Journey in Hungary

[pepe]

Hello,

I read all your topics about Hungary, but they are all of Budapest and sorroundings, did anyone knows good restaurants in orther turistic places like Heviz, Balaton, Miskolc or Eger.

thanks for your recomnedations.

PP

[Poots]

I was in the Hungarian countryside in May of 2004. I went to Lake Heviz and ate at a restaurant on the main drag in the small town. If you were coming from the lake(walking) and hung a left onto the main street it was a very short distance on the left. We had goulash, halazle(fish soup) and i had this magnificent pike(i think)

Lake Heviz was a trip. My 2 friends and i were the youngest by...50yrs maybe. The Lake was advertised as curing everything from arthritis to cancer. Strong smell of sulfur and also was told the lake had small levels of radiation

and

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11199701..._129_356510.jpg

Also went to Eger and Tokaji. Would Highly reccomend Tokaji. It was a wonderful experience and if you like dessert wine it's truly amazing(although you may go into insulin shock after a day of multiple tastings!).

Here's 2 pics of the caves of Diznoko Winery.

and

and some Very aged wine...they believe the mold is beneficial to the aging process.

i'll see if i can dig up some names of other places i dined at there.

[zaelic]

Hungary is not going to be a foodie paradise - access to good ingredients just is not there for chefs anymore, and around the Balaton, a lot of the ingredients will be bought at giant supermarkets like Tesco, or even in Austria, where bulk goods are now cheaper. Also, Hungarian law regulates the set up of a restaurant kitchen in such a way that chefs never actually work together - there has to be a separate room for meat prep, a separate room for veg prep, etc. It is frustrating, especially at the Balaton, where prices are high but many of the kitchen help are students on vacation.

That said, I generally prefer my Hungarian food in the countryside. Just avoid the obvious tourist traps. Small town csardas along the highways are usually good. When in doubt, stick to guyas or bab leves (bean soup.) After that, the menu will usually be something fried with an egg plopped on top, and for a Hungarian the question of quality is usually trumped by quantity - it was a wonderful meal because a Big Piece of Meat had a Big Egg on top.

The Halasz Csarda in downtown Szeged has the best fish soup in Hungary, hands down.

For Budapest recomendations, check out www.pestiside.hu

[Hector]

Hungary is not going to be a foodie paradise - access to good ingredients just is not there for chefs anymore, and around the Balaton, a lot of the ingredients will be bought at giant supermarkets like Tesco, or even in Austria, where bulk goods are now cheaper. Also, Hungarian law regulates the set up of a restaurant kitchen in such a way that chefs never actually work together - there has to be a separate room for meat prep, a separate room for veg prep, etc. It is frustrating, especially at the Balaton, where prices are high but many of the kitchen help are students on vacation.

That said, I generally prefer my Hungarian food in the countryside. Just avoid the obvious tourist traps. Small town csardas along the highways are usually good. When in doubt, stick to guyas or bab leves (bean soup.) After that, the menu will usually be something fried with an egg plopped on top, and for a Hungarian the question of quality is usually trumped by quantity - it was a wonderful meal because a Big Piece of Meat had a Big Egg on top.

The Halasz Csarda in downtown Szeged has the best fish soup in Hungary, hands down.

For Budapest recomendations, check out www.pestiside.hu

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Really? I've bought this great copy of Culinaria Hungary.. Culinaria is those great cookbooks and "food travel guides" where food isn't sorted by the ingridient, it's sorted by which region it's from. In that book you'll get a really good glimpse of hungarian specialties far beyond guylas and bableves. From humble deep fried bread, prune raviolis, palacsinta, fried goose liver, weal bone soup to the luxurious dinner table of Gundel. From what I've read in that book, and from the recipes I've tried, Hungary seems to be a real food paradise. But when I read your post it stumbles me that the really great foods might not be so easily found.

Edited July 23, 2005 by Hector (log)

[Pan]

I ate well in Budapest -- often very well -- and loved my visit there. This was back in 1994, and they already had good ingredients then. So at least there, in those days, there was very good Hungarian food to be had. However, I haven't had the pleasure of visiting the countryside; the furthest I got from Budapest, other than when travelling to Budapest by train from Italy via Austria, was Szentendre.

[Jon Tseng]

Cut-price foie gras is a welcome feature of hungarian restaurant menus, though unfortunately it is often overcooked. Hungary is world's largest export of fg, most of it to France

J

[Hector]

Cut-price foie gras is a welcome feature of hungarian restaurant menus, though unfortunately it is often overcooked.  Hungary is world's largest export of fg, most of it to France

J

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Yes, it's really great. Hungarian Foie Gras is a product almost equal to the French, and for a more reasonable price. Now that we talk about it here, I actually get cravings for it. aauurgh.