Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Eating
The dining scene in Budapest has undergone a sea change in recent years. Hun-
garian food has 'lightened up', offering the same wonderfully earthy and spicy
tastes but in less calorific dishes. A number of vegetarian (or partially meatless)
restaurants have opened, and the choice of eateries with cuisines other than Mag-
yar is greater than ever before.
Wining & Dining in Budapest
It's not difficult to live like a local while visiting Budapest . The natives are friendly, the food
is excellent (and never too strange) and the wine even better. And there are lots of things here
that everyone everywhere likes: fresh produce, sweet cakes and fruit-flavoured brandy that
kicks like a mule.
Many midrange and top-end eateries are concentrating on wine as never before, and they
are excellent places to try some of Hungary's superb vintages. It won't be long before you
discover some of Hungarian cuisine's 'matches made in heaven': sweet Tokaji Aszú with
goose liver; ruby-red Kékfrankos with
pörkölt
(goulash); bone-dry white Furmint with fish.
A wide choice of ethnic food - from Middle Eastern and Greek to Indian and Chinese has
become almost the norm in Budapest. And the fast food of choice in the capital is no longer
cheap-and-cheerful
lángos
(deep-fried dough with various toppings, usually cheese and sour
cream), but kebabs and felafel.
Hungarian Specialities
BREAD & PASTA
Hungarians say they 'eat bread with bread', and leftover
kenyér
(bread) is always used to
thicken soups and stews. Uniquely Magyar are the flour-based
galuska
(dumplings) and
tar-
honya
(barley-shaped egg pasta) served with
pörkölt
and chicken
paprikás
.
SOUPS & STEWS
A Hungarian meal always starts with
leves
(soup). This is usually something relatively light
like
gombaleves
(mushroom soup) or
húsgombócleves
(tiny liver dumplings in bouillon). A
more substantial soup is
bableves,
a thick bean soup usually made with meat. Another fa-
vourite is
halászlé
(fisherman's soup), a rich soup of fish stock, poached carp or catfish, to-
matoes, green peppers and paprika.