Look, sometimes life comes at you fast. All those delicious pastries named in the previous paragraph? We didn't eat any in our week in Austria. Does that sound astounding? Actually I'm pretty shocked, too, and I planned the whole thing. But we did eat the one cake or pie or pastry that was on the top of our list before we landed in Vienna: the Sachertorte. If there was just one we planned to eat while in country, it had to be this one. It is truly a Vienna original. Skipping this would be like going to the Florida Keys and not trying at least a couple of pieces of Key lime pie. Couldn't visit Vienna without eating some Sachertorte.
Now, there are two places in Vienna which claim to sell the "original" Sachertorte. And by "original", I guess there's an implication of authenticity, ownership and best in the city or country or world.
These two places are the Hotel Sacher and a cafe named Demel. Both are located right in the heart of Vienna and there's no other business out there that's claiming to have ownership over this cake in any way, so we decided we'd do our authentic Sachertorte tasting at those two establishments and these two alone. After all, there is only so much Sachertorte we can eat in one week. We did have a lot of other dishes on our food agenda, even if we never got to the full array of desserts.
This would be our Pat's or Geno's test of the trip. And in case you are wondering, it's Pat's hands down, no question, any day!
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| The line outside Demel. We waited here. |
If it seems to defy logic that a place other than the Hotel Sacher would have invented the Sachertorte, consider this: the dish was not created in either the hotel of the same name nor was it created at Demel. In fact, neither place even existed when the first Sachertorte was baked. Neither place, by the way, is claiming original authorship.
So how did it get created in the first place? Well, according to legend or family folklore (because this origin story is likely closer to one of those two than to actual fact), the original Sachertorte was created in 1832 at the request of the Chancellor of the Austrian Empire. The Chancellor sent a request to the kitchen for a special dessert for an upcoming dinner. His request happened to be issued on a night when the chef was unavailable due to illness. Not wanting to disappoint the dinner host, the task of answering the challenge here fell to 16 year-old Franz Sacher, who whipped up a chocolate cake in two layers with apricot jam between the top and bottom and a dark chocolate icing covering the entire creation. Boom! The Sachertorte was born!
That story, by the way, is based on the telling by Fritz Sacher's son, Eduard. Choosing to believe it, I guess, is your choice. But there's no other story out there.
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| The line outside Cafe Sacher. We did not wait here. Reservations, baby! |
In 1876, Eduard Sacher decided to open a hotel, which naturally was (and still is) called the Hotel Sacher. Of course, they had a kitchen which started making Sachertortes for the hotel to sell to guests and to whomever else wanted to buy one. 20 years earlier than that, a cafe called Demel opened in Vienna and they too had decided to sell the Sachertorte as created by Eduard Sacher (and made slightly differently than his father had made) who had spent some time working there before he opened his namesake hotel. Demel called their version of the Sachertorte the "original". The Hotel Sacher didn't seem to dispute this label.
Things operated this way with both Demel and the Hotel Sacher selling Sachertorte and only Demel calling it "original" until 1938, when possession of the Hotel Sacher transitioned out of the hands of the Sacher family and into new ownership. When it did, the new owners decided to start selling their Sachertortes with an "original" label on them just like Demel, setting up a situation where two spots in the same city are claiming ownership of the exact same cake. Trouble was brewing.
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| Demel's Eduard Sacher Torte. |
But a full-blown dispute would have to wait for the Second World War to pass. As soon as it did, Hotel Sacher sued Demel for use of the term "original" in the selling of their Sachertortes. Just to be clear here, what we have is a hotel founded by a baker's son suing a cafe where the same baker's son used to work over the rights to call their cake the "original" when clearly the thing wasn't invented by either business. Lawsuits make so much sense, don't they?
Hotel Sacher won. After nine years of legal dispute, the two parties agreed that the Hotel Sacher could call their Sachertorte the "original" and Demel could decorate their version with a triangular seal with the words "Eduard Sacher Torte". Personally, it seems to me that Demel got hosed a bit here. They were using the "original" moniker first and they didn't start the dispute in any way. Life's not fair, I guess.
Enough history for this post, I think. Honestly, that part of this post was way longer than I thought it would be.
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| The interior of Demel. |
We hit the Hotel Sacher (actually the Cafe Sacher inside the hotel) on a Wednesday for lunch. Two days later, we did the same thing at Demel. When we got to both places, there was a line of people standing in line to get inside maybe 12-20 people deep. We made a reservation at Cafe Sacher and passed by everyone in the line and sat down immediately (actually, 15 minutes before our reservation because we were early). Demel doesn't accept reservations so we waited. Point one to Cafe Sacher.
There's a definite difference in attitude in the two establishments. Cafe Sacher is posh, posh, posh all the way. It's brightly lit; there are white tablecloths placed on the tables when you order food (real food, not just cake); the menus hang on a special stand on the tables; and the waitstaff is formal and to the point. Demel feels more like an informal, neighborhood spot that has grown over time. It is cluttered; you can see the various pastries and cakes being made; and there is variety in the types of tables and seating available. In spots, Demel is cozy, although that totally depends on where you get seated. Point two to Cafe Sacher.
I know, that last point may be a shocker after what I have written but we were not seated in the best spot at Demel. It almost felt like we placed at a tiny table that had been hurriedly added between two real and comfortable tables. That may, in fact, be exactly what happened. Cafe Sacher spoiled us. There's no bad spot in the place (we actually got a corner couch table which may be the best in the place), and the staff makes you feel like the center of attention. To reiterate, point two to Cafe Sacher.
But it's all about the cake, right? Waiting or not waiting and great table or not doesn't matter if the food isn't exceptional. Honestly, Cafe Sacher wins here too. It's a clean sweep.
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| Our plates at both places ultimately ended up like this. |
Here's the deal: both Sachertortes feature a double layer of chocolate sponge separated by a shmear of apricot jam (I graciously waived my no stone fruit in any form rule to eat these cakes...) covered by a coating of chocolate icing that envelops both the top and sides. I thought both were chocolatey and both were sweet cakes. Like sweeter than I usually find cakes to be in Europe (i.e. not American sweet). I also thought the apricot jam came through loud and clear and the unsweetened whipped cream on the side cut the sweetness to a perfect balance.
But the cake at Demel was dry and at Cafe Sacher it was perfectly moist. And that, as simple as that is, was the difference. Nothing more and nothing less. Cafe Sacher gets point three, which is really the only point that mattered. Maybe we got an old or a bad piece of Sachertorte at Demel, but their cake was dry. Nothing more to it than that. Cafe Sacher wins! Hands down!
Before we set foot in either restaurant, I have to say I would have been predisposed to Demel in every way except the no reservations thing. They were the first to sell an "original" Sachertorte; they seem less pompous (or even un-pompous); and the dim atmosphere (dim is positive for me in restaurants and bars) is just my kind of place. But ultimately their cake wasn't as good. If I ever go back to Vienna, I'd consider a return trip to Cafe Sacher, but not to Demel. And particularly not for Sachertorte. I'm a Cafe Sacher guy. What else can I say?
I will say one more thing. One more tipping point for Cafe Sacher: Vienna sausages with mustard and grated horseradish. Four for four. Cafe Sacher cleans up in this battle.
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