This post will take you far beyond the realm of goulash. Vegetarians beware!
Caroline and I ate our way across two countries, never daunted by unusual foods, heavy foods, paprika, or pig's knuckles. :) This is another one of those posts that the vegetarians might want to avoid as it gets a little down and dirty with the animal flesh.
Allow me to say, Caroline tried goulash soup everywhere we went, from a cup at Ket Szerecsen the first night, to lunch in the Castle District (where I had some too), to venison goulash with mushrooms and dumplings at Tigris, to lunch in Vienna. I wish I'd taken pictures of all that goulash.
Here is a random shot google served up for me.
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| Gulyash |
Here it is in a "clay pot" as the Hungarians serve it. Not sure why they call it a clay pot because it's usually a red enamel pot with a spirit lamp under it. Maybe in the olden days it was clay.
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| Gulyas Garnished with Hot Paprika Peppers |
The Hungarians spell goulash as "gulyas". In Magyar speech, the "s" or "ss" has a "sh" sound. They try to Anglicize it by spelling it "goulyas" or "gulyash". Mostly for the tourists.
It's typical for Hungarians to use the hot green paprika peppers as garnish. Did you know paprika peppers come in red, yellow, green, and white, and the whiter and greener the hotter? I don't think I've seen a pepper here yet that isn't some kind of paprika pepper.
Yes, all of the above are paprika peppers. I have some in my fridge right now that look like the red ones on top. The sliced green ones do make a good garnish for their stews. I ate it as a garnish to their carp stew and it was tasty. I wish I'd taken a picture of that meal. That was pre-Ezstergom.
Here's some fish stew.
In any case, our long weekend of eating was a prolonged adventure in new edibles and old standbys.
We Started in Hungary
The first night Caroline was here we ate at my favorite restaurant, Ket Szerecsen, which happens to be Cynthia Nixon's favorite restaurant in Budapest as well.
http://www.ketszerecsen.hu/
It's a great place, and I've had some excellent game there. One of the most memorable meals was some particularly delicious rabbit served with mashed potatoes that had carrots mixed into them. Query: why does the meat taste best with the food it consumes? Something about those carrots went so well with that little herbivore!
When we ate there, I decided to try the wild boar Bolognese which was one of their chalkboard specials. Can I just say, game doesn't taste "gamey" if done right. Magnifique! Sorry, no pictures.
The next night we ate at Tigris with some friends. This was a restaurant none of us had tried but our friend selected it because they heard it was good and we were all in the mood for something nice and out-of-the-ordinary, and while Ket Szerecsen fits the bill for nice and good, it's an old-standby for those of us who live in Budapest. Here is the URL for Tigris.
http://www.tigrisrestaurant.hu/english
We started with appetizers. Caroline had rabbit pate. Thomas had shrimp soup. I tried Beef Tartare a la Francaise. I had always wanted to try it and I thought that might be a good place to start. It was quite tasty for raw ground beef. Susan tried our appetizers but saved her appetite for the main course.
For main courses, Caroline had venison with dumplings and mushrooms---essentially a venison goulash. I almost ordered venison tenderloin but I ended up having sea bass, primarily because good saltwater fish is so hard to get in Hungary and since it was a nice restaurant I knew the fish would be good. Our friends had duck. They place served us a celery cream as an appetizer prior to the appetizers we had ordered. We weren't sure whether to eat it with bread or with the spoon they served it with. It was tasty. I never would have thought celery cream would be tasty. Dare I say, I think it would have been really good with some real bacon bits on top!
In addition to these meals we chowed down on goulash on Castle Hill and had bacon and eggs in the New York Cafe.
Next Stop Vienna
The next day Caroline and I headed for Vienna. Lunch was awesome. We were tired and starving, and it was chilly out. Our hotel concierge recommended a new restaurant around the corner, and we headed there. Caroline had a delicious roast pork with sauerkraut and I had ox stead with pepper sauce and mashed potatoes.
Here is my ox steak. But first, a little friend.
Oh, I almost forgot. We started our lunch with cream of leek soup.
Now for the Ox Steak!
It was served with creamy mashed potatoes (yes, that's a homemade potato chip stuck on the top of the potatoes) and creamed spinach with pine nuts on top. It was one of the top 5 best steaks I've ever eaten.
Here is Caroline's roast pork with dumpling.
