Author: Budablogger

Blogger who wrote a Budapest blog, but once it ceased to exist I moved my previously written blog posts to the Budapest Guide. In other words, these posts were not originally written for the guide, but the posts were moved here as I stopped updating the Budapest blog.

Paprika Hungarian restaurant review

Posted on by Budablogger

Paprika Vendéglő, or Paprika, is a cozy and nice Hungarian restaurant located not far from the Heroes Square and the City Park in Budapest. The restaurant does not look to special from the outside, but on the inside they have a very nice and traditional Hungarian interior. During the warmer months of the year the restaurant also has a nice terrace outside the main entrance where you can sit and enjoy the meals while viewing cars passing by (quite amusing in fact).

Paprika is well known among both locals and internationals, and here you can get traditional Hungarian extreme portions, meaning that you will in most cases not be in need of starter, main course and dessert… the main course is more than enough by itself. On the menu you can find Hungarian goulash soup, fish soup, grilled goose liver, wiener schnitzel and lots of other courses, which will give you a good introduction to the Hungarian kitchen. They also have some fish dishes and dishes specially prepared for vegetarians, so everyone should be able to find something after their taste as they visit Paprika restaurant in Budapest.

Prices at Paprika

The price level at Paprika is not bad at all, and almost all courses cost less than 4000 HUF. A dinner for two, of course depending on the amount of drinks you order, should cost somewhere between 6000-10,000 HUF. Here comes some price examples from the menu at Paprika:

Goulash soup: 1050 HUF
Spicy chicken slices with pasta: 1850 HUF
Wiener Schnitzel with french fries: 2200 HUF
Grilled rumpsteak Lyon style with French fries: 2900 HUF
Creamy Mushroom tagliatelle: 1700 HUF
Cottage cheese dumplings: 790 HUF
Coca Cola (0,2L): 310 HUF
Dréher 0.5l (draught beer): 600 HUF

Appetizer/starter in Paprika restaurant

It might be a bonus and it might be a minus in Paprika, but it is a reality that most Hungarian restaurants trying to create an authentic atmosphere also includes live gipsy music. This is not the fact in Paprika, and you are here able to enjoy your meal in peaceful quietness, only disturbed by your own and the voices of the other guests. After visiting quite some restaurants with gipsy music this is in the eyes of Budablogger a big PLUS!

Restaurant on the inside

Do not expect gourmet food as you come to Paprika, because then you will be disappointed. Expect instead traditional Hungarian food, large portions, good service and nice prices… and hopefully you will be satisfied! Feel free to share your own thoughts on the restaurants using the comments field at the bottom of this page.

To get to Paprika you can travel with the yellow metro to the stop Heroes square. As you look towards the Heroes square and have Andrassy ut behind you, start walking to the right and follow Dozsa Gyorgy ut for a while, until you finally reach Paprika after 3-4 minutes.

Paprika restaurant information

Dozsa Gyorgy ut 72, Budapest 1071
Tlf: +36-20-294-79-44
Opening times: 12.00-23.00

Where to live in Budapest?

Where to live in Budapest?

Posted on by Budablogger

Before arriving to Budapest many ask themselves the question where to stay/live while in Budapest. The question will have a different answer depending on the length of your stay and of course what is important to you and what requirements you have. Still there are some general advices that can be given. We will answer the question about where to live in Budapest in three different ways. The first part of our answer will be directed towards those coming to Budapest as tourists (1-14 days). The second part of our answer will be directed towards those who come to stay in Budapest for a reason for a period of between 2 weeks and half a year (short term visitors), and the third part of our answer will be to those who plan on staying in Budapest for half a year or a longer period (long term visitors)!

Where to live in Budapest?

Where to live in Budapest as a tourist?

Budapest is a city divided in two by the river Danube, the beautiful river giving Budapest one of the most beautiful panoramas in the entire world. The first question is therefor whether you should live on the Pest or on the Buda side. In general it can be said that the Buda side is a bit more quiet, greener and with more parks and at times less traffic. The most important places at the Buda side as a tourist is the Gellert Hill and the Castle hill with the Castle of Buda as the main attraction. Some shopping malls can also be found on the Buda side.

