Hungary..not ’Hungry’
Hungary…not ’Hungry’
(about the cuisine)
Dear Future Participants!
You are about to visit the capital of Hungary. Not Hungry!
It’s a common mistake foreigners make. And the funny thing is that we call our own country by a totally different name: ’Magyarország’. And no, we are not hungry! Perhaps for knowledge and participants 😉
Well, decide it for yourself. Our traditional dishes almost always contain bacon, fat or oil, onions and paprika powder, pork or beef plus pasta or potatoes, served with white bread. But of course Hungarian cuisine is more colorful than that, so it’s best if you taste it yourself, for example by visiting any of the following restaurants that are found downtown and I tried myself:
Kiskakukk – The wood-paneled walls and leather-upholstered chairs give the place a sophisticated, albeit homey atmosphere and evoke the history of this once-fashionable residential neighborhood. Address: District XIII, Pozsonyi utca 12, Budapest (near the Parliament)
http://www.kiskakukk.hu/index.nof?o=0&nyelvid=2
Kisbuda Gyöngye – One of the finest restaurant of Buda. The place is filled with antique furniture and decorated with an elegant patchwork of carved wooden cupboard doors and panels. Meat and game dishes stand out here. Address: District III, Kenyeres utca 34, Óbuda, Budapest
http://www.kisbudagyongye.hu/kisbuda/kisbuda_etterem_en.html
Menza – The place is a 1970s-style cafeteria evoking the communist-era – only by its looks: retro table settings and lighting design. It is located in the heart of trendy Liszt Ferenc tér (where you find numerous other restaurants and bars to spend an evening at). Address: District VI, Liszt Ferenc tér 2, Budapest
Lizard Restaurant – This is said to be the nicest and most romantic restaurant on Ráday street. The street is also called ’Culture street’ since it gives place to many programs, festivals, concerts, restaurants, bars, museums, galleries and small, often underground theatres. Address: District IX, Ráday utca 16, Budapest
More information on where to go to:
http://www.bestofbudapest.com/dining-out/restaurants/home.html?restaurant=48
What I would strongly recommend for you to try include cold mixed fruit soup, veal stew with special noodles richly sprinkled with cottage cheese and small peaces of fried bacon, and for dessert, either pancakes ’Gundel’ style (filled with tasty wallnut cream, chocholate dressing) or Somloer nockel (sponge cake soaked in chocholate, rum, with vanilla and chocholate pudding, sprinkled with wallnut pieces, raisins, topped with whipped cream and chocholate dressing). And for heaven’s sake, stop counting those calories for one day only!
If you don’t eat pork nor veal or beef, you’ll find a really wide selection of poultry meals in every restaurant, and many offer fish too, although not too often.
And of course, if you tried and hated Hungarian food, you can still find your favorite among representatives of cuisine of other nations including Italian, Chinese, Indian, South-American, and North American…Vegetarian, Paleolit, Halal, etc!
If I’m visiting an other town, I usually like to walk around a lot, and when I get a little tired, I try to find a nice café or confectionary to sit and enjoy caffee and sweets and watch people on the streets. A homage to this ’hobby’ can be done on Váci street, Ráday street, the Duna corso (embankment) or the castle district too, but the best place for this is probably Liszt Ferenc square. You will always see many people there, walking and trying to find out which bar would best fit their needs.
More info:
http://www.hungarybudapestguide.com/restaurants/other-stuff/liszt-ferenc-square
ALEXANDRA BARTAL
ESOPBlog Hungarian Editor
3 comments on “Hungary..not ’Hungry’”
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I feel like getting hungry 😀
Would you share your personal recipe for Somloer Nockel with us?
Tx, Gaetan
Hey there!
Sure, here you are: The recipe of the traditional ‘Somloi galuska’ = Somloer nockel
Ingredients –
The sponge cake:
– 6 tablespoons flour
– 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
– 6 eggs
– 10 decagram ground nut
– 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
– 1 spoon of baking powder
The vanilla cream:
– 3 oz of milk
– Three pieces of egg yolk
– 8 decagram powdered sugar
– 1 stick of vanilla (scratch out the inside of it)
– 1 teaspoon of food starch
The chocolate dressing:
– 20 decagram good quality dark chocolate
– 1.5 oz cream
– 3 decagram butter
– 2 tablespoons rum
The rum-dressing:
-2 Tablespoons rum
– 1.5 oz of water
– 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
– 10 decagram sugar
In addition:
– A big handful of raisins
– 2 oz of rum
– 10 decagram ground nut
– 3 oz of cream for whipped cream
– 1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder for garnish
Preparation-
First, bake a sponge cake. Whip the egg yolks together with the powdered sugar, then gradually add the premixed flour plus baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to hard foam, and with a large spoon and careful movements, stir the yolks to this foam. Divide the dough into three parts. Add cocoa powder to one part, ground nuts to another, and the third remains as it was. Bake the three types of dough separately in buttered baking dishes over 10-12 minutes.
Prepare the creams as well. Vanilla cream: mix the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla and then gradually add the milk and cook over steam until creamy and add food starch. chocolate dressing: melt the pieces of chocolate over warm water, add the cream, rum and water. Rum-dressing: cook the sugar in water for about 10 minutes to thicken, remove from heat and add the grated orange peel and rum. Soak the raisins in the rum.
Cut the sponge cakes into smaller pieces and mix them together. Get a large bowl and sprinkle a layer of sponge cake, soak it with rum sauce, sprinkle the raisins and rum, ground nuts, and vanilla cream. Follow this routine until the materials run out. Sprinkle cocoa powder to this, cover richly with whipped cream (or you can do this immediately before serving) thoroughly pour the chocolate sauce over the ‘cake’.
And…of course, you can do this easy way, buy premade sponge cake, buy vanilla and chocolate pudding powders, and you can significantly reduce preparation time.
Bon appetit!
Alexandra
tx will try on when it is not so hot!
Gaetan