Eating in Hungary – Budapest – Part 1

Following on from England, we flew to Budapest to continue our European adventure. We stayed in the Pest side of the city, but very close to the bridge taking us to Buda. I thought it was easier to break this post up by breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Breakfast

Börze

Börze is only a couple of blocks away from our accommodation, so I decided to go in for breakfast. There are a handful of people eating outside, but we opt to stay inside for the air conditioning (it’s September and quite warm already).

We ordered drinks – a small 300 ml freshly squeezed orange juice (300 Ft), and a beetroot, pear, apple and ginger smoothie (990 Ft). This takes a long time to arrive even though the place is nearly empty.

For food, I order the French toast stuffed with ham, cheese, garlic and sour cream (1290 Ft). There’s a mix up with my order as a sweet French toast arrives at the table. It takes a while to get the attention of the waiter again, and when he finally notices me waving to him, he takes the dish away (offering no apologies) and goes back to the kitchen. My savoury French toast arrives and it’s really just a ham cheese toasted sandwich, with sour cream.

Mr FPJ orders the granola with yoghurt and fruit (990). It’s basically a large yoghurt with a side of granola.

The service isn’t attentive and the food mediocre. Perhaps it does a better lunch/dinner menu. We don’t think it’s worth going for these particular breakfast dishes.

À la Maison Grand

We head to À la Maison Grand, a gorgeous feminine looking cafe with flowers on each table, after seeing good ratings on the internet. We don’t have a booking, but staff say we can sit at one of the tables for an hour before vacating for the next reserved group. That’s fine with us!

The breakfast plates look like good value for money, each coming with a freshly squeeze orange juice, and a choice of tea or coffee.

I choose the New York Breakfast plate (4,491 Ft) with French toast, spicy mini sausage, hash brown potatoes, roasted cherry tomato, crispy bacon, maple syrup, 2 fried eggs, fruit salad, fresh multigrain baguette slices, a freshly squeezed orange juice, with a flat white. There is nothing that I actually liked about the items on the plate. Eggs over-cooked, bacon cold and soggy, potatoes bland. It was horrible. At least the orange juice was fresh.

On the other hand, Mr FPJ orders the Benedict Waffini (2,250 Ft) basically an eggs benedict with ham on a waffle. This is so good! We are worried that the hollandaise will be sickly, but it was light, tangy and delicious. Perfectly poached eggs and the waffle is soft and fluffy. It all goes well with the rocket on the plate.

The service charge was 539 ft for the table. A little bit hit and miss with this one. We would both order the waffini again, and some of its other iterations. But there are so many other eateries that I could also give this a miss if we’re ever back in Budapest.

Lunch

Gettó Gulyás

We heard about Gettó Gulyás from our Air B n B host when we asked her for recommendations of places for dinner. Her favourite is Gettó Gulyás. Our first experience was actually for dinner (more about it below), so lunch was our second time (in three days) at the establishment.

I order the house made lemonade (850 Ft) – a wonderful concoction with real fruit and ice. It’s served in a huge pint-sized glass, which is so refreshing on a hot day. Mr FPJ orders a pint of the Dreher (720 Ft).

After ordering, a basket of bread arrives at the table along with a fried tomato, onion, paprika spreadable dip. Mr FPJ orders the Hungarian goulash ‘Alfoldi’ style (1,300 Ft) which has so much flavour and richness, yet is still a light stew to enjoy in summer. This is great with the bread provided to mop it up.

I order the roasted knuckle stew with parsley potatoes (2,100 Ft) which comes with very tender pork knuckle. I do find quite a bit of fat still attached so I eat around it. I much prefer the light and tasty goulash to this dish.

Dinner

Gettó Gulyás

As mentioned above, we first heard about Gettó Gulyás from our Air B n B host. When we get there, all the outdoor seats are taken, but luckily, there are plenty of seats inside and up at the bar on bar stools. The restaurant smells amazing.

For drinks, I order the house made lemonade which is gigantic (the size of a pint) and is delicious (850 Ft). A good mix of real fruit berries, sweetness, and sour. Mr FPJ orders the local Dreher beer (720 Ft).

We start with the Hungarian ‘hortobagyi’ pancake with mushrooms (1,420 Ft). It’s more of a crepe stuffed with mince, onions, tomato, spices then topped with a paprika and sour cream sauce. When I order this and my main of veal, our waiter kindly tells me that there is veal in both the pancake and my main, so it may be better to pick a different meat. I’m in full agreement (the menu doesn’t stipulate what meat is in it) and really appreciate that advice. So I pick chicken for the pancake instead. This is something I’ve never had before. The crepe is quite spongy and I love the spices in the filling with the generous amount of sauce over the top. Yum. We also get a basket of bread, but it’s dry and we don’t really touch it.

