Some of my friends and guests asked me what Hungarian food is, what to try out. So let's see!
Based on the Lonely Planet we can get to know so many interesting things about eating in Hungary.
"Much has been written about Hungarian food over the years - some of it true, an equal part downright false. It certainly is the bright point among cuisines of Eastern Europe, but it is decidedly not one of the world's three essential styles of cooking (after French and Chinese) that many here would have you believe. Hungarian cooking has had many outside influences but has changed relatively little over the centuries. And while the cuisine makes great use of paprika, even the spice's hottest variety (called csípős) is pretty tame stuff, a taco with salsa or chicken vindaloo will taste a lot more 'fiery' to you.
In spite of all this, Budapest has been currently undergoing something of a restaurant revolution in recent years. Stodgy and heavy main dishes are being 'enlightened', brought up to date and rechristened as kortárs magyar konyha (modern Hungarian cuisine) at many midrange and upmarket restaurants. Just as important, a number of vegetarian (or partially meatless) restaurants have opened up and more 'regular' restaurants have a greater selection of 'real' vegetarian dishes - not just fried cheese and stuffed mushroom caps. And ethnic food - from Middle Eastern and Greek to Indian and Chinese - has become very popular. It all makes a very nice change from the not-too-distant days when munching on a cheeseburger at McDonanld's wan an attractive alternative to tussling with an overcooked Wiener schnitzel (bécsiszelet) in yet another smoky vendéglő (small restaurant).
You'll find branches of all the international fast-food places in Budapest; Oktogon is full of them. But when looking for something cheap and cheerful, try an old-style önkiszolgáló (self-service restaurant), the mainstay of workers in the old regime and fast disappearing.
Even more interesting places for local color and better value in the long run are the wonderful little restaurants called étkezdék, canteens not unlike British 'cafs' that serve simple but very tasty Hungarian dishes that change daily.
Traditional coffee houses and newly popular teahouses are primarily known for hot drinks, but they also serve cakes and other sweets, and sometimes light meals as well.
Staples and Specialities
Bread and Noodles
It is said that people here will 'eat bread with bread', and leftover bread (
kenyér) has been used to thicken soups and stews since at least the reign of the 15th-century medieval king Matthias, while
kifli (crescent-shaped rolls) gained popularity during the Turkish occupation. But, frankly, bread available commercially in Budapest is not as memorable as the flour-based
galuska (dumplings) and
tarhonya (barley-shaped egg pasta) served with
pörkölt,
paprikás and
tokány.
Hungarian bread - http://goo.gl/A3dva
Kifli - http://goo.gl/Ov5MI
Goulash on the top of nokedli (galuska) - http://goo.gl/BAXNw
Soups
Most Hungarian meals start with leves (soup). This is usually something relatively light like
gombaleves (mushroom soup) or
húsgombócleves (tiny liver dumplings in broth). More substantial soups are beef
gulyásleves and
bableves, a thick bean soup usually made with meat, which are sometimes eaten as a main course. Another favorite is
halászlé (fisherman's soup), a rich soup of poached carp, fish stock, tomatoes, green peppers and paprika.
Gombaleves - http://goo.gl/Hdefa
Húsgombócleves - http://goo.gl/sGfT7
Gulyásleves - http://goo.gl/3yR2D
Bableves - http://goo.gl/zEbc1
Halászlé - http://goo.gl/j5aYk
Meat and Fish
People here eat an astonishing amount of meat, and 'meat-stuffed meat' is a dish not unknown on Budapest menus. Pork, beef, veal and poultry are the meats most commonly consumed and they can be breaded and fried, baked, turned into some paprika-flavored concoction or simmered in
lecsó, a tasty mix of peppers, tomatoes and onions (and one of the few Hungarian sauces here that does not include paprika).
A typical menu will have up to 10 pork and beef dishes, a couple of fish ones and usually only one poultry dish. Goose legs and livers and turkey breasts - though not much else of either bird - make an appearance on most menus. Lamb and mutton are rarely eaten here.
Freshwater fish, such as the indigenous
fogas (great pike-perch) and the smaller süllő from Lake Balaton, and
ponty (carp) from rivers and lakes, is plentiful but often overcooked.
Lecsó - http://goo.gl/75e3K
Balatoni fogas (great pike-perch) - http://goo.gl/p6wuA
Ponty rántva (carp) - http://goo.gl/DuXxU
Paprika
Many dishes are seasoned with paprika, a spice as Magyar as St Stephen's right hand. Indeed, not only is this 'red gold' used in cooking but it also appears on restaurant tables as a condiment beside the salt and pepper shakers. It's generally quite a mild spice and used predominantly with sour cream or in rántás, a heavy roux of pork fat and flour added to cooked vegetables. Töltött, things stuffed with meat and/or rice, such as cabbage or peppers, are cooked in rántás as well as in tomato sauce or sour cream.
There are four major types of meat dishes containing paprika. The most famous in gulyás (or gulyásleves), a thick beef soup cooked with onions, cubed potatoes and paprika, and usually eaten as a main course. Pörkölt, or 'stew' is closer to what foreigners call 'goulash'; the addition of sour cream, a reduction in paprika and the use of white meat such as chicken makes the dish paprikás. Tokány is similar pörkölt and paprikás except that the meat is cut into strips, black pepper is on equal footing with the paprika, and bacon, sausage or mushrooms are added as flavoring agents.
