My Demel Experience, Vienna (Austria)

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Véronique Gray in Coffee 0 Comments

From Langues de chat (cat’s tongues) to Sachertorte!

What brought me to Demel is not what I remember it for!

Last April during the Easter break after 2 hours in the Viennese’s Kunsthistorischesmuseum, I was eager to find a place to sit down. Our guide and friend suggested Demel.

Great, I thought, it is on my list of things to do.

I had read in a guidebook that the Empress Sissy loved cat’s tongues and Demel was the place to buy them. So, I had to see for myself and try one! Needless to say, when I saw the price of the box, despite the lovely cover, I did not buy any.

More than 19 euros for 160 grams of buttered cookies with chocolate in the shape of cat’s tongues!!!! No way. I don’t know why the cookies are so expensive. Is it because it was the Empress favorite’s or because it has a French name?!

So we went to Demel. I was expecting a small shop with a few cat’s tongues and I found a large Konditorei with lots of pastries, cookies, chocolates and much more. Plus something amazing is that we could watch the pastry masters and helpers prepare cakes in front of us.

If you sit on the ground floor behind the window, you can observe the making of Apfelstrudel and Sachertorte. It starts from making the chocolate, the frosting, the decoration and then packaging in a box and wrapping with elegant red paper.

So while I did not try Demel langues de chat, I could not resist and had a piece of their delicious Sachertorte cake.

Where is Demel:
Kohlmarkt 14 in Vienna.

Call: 43 1 535 17 170

Also located in Salzburg and in New York city

Opened in Vienna daily from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Not familiar with Demel:

The Konditorei Demel exists since 1857. It started with Christoph Demel. It moved on the Kohlmarkt in 1888. Francois Joseph and his wife Sissy loved Demel. The company stayed in the Demel family until 1972. Since it was sold many times.