That night we ate supper in the hotel. Hello, room service! I ate a hamburger. A sajtburger as they say in Hungary. (Bet you $5 you can't say that word as well as I can!) I had been craving a burger since I got to Hungary, so I decided to go for it. Caroline had schnitzel, and we had chocolate mousse for dessert. I think we were both hankering for some after we saw a little boy at a table next to us at lunch order a big dish of it.
The next day on our carriage tour the driver took us by this really old restaurant. We couldn't understand what he was saying because there was too much noise in the streets, but we could tell he was telling us that the place was really old, and the smell emanating from it was divine. After the carriage ride we wandered around until we found it, and we ate assorted sausages with kraut and potatoes. Caroline started the meal with goulash soup and I had beef consomme with a semolina dumpling, which is common in Vienna. Here is the consomme.
I'm trying to locate my picture of the sausages but in the meantime this will do. They were served with potatoes and sauerkraut.
The restaurant was cool. It was dark inside. We sat on benches. The man at the table behind us was elderly and he had a little Yorkie under the table. The little pup barked at the waiter each time he came by. He was so cute! The Yorkie that is. Sorry, I didn't get down on the floor under the table to take his picture!
It's typical for Hungarians to use the hot green paprika peppers as garnish. Did you know paprika peppers come in red, yellow, green, and white, and the whiter and greener the hotter? I don't think I've seen a pepper here yet that isn't some kind of paprika pepper.
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| Red Paprika Peppers |
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| Yellow Paprika Peppers |
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| A Rainbow of Colors |
Here's some fish stew.
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| Hungarian Fish Stew Made with Carp |
We Started in Hungary
The first night Caroline was here we ate at my favorite restaurant, Ket Szerecsen, which happens to be Cynthia Nixon's favorite restaurant in Budapest as well.
http://www.ketszerecsen.hu/
It's a great place, and I've had some excellent game there. One of the most memorable meals was some particularly delicious rabbit served with mashed potatoes that had carrots mixed into them. Query: why does the meat taste best with the food it consumes? Something about those carrots went so well with that little herbivore!
When we ate there, I decided to try the wild boar Bolognese which was one of their chalkboard specials. Can I just say, game doesn't taste "gamey" if done right. Magnifique! Sorry, no pictures.
The next night we ate at Tigris with some friends. This was a restaurant none of us had tried but our friend selected it because they heard it was good and we were all in the mood for something nice and out-of-the-ordinary, and while Ket Szerecsen fits the bill for nice and good, it's an old-standby for those of us who live in Budapest. Here is the URL for Tigris.
http://www.tigrisrestaurant.hu/english
We started with appetizers. Caroline had rabbit pate. Thomas had shrimp soup. I tried Beef Tartare a la Francaise. I had always wanted to try it and I thought that might be a good place to start. It was quite tasty for raw ground beef. Susan tried our appetizers but saved her appetite for the main course.
For main courses, Caroline had venison with dumplings and mushrooms---essentially a venison goulash. I almost ordered venison tenderloin but I ended up having sea bass, primarily because good saltwater fish is so hard to get in Hungary and since it was a nice restaurant I knew the fish would be good. Our friends had duck. They place served us a celery cream as an appetizer prior to the appetizers we had ordered. We weren't sure whether to eat it with bread or with the spoon they served it with. It was tasty. I never would have thought celery cream would be tasty. Dare I say, I think it would have been really good with some real bacon bits on top!
In addition to these meals we chowed down on goulash on Castle Hill and had bacon and eggs in the New York Cafe.
Next Stop Vienna
The next day Caroline and I headed for Vienna. Lunch was awesome. We were tired and starving, and it was chilly out. Our hotel concierge recommended a new restaurant around the corner, and we headed there. Caroline had a delicious roast pork with sauerkraut and I had ox stead with pepper sauce and mashed potatoes.
Here is my ox steak. But first, a little friend.
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| Don't You Have a Bite for Me? |
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| Creamy Leek Soup in Vienna |
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| Ox Steak with Pepper Sauce in Vienna |
Here is Caroline's roast pork with dumpling.
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| Roast Pork with Dumpling |
That night we ate supper in the hotel. Hello, room service! I ate a hamburger. A sajtburger as they say in Hungary. (Bet you $5 you can't say that word as well as I can!) I had been craving a burger since I got to Hungary, so I decided to go for it. Caroline had schnitzel, and we had chocolate mousse for dessert. I think we were both hankering for some after we saw a little boy at a table next to us at lunch order a big dish of it.