The Pest side is where you find the popular tourist areas such as the shopping street Váci Utca, the most popular shopping malls, most of the popular restaurants, quite some museums, the Big Market Hall and of course the Heroes Square and the exclusive shopping street Andrassy út.

Based on the information given here the general tourist will find it preferable to live on the Pest side and rather visit the Buda side once or twice during their stay. If you do the opposite you will often find yourself constantly walking across the Danube (or grabbing a taxi) to do anything at all, and that is time that could be used in a better way. The walk along and across the Danube is of course beautiful, but since most of your time will be spent on the Pest side, our recommendation would be to book a hotel on the Pest side of Budapest.

Where to live in Budapest as short term visitor?

If you come to Budapest as a short term visitor (between 15 days and 1/2 year) you probably have a reason to be here. Maybe you come to work in a special office for a while or maybe you are part of an exchange program, thus having to attend a school in the Hungarian capital for a short/long period of time. There might be plenty of reasons for you to come, but if this is you, then our main recommendation would be to find a place to live near your office or wherever you have to go frequently. It is not so important whether you stay in Pest or in Buda, but look for an apartment near your office. If your office/school or whatever is a bit outside the city center, check the possibilities on how to get there with public transportation and if there are good opportunities, find a place to live near a station which will easily take you to the place you need to visit regularly.

Where to live in Budapest as a long term visitor?

Maybe you have met a beautiful Hungarian girl and would like to get married and live in Budapest for a long, long time (until death do as part)? Or maybe you have received an offer of a dream job somewhere in Budapest and now you need to find a place to live in a hurry. No need to worry, there are plenty of flats available for sale and for rent in Budapest, and if needed, you can easily find a place to live within less than a week (if you have the money ready).

You might ask the frequently asked question; where should i live? In Buda or in Pest? The general Hungarian would often answer that Buda is best and Pest is a bit like it sais… a pest and a plague. Buda is in general a bit more peaceful and on a long term stay that might influence your choice. Compared to many districts on the Pest side Buda also has less crime, stealing of cars and such problems, also a plus and point to the Buda side. If you come to Budapest as a foreigner with children you should consider where the children will attend school or kindergarten. There are quite a lot of great English schools and kindergartens in Budapest, and it is for sure ideal if you manage to find a place to live near any of these. For those coming because of a job you should of course take your office location into consideration and try to live not to far away from it, or at least make it easily accessible with public transportation. You might have a nice sport car, but when the traffic jams come to Budapest, your engine will not help you get quicker to work than if you had an old Lada.

If you want to live in the most luxurious areas of Budapest you should consider buying a real estate at the Rozsadomb, the Buda hills not far from the Margaret Bridge. Another option is to find a nice flat or house in the area around the Gellert Hill, or between the Danube and the Fishermens Bastion.

These are some simple advices, but feel free to share your thoughts on the subject writing a comment further down on this page.

Report from Palinka and Sausage festival 2012

Posted on by Budablogger

Yesterday the Palinka and Sausage festival of 2012 was officially opened and the enjoyable festival will last until Sunday evening. We visited the festival on its first day, and here are our thoughts.

The first impression is that the festival reminds us of the beer festival in many ways. By the entrance you buy the ticket and you also buy an electronic card to which you add money, and later on the inside you use this card for payment everywhere, meaning that it is a moneyless festival. This system works fine, and since the first day of the festival is somewhat quiet, there were not really any lines or waiting time, so perfect!

Inside the festival area I was a bit amazed of the fact that there were much fewer stands than at both the beer festival and the wine festival. The Castle of Buda serves as the arena for the festival, but only the Lion and the Hunyadi courtyard. In these courtyards you could taste a whole lot of palinka, eat a lot of sausage and also taste tequila, which is the guest of honor at this years Palinka and Sausage festival.