House of Paprika - http://goo.gl/ftCfW
Sweet Paprika - http://goo.gl/upL99
Hungarian Paprika - http://goo.gl/qr0NE
Vegetables
Fresh salad is often called vitamin saláta here and is generally available when lettuce is in season; almost everything else is
savanyúság (literally 'sourness'), which can be anything from mildly sour-sweet cucumbers, pickled peppers and very acidic-tasting sauerkraut. It may seem an acquired taste, but such things actually go very well with heavy meat dishes.
Boiled or steamed zöldség (vegetables), when they are available, the 'English-style' (angolos zöldség). The traditional way of preparing vegetables is in főzelék, where peas, green beans, lentils, marrow or cabbage are fried or boiled and then mixed into a roux with milk. This dish, which is sometimes topped with a few slices of meat, is enjoying a major comeback at 'retro-style' eateries.
Savanyúság - http://goo.gl/pn4R3
Desserts
People here love sweets. Complicated pastries such as
Dobos torta, a layered chocolate and cream cake with caramelised brown sugar top, and the wonderful
rétes (strudel), filled with poppy seeds, cherry preserves or túró (curd or cottage cheese), and
piték (fruit pies) are usually consumed mid-afternoon in one of Budapest's ubiquitous cukrászdák (cake shops or patiserries). Desserty more commonly found on restaurant menus include
Somlói galuska, sponge cake with chocolate and whipped cream, and
Gundel palacsinta (flaméed pancake with chocolate and nuts.
Dobos torta - http://goo.gl/LiUB2
Almás pite - http://goo.gl/9L8fO
Mákos rétes (Poppy seeds strudel) - http://goo.gl/Yrpht
Somlói galuska - http://goo.gl/xXhBD
Gundel Palacsinta - http://goo.gl/C8ldb
Celebrating with food
Traditional culture, particularly where it involves food, is not exactly thriving in Hungary, though a popular event for Budapesters with ties (however tenuous) to the countryside is the
disznótor, the slaughtering of a pig - a butcher does it - followed by an orgy of feasting and drinking. The celebration can even boast its own dish:
disznótoros káposzta, which is stuffed cabbage served with freshly made sausages. Wine festivals, now mostly commercial events with rock bands and the like, occur during the harvest in September and October, and are always a good excuse for getting sloshed. The most important one is the Budapest International Wine Festival (winefestival.hu) held in the Castle District in September.
Disznótoros - http://goo.gl/Ah5oN
Etiquette
By and large people in Budapest tend to meet their friends and entertain outside of their homes at cafes and restaurants. If you are invited to a local person's home, bring a bunch of flowers or a bottle of good local wine.
Drinking is an important part of social life in the capital of a country that has produced wine and fruit brandies for thousands of years. Consumption is high at an annual 13,6 liter of alcohol per person; only citizens of Luxembourg and Ireland drink more alcohol per capita in Europe. Alcoholism in Hungary is not as visible to the outsider as it is, say, in Poland or Russia, but it's there nonetheless; official figures suggest that a full 10% of the population are fully fledged alcoholics. There is a little pressure for others (particularly women) to drink, however, so if you really don't want that glass of apricot brandy that your hos handed you, refuse politely.
It is said that Hungarians don't clink glasses when drinking beer because that is how the Habsburgs celebrated the defeat of Lajos Kossuth in the 1848-49 War of Independence, but most Magyar say that's codswallop.
When and where to eat
Hungarians are not for the most part big eaters of reggeli (breakfast), preferring a cup of tea or coffee with an unadorned bread roll at the kitchen table or on the way to work. As it is a meal at which most Magyar hardly excel, exect worst of hotel breakfast - ersatz coffee, weak tea, unsweetened lemon water for 'juice', tiny triangles of processed 'cheese' and stale bread. You may be pleasantly surprised, though.
Ebéd (lunch), eaten at around 1pm, was once the main meal of the day and might still consist of two or even three courses. Vacsora (dinner or supper) is less substantial when eaten at home, often just sliced meats, cheese and some pickled vegetables.
It's important to know the different styles of eateries to be found in Budapest. An Étterem is a restaurant with a wide-ranging menu, sometimes including international dishes. A vendéglő or kisvendéglő is a smaller and is supposed to serve inexpensive regional dishes or 'home cooking', but the name has become 'cute' enough for a lot of places to use it indiscriminately. An étkezde or kifőzde is something like a diner, smaller and cheaper than a vendéglő and often with counter seating. The term csárda originally referred to a country inn with a rustic atmosphere, Gyps music and hearty local dishes. Now any place that hangs up a couple of painted plates and strings a few strands of dry paprika on the wall is a csárda.
A bisztró is a much cheaper sit-down place that is often önkiszolgáló (self-service). A büfé is cheaper still with very limited menu, where you eat while standing at counters. A presszó is a very simple establishment (sometimes just a kiosk) selling coffee, alcohol and a few basic snacks.
A hentesáru bolt (butcher shop) in Budapest sometimes has a büfé selling cooked kolbász (sausage), virsli (frankfurters), hurka (blood sausage or liverwurst), roast chicken, bread and pickled vegetables. Point to what you want, the staff will weigh it all and hand you a slip of paper with the price. You usually pay at the pénztár (cashier) and hand the stamped receipt back to the staff for your food. You pay for everthing here, including a slice of rye bread and a dollop of mustard for your sausage.
A food stall, known as a Laci konyha (literally, 'Laci's kitchen') or pecsenyesütő (roast oven), can often be found near markets or train stations. One of the more popular traditional snacks is lángos, deep-fried dough with various toppings (usually cheese and sour cream)."
Places, prices for eating will come next time. I didn't forget about Taxis. Happy Easter!