The next day on our carriage tour the driver took us by this really old restaurant. We couldn't understand what he was saying because there was too much noise in the streets, but we could tell he was telling us that the place was really old, and the smell emanating from it was divine. After the carriage ride we wandered around until we found it, and we ate assorted sausages with kraut and potatoes. Caroline started the meal with goulash soup and I had beef consomme with a semolina dumpling, which is common in Vienna. Here is the consomme.
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| Beef Consomme |
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| Viennese Assorted Sausages with Kraut and Pretzels |
The restaurant was cool. It was dark inside. We sat on benches. The man at the table behind us was elderly and he had a little Yorkie under the table. The little pup barked at the waiter each time he came by. He was so cute! The Yorkie that is. Sorry, I didn't get down on the floor under the table to take his picture!
I watched the elderly man. He drank a Gosser beer, then he had a cup of mulled wine after his meal with his dessert, then he had two glasses of Schnapps. It WAS a cold day!
Here are some pictures of the outside of the restaurant.
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| Our Luncheon Spot in Vienna |
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| Lunch in Vienna |
Later on we stopped at a cafe to have the obligatory Viennese coffee and pastry. I really wish I had not been too lazy to take pictures. History has taught me I always want the pictures later.
Caroline ordered a latte, I ordered "the Mozart". Yes, silly, touristy name, but I figured, "Hey, I'm in Vienna, what the hell." It was supposed to be an espresso with whipped cream and Mozart brand chocolate liqueur. The liqueur was served in a small bottle, which I proceeded to pour on top of the whipped cream. Instead of mixing itself into the cream, it splashed off of the whipped cream and out onto my saucer, causing Caroline to give me a look of derision. She then, in an uncharacteristic move, knocked her latte over with her elbow. (My move was, sad to say, not so uncharacteristic.) I said, "Dinner with the Queen," which is an old family joke. As a child one time I told my family that sometimes when I was eating that I imagined what it would be like to have dinner with the Queen (meaning, how one would need to behave, etc.) It has been the source of many jokes from that time on, mostly at my expense. :)
We had a little mishap with the cake too. We decided we should order some cake for my mom's sake, but why we didn't just order a traditional Viennese cake like the Sacher Torte I don't know. Caroline told me to pick, and they had a picture of something that looked like a Black Forest Cake and I was craving something along those lines, so that's what I ordered. Our waiter messed up an brought a slice of cheesecake, but we were too lazy and unconcerned to do much about it so we just let it slide. ;)
Here is a picture of the Satcher Tort for Mom's sake. Mom, I promise next time I'll order a piece and eat it for you. This came from the Sacher Hotel's web-site.
And here is a Black Forest Cake for my sake. Melinda, I promise to eat a slice for you sometime in the future!
Caroline ordered a latte, I ordered "the Mozart". Yes, silly, touristy name, but I figured, "Hey, I'm in Vienna, what the hell." It was supposed to be an espresso with whipped cream and Mozart brand chocolate liqueur. The liqueur was served in a small bottle, which I proceeded to pour on top of the whipped cream. Instead of mixing itself into the cream, it splashed off of the whipped cream and out onto my saucer, causing Caroline to give me a look of derision. She then, in an uncharacteristic move, knocked her latte over with her elbow. (My move was, sad to say, not so uncharacteristic.) I said, "Dinner with the Queen," which is an old family joke. As a child one time I told my family that sometimes when I was eating that I imagined what it would be like to have dinner with the Queen (meaning, how one would need to behave, etc.) It has been the source of many jokes from that time on, mostly at my expense. :)
We had a little mishap with the cake too. We decided we should order some cake for my mom's sake, but why we didn't just order a traditional Viennese cake like the Sacher Torte I don't know. Caroline told me to pick, and they had a picture of something that looked like a Black Forest Cake and I was craving something along those lines, so that's what I ordered. Our waiter messed up an brought a slice of cheesecake, but we were too lazy and unconcerned to do much about it so we just let it slide. ;)
Here is a picture of the Satcher Tort for Mom's sake. Mom, I promise next time I'll order a piece and eat it for you. This came from the Sacher Hotel's web-site.
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| Sacher Torte |
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| Black Forest Cake |
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| Wiener Schnitzel in Wien |
It was served with potatoes and salad, but those didn't make the cut. :) I forget what Caroline had but it was covered in gravy.
Before we leave Vienna, I want to share some photos of the street food and the railway station food.