The Hungarian fruit spirit normally has an alcohol content between 40% and 60%, so it is quite strong stuff. There were at least 20 different stands from where you could buy different kind of Palinka, and one of my friends tried a quite exclusive and expensive one; raspberry palinka. It was too strong for me, but it is cool to have tried it. Arpad is a famous producer of Palinka from Bekescsaba, and later we also tried some of their production, which tasted better then the previous Palinka (at least I think so… but, that is very subjective).

In the area there are quite some stands where you can buy warm sausages and eat them (like in any traditional Hungarian festival), and then you can buy different salamis and sausages and either bring them home or eat them together with bread at the festival area. One of the special sausages of Hungary is the one made from mangalica (a special hairy pig), so if you visit the area, try some mangalica sausage or ham. You can even buy salami from the Hungarian grey cattle (szürkemarha), which is something you do not get everywhere.

This is what the Mangalica looks like!

If you are not that much into Palinka then you can buy soft drinks at different places inside the area, and there are also two wine shops where you can buy different kinds of wine. They do not have the biggest selection, but considering the fact that it is a Palinka and Sausage festival it is not bad at all.

We visited the festival on the quiet opening day, but if you plan on visiting the festival today, tomorrow or on Sunday you can for sure expect more people (especially in the evenings), lots of strong Palinka, tasty sausages and lots of fun. Worth a visit!

The entrance fee for one day is 2000 HUF.

Lots of Palinka to taste at the festival

Flamingo restaurant (Fészek étterem)

Posted on by Budablogger

Flamingo restaurant (also known as Fészek étterem or Fészek klub) is the place you would normally never find, unless you knew about its existence. It is located in the seventh district of Budapest, not far from popular clubs such as Kuplong and restaurants such as Faustos and Trofea Grill. Still it is very different from these, and since it is so hard to find, it was almost empty as Budablogger went there to have his lunch.

Flamingo restaurant (Fészek étterem) does not look too much like a restaurant from the outside, but once they escort you to the garden inside the complex, it almost feels like a revelation. The restaurant has a really special atmosphere, but that is only valid in nice weather when you can sit outside in the garden and enjoy your meal. On a rainy day it can be enjoyable as well, as you sit in a kind of tunnel with roof above, but still outside „enjoying” the weather and the temperature. If you come during school time you can even enjoy the sound of children doing sports/gymnastics somewhere nearby (I am not sure if that is positive or not, but it wasn’t really disturbing at all).

The lunch menu in Flamingo costs about 1000 HUF, and then you will get three courses. As you come for a lunch menu you got a selection of different soups, main courses and desserts to choose between, making it easier for everyone to find something they like. When I visited the restaurant I started out with a broccoli cream soup followed by a pumpkin stew with pork goulash and an apple pie for dessert.

Flamingo is not among the top restaurants of Budapest, so therefore you do not expect the highest of high quality as you come here. But I at least expected the food to taste well and to satisfy my hunger. The soup came quickly and it was tasty, nice and green – just the way it is supposed to be. The main course came in a big portion and it looked very nice, and tasted even better. After eating everything until then I did not really need a dessert, but since it was in the menu I had ordered, then of course I had to eat the dessert as well (though I only ate one of the two pieces of apple pie).

Lunch in Flamingo – Pumpkin stew with pork goulash

The dessert came quickly and to my surprise I got to quite nice pieces of apple pie. Some sort of apple sauce was placed upon and beside the cake and yet another time I really enjoyed the dessert, except from the fact that I was very full before I took the first bite of it.

All in all I can warmly recommend Flamingo (Fészek étterem) as a place for a lunch. It is probably a bit different during dinner, but if they keep the same standard as they did for the lunch, 80% of all visitors will be more than satisfied with what they are served. On the menu you can find traditional Hungarian courses, and they even have a three course tourist menu costing 15 Euro per person.

