Hotel Sacher Vienna

In 1832, a 16-year-old apprentice named Franz Sacher was asked to create a dessert for Prince Metternich's guests when the head chef fell ill. The cake he improvised, the Sachertorte, became the most famous cake in the world, and eventually spawned a hotel, a decades-long legal battle with the Demel patisserie over who owns the "Original" recipe, and even a Japanese spy said to have sought kitchen work purely to steal the formula. Anna Sacher, who ran the hotel from 1892 until the 1930s, was never seen without a cigar and her French Bulldogs. Graham Greene sat in the lobby and conceived The Third Man. Facing the Vienna State Opera since 1876, the hotel has 149 rooms, a rooftop spa, and a reception tablecloth that guests have been signing, and staff embroidering, since the 19th century. LHW member.