My main is the veal paprikash with sour cream and baked curd cheese noodles rolled in bacon (3,540 Ft). The veal is tender and the sauce is similar to that of the pancake – a sour cream and paprika mix. The cheese noodles comes in one thick roll with a piece of bacon wrapped around it. The noodles themselves are very light, almost bland, with perhaps soft ricotta throughout, while the bacon provides a salty hit. Again, this is a dish I’ve never tried before but it impressed me.

Mr FPJ orders the chicken breast paprikash with egg noodles (2,100 Ft). Succulent chicken breast, a different paprikash sauce perhaps made with chicken as the colour is a lot lighter than the veal. The egg ‘noodles’ are strange and not like a traditional noodle. We think it’s more of a short egg pasta coated in eggs and butter. Not what either of us were expecting. (I later found out it’s similar to spaetzle.)

I had already decided that I wanted dessert and made sure to order the home made cheese curd dumplings with cinnamon sour cream (1,320 Ft). I had read somewhere that these are a must try, so I was happy to give it a go. It also happened to be our waiter’s favourite. This came with three dumplings that had been fried, dusted with icing sugar, and sat in some thick sour cream. Surpisingly, the dumplings are light as air with a definite sourness from the curd but it’s not overpowering. The sour cream is also toned down and actually quite sweet, paired well with the cinnamon. A great dessert idea. I am only able to finish off one dumpling, and Mr FPJ half a dumpling as we’re both stuffed from all the food. But I would easily order this dessert again.

Café Kör

I had read that Café Kör is a popular bar and eatery with fantastic service and typical Hungarian cuisine. Without a booking, we walk over to see if they can squeeze us in. Luckily, there is a table for two free. It’s about 8.30pm, so several of the dishes of the day had been sold out and crossed off the menu. We’re both grateful for the English translations in the menu. There are seriously so many delicious sounding items, I wished we had a longer stay to try more dishes.

I order the beef tenderloin goulash with potato croquettes (4,180 Ft). There is a lot of beef on the plate but it isn’t as soft as expected, so I don’t finish it. The goulash stew is rich and hearty. I kind of want to ask for some rice or bread to go with it, but I guess the carbs are the potato croquettes on the side, so I make sure I cut the croquettes into bite sized pieces and dip it into the goulash.

Mr FPJ makes a chicken and peaches dish at home (using a recipe from the 70s), so when he saw a chicken with peaches in caramel sauce and rice (3,020 Ft) on the menu, that’s what he ordered. The dish is a lot sweeter as expected from the caramel. The chicken is juicy and there is plenty of sauce that the rice soaks up. We both really enjoy it.

I also want to try the ‘Gundel’ pancakes (1,150 Ft) that are stuffed with raisins and nuts, topped with chocolate sauce and sugar powder. The pancake is more of a crepe and very light with only a few raisins and crushed nuts inside. I think the dark chocolate is too bitter for me and feel like vanilla ice cream is needed, but we still polish off the pancakes that lightly touch the chocolate sauce.

Belvárosi Lugas Vendéglő

Another restaurant close to our accommodation is the Belvárosi Lugas Vendéglő which I read has traditional hearty Hungarian cuisine. It’s a quiet night and we get a table by the window. The waiter is polite and friendly, and speaks a little English. Luckily the menus also have an English translation.

I order the Hungarian deer stew with home made potato fritters (3,360 Ft). Definitely a hearty dish. The stew is thick, well-seasoned with tender deer that pulls apart easily. Great winter comfort food.

Mr FPJ orders the Hungarian home made ratatouille with smoked sausage (1,980 Ft) which comes served in a soup bowl. In contrast to the rich stew, this is light in flavour and goes well with the basket of bread on the table. The service charge is 650 Ft for the both of us.

Eateries visited

• Börze – Budapest, Nádor u. 23, 1051
• À la Maison Grand – Budapest, Szervita tér 3, 1052
• Gettó Gulyás – Budapest, Wesselényi u. 18, 1077
• Café Kör – Budapest, Sas u. 17, 1051
• Belvárosi Lugas Vendéglő – Budapest, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 15/A, 1065

In the next post, I try Hungarian street food like langos and chimney cakes!

Some tips for Budapest

• There’s always a service charge for dining in.
• The currency is the Hungarian Forint and it’s best to take out cash while in Hungary. I couldn’t find a currency exchange that had Forints in stock as it’s useless anywhere else.
• Budapest does accept the Euro, but the rate is generally more expensive and your change will be in Forints.
• The 300 bus from the airport goes straight into the city centre, and is by far the cheapest option. It’s a regular bus so you might be crammed in with your suitcases, especially if you’re the last to get on! Try to get on the bus early.
• Buda Castle and its surrounds require at least one full day to get the most of it.
• Look out for the small ornaments along the Buda river.

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