If you look for special tastes and culinary wonders, then you should probably go to Onyx, Faustos or Mak Bistro instead, but if you are looking for a quite cheap place to have a bite of food with nice taste and good portions, then this might be it. Feszek means nest, and because of that they have pelicans made out of tree located around in the backyard (garden), and they also have a house parrot which can be seen in the garden on sunny day. When that is present you almost feel as if you are out in the forest somewhere, with birds singing in the background.

This is how it looks – very cool in the evening as well!

Flamingo / Fészek Klub / Fészek étterem

Kertész utca 36 (corner of Kertész utca and Dob utca)
+36 1 342 6549

Sugar Budapest review

Posted on by Budablogger

Not long ago I visited the Chocolate and Sweets festival in Budapest, and there I visited a stand made by the people from Sugar Budapest, also known as Sugarshop. Yesterday I visited Sugar as well, and now I know where to go throughout the entire year when there is no Chocolate and Sweets festival, because in Sugar Budapest you kind of have the chocolate festival feeling throughout the entire year!

Sugar is located in the end of Paulay Ede Utca, next to a quite famous restaurant in Budapest named Két szerecsen. It is located in a street parallel to the Kiraly street and the Andrassy avenue, so a very popular area of Budapest. The interior and everything is about sugar when you visit the place, so do not miss out on the toilets which have a cool look and your kids will for sure love it. The place is not only popular among kids, but among women who love sweets. During our visit to Sugar (I went with my wife of course) at least 75% of the visitors eating where girls/women, and they all seemed to love it.

Sugar consists of a Sugarshop where you can buy candy in loose weight, lollipops and other cool sweets. In Hungary this is exceptional, but if you visit other countries in Europe the Sugarshop is not so special anymore. But, when you move towards the confectionery/cafe area and start looking at the cakes it gets special. Here you will find cakes formed as hamburgers, Coca Cola jars, chocolate bars and much more. You will find standard cakes such as brownies and cheese cakes, but you will also find special cakes which you will not find anywhere else in Budapest. Take a look at the pictures, and you will understand what I am thinking about!

I ordered a plate with cheese cake, some strawberry shake (very small) and a macaron. My wife had some porridge with brownies on the top. We ordered a hot chocolate to the “meal” and the service was perfect and the food got on our table within a few minutes.

Cheese cake menu in Sugar Budapest

The cheese cake tasted just the way it should, and the strawberry shake was wonderful. But, the macaron! Well, I have a feeling that I can not blame Sugar for this, but I have tried to enjoy macarons several time since its breakthrough a while ago, but it still tastes like crap. Anyone really like this stuff? Join the debate on Facebook or write a comment to this article if you have a meaning on the subject! So I did not enjoy the macaron, but that is not Sugar’s fault, but the concept of macarons themselves!

The hot chocolate was nice and all in all I do look forward to visit the place again sometime in the future, to try some of the other cakes I did not get to eat yesterday. It was so much interesting on the menu, that this is a place you need to visit a few times to get to taste everything that sounds good.

Lots of candies in Sugarshop Budapest

So, when you are coming to Budapest, or if you already live in Budapest… do not miss out on Sugar Budapest, it is a kind of an attraction in itself and it will for sure be a hit among your children and your wife or girlfriend will also enjoy the place. My wife for sure did! Now you can enjoy some more pictures from Sugar Budapest so that you can prepare yourself for your visit. Beneath the pictures you will find the full address of the shop/confectionery.

Porridge with brownies – yammi!
Cool and creative cakes in Sugar
They have quite some muffins in Sugar Budapest as well!

