There are so many food specialties to try out in Budapest, so I’ve made you a list of the most famous and tasty ones !
If you are coming to Hungary, you cannot miss the food culture there.
Whether it is goulash, langos or the sweet Kürtőskalács, I’ll list here what specialties you can find and where to try them.
Hungary’s most world-famous dish is definitely the goulash. It’s a paprika stew filled with vegetables and meat (usually beef cuts, but can be lamb or pork sometimes). You can the vibrant red stew in the first picture below.
In Budapest, you’ll also find in almost every menu salty crepes called hortobágyi palacsinta stuffed with meat (chicken or veal for example), drowning in paprika sauce and creme fraiche, as you can see in picture 1 below.
A famous Hungarian street food is the langos : it’s a salted deep-fried dough in a flatbread shape, covered with creme fraiche and grated cheese. Of course, you can add many toppings such as bacon bits, ham, onions, the list goes on ! (see picture 2 below).
There are many other specialties to try such as töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage with pork and rice), paprikás csirke (paprika chicken stew), pörkölt (meat stew), and many other paprika-based soups and stew.
Among all the sweet specialties you’ll find in Hungary, the most famous is the kürtöskalács. Also called chimney cakes, these are cylindrical brioche spit-roasted over a wood fire (see first picture below). This result in delicious dessert, crispy on the outside and super soft on the inside. It’s usually coated with cinnamon sugar, but can also be filled with whipped cream, chocolate, pistachio cream…you name it ! You can see a generous version on the third photo below.
Another typical dessert is the gundel palacsinta. This sweet crepe is filled with nuts, raisins and rum, drizzled with chocolate sauce. This one is an absolute delight (see picture 2).
There are many other traditional sweet treats such as :
- Dobos torta : a cake with several layers of sponge cake and rich chocolate cream, covered with caramel
- Krémes : A square cake made entirely of vanilla custard layered between two slices of puff pastry.
- Flodni : a pastry with 4 layers of filling: plum jam, walnuts, apple sauce and poppy seed.
Prices in Budapest are overall very affordable : we went in great restaurants and the main dishes were between 10-12€.
I will list three of the best restaurants we tried on our stay and that I would recommend :
- Menza : the atmosphere is really nice, you feel like you’re in a colourful ’70s living room, and the food is REALLY good. There’s a menu that changes every week, but some staples are always available. I cannot recommend enough the duck burger with gorgonzola cheese, bacon and blueberry mayonnaise, one of the best burgers I ever tasted ! And if you have room for dessert, try the vegan blueberry cheesecake : to die for.
- Pest-Buda : The dish are more expensive here but if you want to try authentic savoury crepes with chicken and paprika (hortobágyi palacsinta) or the sweet ones (gundel palacsinta) with nuts and chocolate.
- Retro Langos : This is THE place is you want to discover the langos. Cheaper than anywhere else (5-9€), not too greasy and there’s a wide selection of toppings.
- Finally, if you are on the lookout for Mediterranean cuisine, i recommend Mazel Tov. The setting is splendid but make sure to make a reservation as it is quite popular.
That’s it for my recommendations on the food specialties to try out in Hungary. We had a wonderful time trying all the best food specialties in Budapest and I’m sure you will too !
If you plan on visiting Budapest any time soon, check out my Budapest weekend itinerary, or this article detailing everything you need to know before you visit Budapest.
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