Local Food in Budapest: What to EAT?
“The portions are large”
Oh yes, the portions are large and the food in Hungary are relatively cheap (compare to the Western Europe). So the question is what to eat, where to eat, which restaurants and where is it? Local food such as Fozelek, the locals will tell you it means ‘a dish’. And this dish is usually made with cooked vegetables with a thick roux. Roux is a mixture made with wheat flour and fat. So you know it can be quite heavy and filling, that makes it ‘a dish’.
If you like fried dough with toppings, some foreigners and tourists like to think of it as the “Hungarian Pizza”. Actually it is a speciality. From the Asian context, you can imagine a flat round shaped ‘youtiao’ or fried breadstick, with sour cream, garlic oil and bacon bits on it. The taste is very good but do not go for too big piece of it as it can be really heavy. Traditionally done, the original flavour is the best: sour cream toppings, garlic oil and bacon bits. So it is called 'Langos'.
If you like fried dough with toppings, some foreigners and tourists like to think of it as the “Hungarian Pizza”. Actually it is a speciality. From the Asian context, you can imagine a flat round shaped ‘youtiao’ or fried breadstick, with sour cream, garlic oil and bacon bits on it. The taste is very good but do not go for too big piece of it as it can be really heavy. Traditionally done, the original flavour is the best: sour cream toppings, garlic oil and bacon bits. So it is called 'Langos'.
Next, for snacks during tea breaks or as and when you feel a little hungry, you can go for the scone. Usually, it has butter, cheese and different versions. The best is to choose those with cracklings. Cracklings or pork rind give it the fragrance that makes you ask for more. This Hungarian scone is called pogacsa. For lunch or dinner, you may want to try the Fozelek, some regularly seen Fozelek served on steam tables are pea, lentils, potato, cabbage, spinach or bean. Top it with cream sauce sometimes it tastes sweet and at times people add vinegar to make it entirely sourish. This is a socialist period school lunch – rather called an institutional meal that meant to feed a crowd. So you choose some fried items like chicken, potatoes, fish, meat balls (called fasirt), mushroom, cauliflour or turkey slices.
A chef friend of mine has a personal favourite, that is the langos. Though it is deep fried in lard, the freshly made ones are very tasty. Do go with an empty stomach, to complete one entire langos. Then if you are eating this at a market, end it off with a strudel (the retes). You can find great retes at the Central market hall where there are savoury or sweet versions are available, freshly baked. The retes also comes with different types, like apple fillings, poppy seeds, sour cherries, cabbage. My personal favourite is again the original, with cottage cheese filling. So this is part one, I shall continue in the next posts.