Sugar Budapest

Address: 1061 Budapest, Paulay Ede utca 48
Opening times: 12.00-22.00 (Monday), 10.00-22.00 (Tuesday-Sunday)
Tlf: +36 1 321 6796

Best Trofea Grill restaurant in Budapest

Posted on by Budablogger

Before you come to Budapest you probably don’t know to much about the different restaurants in Budapest and you wonder where to go to grab some good pieces to eat. One of the most popular restaurants in Budapest is Trófea Grill, but to be right, it is not really one restaurant, but a restaurant chain with currently six restaurants in Budapest. If you divide the restaurants into categories you can divide it the following way based on ownership:

Trófea Grill 1:
Visegrádi Utca (Visegrádi utca 50/a), Margit Krt (Margit körút 2), Király Utca (Király Utca 30-32)

Trófea Grill 2:
Mexikói út (Erzsébet királyné útja 5), Óbuda (Laktanya u. 3-5.), Újbuda (Szerémi út 7)

The restaurants mostly look the same and they have the same principle meaning that for a set price you can eat and drink as much as you’d like. The prices vary between 3200-5500 HUF (3800-5500 for Trófea Grill restaurants in category 1), depending on what time of the day you’d like to visit the restaurants, but if you consider the amount of food and drinks you get for the price, it isn’t really that high no matter when you go. What also describes the popularity of the Trófea Grill restaurants very well is the fact that it is packed not only with tourists, but also with locals. The chain is especially popular for birthday parties as they offer free birthday cake to the one celebrating their birthday, so do not be surprised if you hear a happy birthday song on the loudspeakers as you grab something to eat in one of the six Trófea Grill restaurants. Most tourists end up in the restaurants listed in category 1, but if you wonder where to go, you should keep on reading, because here comes the part giving you my own personal favorite restaurants.

The best Trófea Grill restaurant!

Since this article is written by Budablogger it is only portraying his views and thoughts, so you might disagree when I here write down my thoughts on which is the best Trófea Grill restaurant in Budapest. There are many things that must be taken into consideration before you can make such a statement, but when deciding which Trófea Grill restaurant is the best in Budapest the most important factors where: Location, cuisine, atmosphere and the restaurant itself.

If location is important, then the three central restaurants located in Visegrádi Utca, Margit Körút and Király Utca are natural winners. If it is a matter of cuisine the restaurants at Mexikói út, Visegrádi utca and Margit Körút are the winners. They have a good selection of food you can get fried in front of your eyes, they always have a good selection of traditional Hungarian courses and they serve 100% orange juice and so on (which for example Trófea Grill Óbuda does not). All restaurants have a good atmosphere, but the restaurant in Visegrádi Utca is not at all as nicely looking as the one by the Margit Körút, which looks very modern, just like the one in Király Utca. Unfortunately the restaurant in Király Utca lacks some of the great courses served in the other restaurants, and that is why I always pick other Trófea Grill restaurants to the one in Király Utca. The Trófea Grill in Újbuda is good, but last time I visited that one they only had very special Hungarian courses, which most Hungarians would be skeptical to eat (Pacalpörkölt or Tripe stew), and with several such courses next to one another it was in fact hard to find something to eat among the already prepared courses.

Cakes at Trófea Grill

I could keep going for a long time, but if I have to pronounce a winner my personal favorite would be the Trófea Grill restaurant by the Margaret Bridge (Margit körút), closely followed by the Trófea Grill restaurant in Erzsébet Királyné utca (Mexikói út). If I have to choose what Trófea Grill restaurant I would not return to at all it would probably be the one in Király Utca and the Újbuda Trófea Grill.

Many tourists get invitations to the Trófea Grill restaurant in Király Utca while walking on Deák Tér, and as they end up there they totally enjoy it and often return later, as they are so satisfied and fall in love with the restaurant. It was the same for me first time I visited a Trófea Grill restaurant.

This article has though been written not after visiting the restaurants once or twice, but after visiting the restaurants at least 25 times. And after that many visits you get favorites among the six restaurants, and as I also mentioned, some restaurants I’d rather not return to if I have the chance to influence the decision about what Trófea Grill restaurant to visit.

Best Trófea Grill in Budapest – Margit Körút

Breakfast in Szamos

Posted on by Budablogger

Szamos is a famous brand in Hungary. They are first of all known for their marzipan, and then comes the confectioneries. In Budapest you can find Szamos shops and confectioneries in lots of places, for example in Árkád, in Mammut, in Allee, in Savoya Park, in Polus, in Szentendre, at Budapest Airport and lots of other places. The biggest Szamos and the one with the best location is probably the one located at Vörösmarty square, but yesterday we visited the Szamos confectionery and store located by the Grand Boulevard, within the walls of Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal.

