Budapest - eating out

Budapest is still much cheaper than the rest of Europe: you will have a good chance of eating in a very good Hungarian traditional restaurant for comparably little money. It must be noted that it is very difficult for vegetarians to find something to eat in a restaurant serving mostly Hungarian specialities, given the widespread use of animal fat, even on vegetables.

There is also a number of world cuisine restaurants, with varying price and quality levels, including French, Chinese, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Indian, American, Greek, British, Czech, Danish, and even vegetarian and kosher restaurants.

If you want to eat very cheap, there are a lot of takeaways and fast food chains. A great option, if you like salami, is to go to the grocer’s and get your own loaf of bread and one of the numerous varieties of salami, with or without paprika, or cooked sausages.

Hungarian cuisine is quite varied, and is influenced by all of the different populations who have lived at any time in the area. It is in fact a mixture of French cuisine brought in via the Austrian empire and the local traditional dishes, which have an Asian flavour, due to the area of origin of the Hungarian people before they migrated to Europe. Hungarians prefer strong flavour, and one of the most popular ingredients is paprika (grounded hot peppers), which can come in milder varieties (only for flavour) and hotter ones (which will burn your tongue). Another characteristic of Hungarian cuisine is sour cream, which might be an acquired taste for many, but it’s an interesting experience. Lard is widely used to pan and deep fry food. It must be said that a lot of dishes in Hungarian cuisine are fried, so a meal, however delicious, can get to be a bit heavy if you’re not used to eating fried food.

Hungarian cuisine is particularly strong in meats, which are also served in soups like goulash (remember, in Hungary goulash is not a stew but a very thick soup), fresh water fish and desserts. There’s been a whole school of patisserie in Budapest; the most famous personality has been Emil Gerbaud; there’s still a patisserie carrying his name in V., Vörösmarty tér 7, which is ideal if you want to taste chocolate delicacies. For the non-politically-correct gourmets, goose liver is also very good.