how well everything works.
Ristorante Bindella patio, pesto, and gelato Food: Order the fondue at Swiss Chuchi Restaurant and sit outside, it’s in a pretty square. Have an Italian dinner at Ristorante Bindella, also sit outside if possible. The bolognese and pesto were both excellent, as was the gelato. If you’re smart, you’ll make a dinner reservation at Swiss institution Restaurant Kronenhalle well in advance. I was not smart, but will be next time.
Geneva
More walking, through the old town to Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Genève, which is near a lovely terrace from which you can just catch a glimpse of the water jet. Order sandwiches at Au Petit Comestible and eat them on the terrace. Walk along the Lake on Quai Wilson all the way through Parc Mon Repos, hugging the water. I wanted to tour the UN, but tours were booked out for months.
Restaurant Les Armures cheese, chicory salad, perch fillets Food: We had two wonderful dinners in Geneva, one old school, one new school. Dinner at Restaurant Les Armures was my favorite in Switzerland. A lovely location in the old town, paired with a nice cheese selection and perch fillets from Lake Geneva in a wildly buttery sauce with French fries. It doesn’t get any better. Our second dinner was at Le Bologne, a modern bistro with one of those cool young staffs we so love. Every dish was delicious, particularly the wasabi whipped potatoes (and I thought I was a potato purist…) that accompanied an excellent teriyaki pork. The dessert trolley, heaped with cakes, tarts, Paris-Brest, and fruits, stole my heart, and I ask American restaurants… where are the dessert trolleys?
Thank you to my dad, who met me in Berlin and accompanied me until Geneva. We argued way less than expected and made memories to cherish for a lifetime.
Part two will cover Lyon, Antwerp, and London…