Gulyás- Known around the world as goulash, this rich stew is made of meat and vegetable, and seasoned with paprika. Although beef is used commonly, you can also find gulyás made from pork, chicken and even a few vegetarian and vegan versions. The golden rule is to use paprika as the main seasoning spice. Hungarians are proud of their gulyás and love having the stew served with tiny egg noodles called csipetke, straight from a cast iron cauldron. For a unique dining experience, visit Vagon restaurant (Vérmező), which is hosted inside an old train carriage parked beside a busy train station. For an unpretentious option, try Gettó Gulyás (Wesselényi u. 18), a mid-range restaurant in the Jewish Quarter.
Chicken paprikás- As you can guess by now, paprika is widely used in Hungary and to make this dish, rosy and flavourful sweet paprika is the spice of choice for the creamy sauce which the chicken meat is simmered in it for over an hour. Serving chicken paprikash with anything other than egg dumplings called nokedli is highly frowned upon. Try it at Paprika Jancsi (Ráday u. 16)
Lecsó- Pronounced as lech-o, this is a vegetable stew with tomatoes, yellow peppers and onions seasoned with salt and a generous amount of either sweet or hot paprika powder. Served with bread and often with a scoop of sour cream, this is a must-try dish for vegetarians visiting Budapest.
The beloved street food lángos (pronounced lan-gosh) is a deep-fried dough served with toppings of one’s choice. Just a few years ago, asking for anything other than sour cream and cheese on your lángos was unheard of, but street vendors in Budapest today are updating traditional recipes with a modern twist. You can now get a variety of toppings, much like what you would get on a pizza.
If you have a sweet tooth, this lavish dessert is a must-try. Somlói galuska is a trifle made with three different flavoured sponge cakes, cream, raisins as well as walnuts and chocolate sauce. When somlói was first created in the late 1950s, it enjoyed so much success and even won an award at the World Expo in 1958.
If you are visiting Budapest during summer, you will notice Fröccs being the drink of choice among the locals, a basic cocktail of wine and soda water. Depending on the wine-to-soda ratio, fröccs can have a dozen different, very creative names.
Pálinka is a strong alcoholic beverage, traditionally distilled from plums and pears, in recent times brewers have also tried wild fruits like sloe berries. Pálinka is typically enjoyed at the end of a meal to aid digestion. Did we mention that only fruit spirits mashed, distilled, matured and bottled in Hungary (and part of Austria) can be called Pálinka?
