Located near the Opera House, the café is part of the historic Hotel Sacher built in 1876. The café’s décor is very opulent, with large crystal chandeliers, thick red carpets and an old worlde charm. Patrons include tourists, middle- aged matrons meeting for coffee and dessert, and suit-clad businessmen who drop in for a drink after work. We stopped in mid-afternoon to enjoy a slice of their namesake torte. What little collective willpower we had went down the drain when we spotted a dessert sampler on the menu. At €9 each, we could stuff ourselves with not only Sacher torte but with three other desserts – oh dear, no supper tonight!

Presentation is all wonderful, and after placing heavy linen napkins on our laps, our server brought out a three-tiered plate of desserts, as well as our beverages. The torte was good and surprisingly less sweet than I expected, but my favourite was the apple strudel, packed with chunks of apple and dusted with icing sugar. Also on the plate were round cookies with a marzipan centre and apricot squares, all good and all fattening! I think the selection changes depending on their dessert specials, but the Sacher torte is always included. To complete our café experience, we ordered hot beverages - smooth coffee and sinfully rich and creamy hot chocolate, all topped with schlagobers (whipped cream).

There are varying themes of the motto "Life is uncertain, eat dessert first" – for Café Sacher I’d say "just eat dessert!". Be prepared to take a very long walk afterward and skip dinner – maybe skip lunch the next day too—but a trip to Café Sacher is worth the sacrifice.