Tafelspitz in Vienna: How to Eat Austria’s Famous Boiled Beef

‘Boiled beef’ doesn’t sound like much on paper, which is why visitors sometimes skip past Tafelspitz on the menu. In Vienna, though, it’s a small ritual with its own order of play: soup first, then the meat, with two very Viennese sauces.

If you’re ordering Tafelspitz in Vienna for the first time, here’s how it works.

What is Tafelspitz?

Tafelspitz is, first of all, a cut of beef: a lean, tapering cut from the rump. Spitz means tip, which is where the name comes from. The Viennese have long had their own names for the many cuts of beef meant for simmering, and Tafelspitz is the most famous of them.

The meat is simmered slowly in water with root vegetables until it’s tender. Two things come out of that pot: the beef itself, and a clear, rich beef broth, Rindsuppe. A proper Tafelspitz meal uses both.

Legend has it that Emperor Franz Joseph ate boiled beef almost every day. True or not, the dish has been part of Viennese cooking, at home and in restaurants, for generations.

First the soup: Rindsuppe

Tafelspitz traditionally begins with the broth it was cooked in, served as a soup. In Vienna it rarely comes plain. Two of the most popular additions:

• Frittaten: thin pancakes, rolled up and cut into strips, so they float in the broth like ribbons.
• Leberknödel: a soft liver dumpling.

Both are on our menu: Beef broth with homemade pancake strips (Frittaten) and Beef broth with a homemade liver dumpling.

Then the beef, with Apfelkren and chive sauce

Next comes the meat, sliced, with the vegetables from the pot and a set of sides that matter as much as the beef:

• Apfelkren: grated apple mixed with horseradish (Kren is the Austrian word for horseradish). Fresh, sharp and a little sweet. On our English menu it’s ‘apple and horseradish sauce’.
• Schnittlauchsauce: chive sauce, mild and creamy, full of chopped chives. It’s the soft counterpart to the sharp horseradish.
• Röstkartoffeln: potatoes pan-fried until golden.
• Bouillongemüse: the root vegetables cooked in the broth.

Our Original Tafelspitz (boiled beef) ‘Classic’ is served just like that: in a generous helping of beef broth with root vegetables, chive sauce, apple and horseradish sauce and roast potatoes.

How to eat Tafelspitz, step by step

1. Start with the soup. Enjoy the broth and whatever is floating in it before you turn to the beef.
2. Keep the meat in the broth. Because the beef is served in plenty of broth, it stays moist. Cut one piece at a time and leave the rest where it is.
3. Alternate the two sauces. A little Apfelkren on one forkful, a little chive sauce on the next. Horseradish is sharp, so start with less than you think.
4. Don’t forget the vegetables and potatoes. The root vegetables soak up the broth, and the roast potatoes add the crunch the rest of the plate doesn’t have.
5. Take your time. Tafelspitz isn’t a dish to rush.

The Tafelspitz menu: the whole ritual in one order

If you’d like the full sequence without planning it yourself, our Tafelspitz menu does it for you. First a generous serving of beef broth with pancake strips. Then traditional Tafelspitz with root vegetables, chive sauce, apple and horseradish sauce and roast potatoes. And finally Viennese apple strudel with whipped cream.

It’s a proper Viennese lunch or dinner, and a good way to understand why the Viennese are so attached to ‘boiled beef’.

Fancy something different for pudding? Read about our Kaiserschmarren, or see what to eat in Vienna for the rest of the classics. The Lindenkeller is on Rotenturmstraße, a short walk from St Stephen’s Cathedral.