This is normally the part where I tell you about all of the great, traditional local food we tried however we seemed to fail on this front but not through a lack of trying. Over the six days that we were in Budapest we returned to various restaurants in hope of them being open however due to the New Year festivities opening hours were very erratic, if at all.
Traditional foods that we did get to try:
- Első Pesti Rétesház - amazing Hungarian sour cherry and poppy seed strudels that were still warm when they were served to us
- Karcsi Vendéglő - egg drop soup, húsleves fridottó and a random sort of pork concoction that would only pass as a Sunday night dinner
- A random selection of snacks from an old school bakery on Kirily Utca where the little baton things were the stand out and would be a great beer snack
- Delicious, reasonably priced Hungarian goulash soup from a street vendor
- Another "tradelink" however it still wasn't as good as Brno's
- Főzelékfaló - főzelék, which is a traditional Hungarian vegetable stew. I think our old 'point and hope' didn't work so well here. I ended up with potato and Nix white bean but both were very average. Certainly not the traditional taste sensations that we'd been promised
And the non traditional foods that we had to "settle for":
- Hummus Bar - where we had two great hummus plates, one with chicken thighs, hearts and liver that was beautifully earthy and rich, and a great compliment to the creamy hummus
- Massive pizza slices from another shop along Kirily Utca that were pretty good and just what we were after having walked an hour to discover that all of the restaurants that we wanted to visit were closed. Whilst pizza clearly isn't Hungarian food, ordering a single slice of pizza is a very Hungarian thing to do
- Arriba Taqueria - this place offers the biggest, heaviest burrito you have ever wrapped your pie hole around. There are small children out there that weight less than these burittos. And not only are they big but they're also fekking tasty and the perfect NYE hangover cure. Oh, and they do pretty good poppers too. And if you don't know what poppers are well shame on you
Ruin Pubs
Budapest's main draw card for youths is it's ruin pub scene. At the turn of the century ruin pubs emerged in Budapest where bars were slapped together, using rejected furniture, in buildings doomed for destruction. They're furnished with all manner of things hanging from the roofs and walls, and covered in brilliant street art. And when the building that they're occupying is demolished or refurbished they just move a couple of streets to another unoccupied building and pick up where they left off.
However with this world renowned reputation comes the negatives and whilst the ruin pubs were once only frequented by locals and tourists in the know they're now filled with anyone who can read a Lonely Planet guide (I get the hypocrisy again) and there are no locals in sight given a pint now costs about the equivalent of most locals' hourly wage.
We went to Instant the night after New Year's which is the size of five or six smaller bars put together and you can see it would probably be an amazing place on a good night. However being the night after NYE it was pretty quiet and our snobbishness got the better of us and we didn't stay there too long. Unfortunately expensive cocktails and lager you'd liken to VB doesn't cut it for us well travelled beer aficionados these days.
Csak a Jó Sör (Only Good Beer)
We dropped into this place (that rates extremely high) on our first night in Budapest for a couple of Christmas ales. What a random place it is.
It's a bottle shop come beer bar with an extensive stock of good local and international craft brews that you can see the locals are very keen to learn about and try but unfortunately this place has the atmosphere of a funeral parlour. Service is dry at best, there's no music, little conversation between patrons and it's just a very strange environment that you feel like the owners have almost deliberately gone for. Maybe it's just baby steps for Budapest's craft beer at the moment. It's high rating was lost on the both of us.
Surprisingly Great Coffee
We went to three coffeeshops in Budapest and I can't recommend each of them highly enough if you're ever there. Espresso Embassy pumps out perfect coffee everytime that's made from a range of different single origins that are on offer, My Little Melbourne (that gives a nice little tasteful taste of home) and Rengeteg RomKafé that's in the cavernous ruin pub style and cannot be missed.
The owner of Rengeteg RomKafé presented us awesome coffees, followed by two little cups of just about the best mulled wine we've had on the trip and then shook our hands on the way out and thanked us for coming. We could not have been made to feel anymore welcome.
Szeged Stopover
We called in at Szeged on our way to Serbia to try the region's famed fishy delights. At Vendéglő a Régi Hídhoz we into tucked karp soup that was absolutely loaded with fish, and the "Carp secret á la hungry ferryman" (carp cracklings, smoked bacon, mushrooms, smoked sausage, paprika, garlic and potatoes). Both good but not brilliant. I think we were maybe expecting too much.
And finally, as everyone does and should do in Szeged we visited the Pick salami factory and picked up some snacks.
Hungary Part 1
The Beers
Anchor Christmas Ale
Armando Otchoa Hangover Santa
Brewdog Santa Paws
Anderson Valley Winter Solstice
