Complete renovation and a new foyer brought the Hotel Sacher into the 21st century. What remains traditional is the restaurant Anna Sacher, a name that has almost as many reverberations as Strauss's. The legendary Sachertorte cake is the crown of a family saga that began with Franz Sacher, Prince von Metternich's pastry chef. Franz's son and his wife Anna, Vienna's "hostess with the mostest," opened the famed 19th-century hotel. Near the entrance to the restaurant, pay your respects to Anna's oil portrait -- it reveals her formidable character and her weakness for cigars and bulldogs (shades of Churchill). A showcase for "internationale und typische Wiener Küche," it seeps the monarchical magic of former glory: wainscotted oak walls, beige silk fabrics, gilt-frame oil paintings, and sparkling chandeliers create a suitably aristo ambience. Sacher offers some of the city's best Tafelspitz (boiled beef), garnished with creamed spinach and hash-brown potatoes, with chive cream sauce and apple horseradish adding extra flavor to this favorite dish of Emperor Franz Josef. Angus beef served with chanterelles and quail eggs is another good choice.
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