Hungary - Eastern Europe - page 375

here, especially the chicken breast with zucchini in a creamy cheese sauce. There is a
pub right next door, open 10am to 2am. The pub menu is small but wholesome: sal-
ads and cheese-based dishes. Draft beer is available. It's a popular place with Szeged's
large foreign student population.
Oskola u. 13. & 62/420-914. Reservations recommended. Main courses 790 Ft-2,500 Ft ($3.95-$13/£2-£6.40). No
credit cards. Mon-Thurs 11am-midnight; Fri-Sat 11am-1am.
COFFEEHOUSES & ICE-CREAM PARLORS
Szeged is famous for its Virág Cukrászda, an old-world coffeehouse on Klauzál tér. A
local petition in the early 1990s prevented this Szeged institution from being turned
into a car showroom. It is open daily from 8am to 10pm. The Kis Virág (Little
Flower) , across the square, is the Virág Cukrászda's takeout place, where you can
pick up a wide variety of delicious pastries for a lower price and sample the best ice
cream in town (in winter there is service inside the Kis Virág). Their specialty is rakott
rétes (layered strudel), which is the divine local version of the traditional Jewish pastry
flodni. In our opinion, it's the best we've tried anywhere in the country. Kis Virág is
open daily from 8am to 8pm.
Rivaling (and some say surpassing in the realm of traditional pastries) the Kis Virág
for takeout pastries and cakes is the tiny Z. Nagy Cukrászda , located on József
Attila sgt. 24 (just off of Tisza Lajos krt. by the river). It's a good walk from the cen-
ter of town but it's well worth it. If you're being lazy, there is a more spacious Z. Nagy
shop, with a terrace in its courtyard, right in the center of town, on Dugonics tér, just
off Karász utca (the pedestrian-only street). Z. Nagy dispenses a scrumptious Erzsi
kocka, walnut paste sandwiched between two shortbread cookies, dipped in dark
chocolate. On hot, dusty summer days, the line at the most popular ice-cream shop,
Palánk (on the corner of Tömörkény utca and Oskola utca), snakes out the door and
down the street. By all means, join the queue.
SZEGED AFTER DARK
Jazz Kocsma, at Kálmány L. u. 14 ( & 62/326-680 ), is the place for live jazz. Local
bands play on Sunday. It's a groovy, smoky, student scene. The kitchen serves Mexi-
can food. Open daily 11am to 2am; no cover. Mojo Club, Alföldi utca 1 ( & 62/
426-606 ), next to the university building for the arts, is another jazz club. As the
posters in the window proudly advertise (you will see the posters of OTPOR, the pio-
neering Serbian youth organization that successfully organized resistance to the Bel-
grade university collectives), the owners of this place have maintained their close links
with their former country of residence, Serbia. The sunken rooms here have a dis-
tinctly bohemian appeal. There's a full bar and decent pizza and pasta on the menu.
It's open Monday through Saturday from 11am to 2am, Sunday from 6pm to mid-
night; in summer open daily from 6pm only. There's no cover. Reservations are highly
recommended at both these clubs.