Dishes in Budapest
After a long while, I’m finally jotting down details about dishes I had in Budapest last September. Unfortunately I’ve lost quite a few details in my memory, so some descriptions might be just vague. I still remember if these dishes were nice and whether I would have them again though, which are the most important things. :D
Places where I visited are listed and dishes are introduced in each section.
TL;DR: find small canteens if you want some affordable decent local flavour.
Kívánság kifőzde
Address: Budapest, Alsó erdősor 36, 1074 Hungary (Map)
This is a small canteen that looked ordinary from the outside. I ordered a schnitzel (HUF ~1’500) as my first meal in Budapest because it seemed nice from the picture in the menu.
The serving was larger than I expected, which is kind of normal in Hungary. It was served with rice as garnishment and some sour cream. The schnitzel itself was juicy. It had a strong flavour of ginger and garlic. I suppose it was marinated with these ingredients since I saw a lot of ginger slices only after I cut it. Sour cream matched the schnitzel well. The sourness balanced the strong taste of garlic and more or less mitigated the grease.
Now the downside of this dish. The quality of rice was rather uneven; some rice was too dry and hard. I have no clue of how rice is cooked in Hungary though. Also, since the serving was quite large, my taste bud was kind of paralysed halfway, while the greasiness built up, which made it even more difficult for me to finish the dish. I finished it anyway and my mouth was full of the smell of garlic and ginger.
I only ordered this for that meal since I didn’t want to make myself too full and apparently I failed. Quite affordable though, especially when compared with the price level in Switzerland.
By the way, the canteen itself was clean, but since it was small, the whole place had an oily smell (they had quite a bit of deep-fried dishes).
Rosenstein Vendéglő
Address: Budapest, Mosonyi u. 3, 1087 Hungary (Map)
I came here twice during my trip. This is a Jewish/Hungarian restaurant. Due to some historical reasons, there were a large amount of Jews in Budapest, which is why there are still a number of “jewish mosques” here.
In my first visit, I ordered some Hungarian dishes: beef goulash soup (HUF 2’000) and beef tripe stew (HUF 4’000).
The beef goulash soup looked like this. I think it’s not far from what goulash should be like. Full of the flavour of vegetables with a hint of spicy paprika. They also provided some green chili and more paprika so that I could adjust the taste myself, but they also warned me that it could be really spicy.
The beef tripe stew was the main reason I chose this place. I couldn’t really find other places that served this, even though this should be quite traditional and common. Rich in flavour; both the potatoes and beef tripe were tender. Not really spicy, even though it looked red (I think mild paprika was used).
In general both dishes were nice, but since they both had a strong flavour and I was not well-hydrated before the meal, I had some taste fatigue very soon and thus didn’t fully enjoy the meal.
In my second visit, I ordered Jewish dishes, and it went well this time. Matzo ball soup (HUF 1’900) and roast duck with prunes (HUF 4’800).
Couldn’t really tell if they were legit since I never had Jewish food before, but I like this meal quite a bit. Red cabbage went very well with the slightly dry roast duck.
Pinczi Carniceria
Address: Budapest, Teréz krt. 60, 1066 Hungary (Map)
It’s common in Budapest to have a meal at the butcher’s. They sell cooked meat, even pork knuckles, and sausages with bread. It was slightly too heavy a breakfast for me, but the food was good, and it was interesting sitting in the shop seeing customers coming in and out for raw and cooked meat.
The red sausage was just a regular sausage. The black one was a blood sausage. It looked a bit scary when raw, and I had no idea at all what the taste would be like, but it turned out to be fine. No gamey taste. It seems that they put rice into the sausage as well. Good first contact with blood sausages! The roasted pork smelled wonderful. It was juicy but also quite salty.
The next day I wanted to try another butcher shop. I can’t recall where I found this. Somewhere in the streets. They had this pork with a sausage embedded. The meat part was not too salty this time. It’s an intriguing combination for me.
It might be too meaty a meal, but I’d go to a butcher’s again for this local experience.
Norbi Étkezde
Address: Budapest, Tátra u. 5, 1136 Hungary (Map)
This is a tiny canteen in an ordinary street. It seemed decent because there were quite some local people for takeaway. A bit intimidating at the beginning because I didn’t know if they could understand what I wanted to order, but fortunately they spoke a little bit of English. They wrote every dish available that day on a blackboard. I tried very hard recognising some words/dishes I knew, but it was still very challenging. I didn’t really mind what they had because I thought anything would be good, based on what I saw over the counter. I was a bit late when I visited, so most things were sold out. They had some beef goulash for me along with a bowl of cucumber salad. The salad was very refreshing. The beef goulash had a rich flavour and I just loved this simple dish. And it was totally affordable.
On the last day, before I headed to the airport, I came here again because I wanted to have some local food at the very last moment. They had chicken goulash this time. I grabbed these two containers all the way to the airport, went through customs, and finally had time to enjoy the meal next to the gate. Despite being a bit cold, the food was very satisfying, seriously. I truly miss the small canteen and the friendly staff and I’d love to try their food again.
Arany Tenger Kínai Étterem
Address: Budapest, Lónyay u. 64, 1093 Hungary (Map)
There’s nothing special about this Chinese canteen actually. I just found it interesting that there were quite a few places like this in Budapest and decided to try one myself. Chow mein with stir-fried chicken. Exotic. Lol.
That’s all! Budapest is a lovely city (though a bit creepy at night) with affordable and mouthwatering food. I’d love to visit it again in 2023 when the reconstruction of the Chain Bridge is finished.