These noodle/hot dog/sausage/kebab stands were EVERYWHERE. The noodles looked damn good too! I've been craving Lo Mein ever since we left Vienna as a matter of fact!
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| A1 Noodles and Hot Dogs! |
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| One On Every Street Corner---They Serve Beer Too! |
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| Schnitz'l Land at the Bahnhof Railway Station |
Back to Budapest
And now our adventures in heavy gravy-laden European meals take us back to the Magyar homeland. Caroline and I finished her stay with a trip to Kehli Restaurant. I had heard about this restaurant first in a guidebook when I was searching, upon arriving in Budapest, for traditional Hungarian food. This was pre-Esztergom where I had more paprika cream sauce and pig knuckle than I knew what to do with, and vowed to cook my own meals for 6 months.
What intrigued me about this place is that shortly after reading about it I learned that it was the favorite haunt of the famous Hungarian writer Gyula Krudy (or, as the Hungarians would say, Krudy Gyula. Hungarian convention is to put the surname first.) Here is a picture of Krudy.
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| Krudy Gyula |
Apparently Krudy mentioned Kehli's bone marrow on toast in one of his novels, and they gave him a permanent seat in their restaurant. He was a journalist, and among many other things, a restaurant critic. It probably ensured a good business to do so.
The cardboard menu you are handed in the restaurant even mentions "Papa Krudy" in the introduction, and his love of their restaurant, although that part doesn't make it onto their web-site. Their web-site is great, though. This quote is taken directly from their web-site.
On the night when the keeper of this restaurant was born, his mother, Esztike Lévai, had a fine meal of stuffed cabbage, which was left over from the time of the last pig-feast and had obviously been warmed up several times. In this dish there was the knuckle, the ears, and the tail of the pig as well. It was very spicy, as a great deal of red paprika, marjoram and Hungarian pepper were added. The feast was so good for the mother’s stomach that Mr. Cecei was born a whopping 5 kgs, and he has continued to grow to this day, until he now has expanded to weigh over 100 kilograms. Esztike Lévai has been cooking her dish for a long time, and Master Eduard – our chef –learned from her how to perfect this dish so that nice and well-fed babies continue to be born.
Here is their web-site. One of the best parts after reading the menu is to look at the photo gallery. Everybody from Woody Allen, to Sister Sledge, from Jimmy Carter, to Arnold Schwarzenegger have eaten there.
Here it is: http://www.kehli.hu/?p=nyitooldal
You'll be wanting to know if we had warmed over stuffed cabbage. We did not. Neither one of us are currently aiming to give birth to 5 KG babies. We started our meal with bone marrow on toast, and snails in sea salt.
Here is the bone marrow.
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| Bone Marrow Just Like Krudy Ate |
Here is the toast. It was served with fresh garlic cloves, which you rub on the toast before spreading it with bone marrow.
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| Garlic and Toast for Bone Marrow |
I must say, I never, in a million years, could have foreseen that I would one day willingly eat bone marrow. But it was Caroline's last night, and in the spirit of Krudy I decided to give it a whirl. You only live once, and I only have one year in Budapest. If I can't take home some good stories, what did I come for?
I always pictured bone marrow being like blood. Like solidified blood. Red, mealy. It's not. It's like fatty, delicious-tasting beefy meat stuck inside the bone. Yes, it's a little greasy, but that's the worst that can be said of it. It's heavy, and no, I don't see myself running to the butcher for bone marrow to prepare for my Sunday dinner, but I'm glad I tried it.
Now here are the snails, another first for me. They came out flaming but the waiter snuffed them out pretty quickly.
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| Snails on a Salt Bed |
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| Goulash and Dumplings at Kehli |
I had lamb served with dumplings. The lamb shank was prepared in gravy, and it was very tasty, but the dumplings were one of those Hungarian concoctions that I had enough of in Esztergom. The dumplings were cheese dumplings, topped with sour cream, with cracklings stirred in. I'm not so sure there wasn't some extra cheese component in there somewhere. I'm not opposed to fat now and then, or heavy food now and then, but after the bone marrow it was a bit much. I stuck mostly to the lamb.
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| Lamb and Dumplings at Kehli |
We did eat apple strudel for dessert but neither of us took a picture of that, and we did it mostly for ceremony sake, considering we were pretty full from bone marrow and lamb and goulash. And so ended another adventure in foreign cuisine. But stick around. I have plenty more trips planned, and I'm still eating that Magyar cuisine (and still cutting heads off chickens too!).
Szia!
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