Working on our article about breakfast in Budapest we planned on visiting Bock Bistro, one of the best restaurants in Budapest with great wine and high class food. Some other sites also wrote about the culinary experience of enjoying a breakfast at Bock Bistro, and therefore we planned on enjoying a breakfast there ourselves. As we got there the doors where closed, and after asking some questions around in the building we found out that breakfast is no longer available in Bock Bistro. There we stood hungry in front of closed doors, so quickly we had to find somewhere else to eat some breakfast, and since Szamos is located only 150 meters from Bock Bistro, that became our final destination.

It seems to me as if Szamos have the same breakfast menu available in all their places, so whatever Szamos you visit you will have the chance to eat Continental Breakfast, French Breakfast, Ham and Eggs, Wiener Breakfast and Hungarian Breakfast. These are the standard offers, but on their menu you can also find toast which is available throughout the entire day, but if you want it for breakfast, that can of course be arranged.

We ordered a ham and eggs, one standard omelet and a toast. In addition we had a cup of tea, a glass of water and a cocoa. Even though it was almost empty in the place, it took a while for someone to take or order, but when they first came, service was perfect. The final price of this order was 4000 HUF, and in that price the service fee of 15% was included.

Ham and eggs and a toast in Szamos

The portions were quite normal, and though they were smaller than the portions you get at for example Fruccola, most people will feel full and satisfied after one portion of food. The omelet needed salting, the cocoa was without any sugar so that needed to be added manually, the toast was nice and my wife was satisfied with the ham and eggs. While most restaurants offering breakfasts add some special bread besides your breakfast, Szamos only gives you a small standard white bread baguette cut into small pieces besides the meal.

After the breakfast we did not sit with the feeling that we were too full, and thus the cakes offered looks very tempting. We skipped those this time, but it might be that the next time we drop by Szamos it will be to eat cakes, and not to eat breakfast. Everything was too standard, nothing made it an experience to remember, except from the fact that I ate together with my beautiful wife and son, so next time I will much rather look for a new place instead of returning to Szamos. If you are a tourist looking for an easy breakfast one day and you see a Szamos sign nearby, this can though be an option to consider.

Tempting sweet and salty cakes/pastry in Szamos

Tejivo Budapest review

Posted on by Budablogger

Located next to McDonalds on the Erzsebet square (Deak Ferenc square) Tejivo has a perfect location and it has since its opening turned into a big success, and currently it is a super trendy place to hang out for a bite to eat and something to drink in Budapest. Budablogger likes to be trendy so off he went to Tejivo to check what is going on.

Tejivo is a Hungarian word which means Milkdrinker in English. That is perfect, because I am a big milkdrinker… a very positive start. As we got there it was packed with people (I guess it is space for 30 guests on the inside, 35 at the most) and about 10 people on the outside. To get something to eat I had to get into line and wait for the five people in front of me to place their orders. A few minutes later the line was even longer and there were at least 7-8 people standing in line to get something to eat and drink. Why is this so trendy, and is it worth standing in line?

In Tejivo you can get different things to eat; sandwiches with ham, salami, cheese, then you will find different yoghurts, toasts, sweet porridge and some sweet desserts. In addition they have cocoa, home made ice tea, milk shakes and some other drinks.

We wanted to try as much as possible as we first visited the place, so we drank a cocoa and an ice tea, and we ate toast, sandwich with mangalica (special Hungarian pig) ham and a sweet porridge. The toast was served warm, while the sandwich and the porridge was cold. My wife wanted some hot porridge, so on request they placed it in the microwave and then it became hot in a few seconds. The porridge, the sandwich and the toast all tasted well, and especially the porridge had a special taste to it, almost lemon taste, which made it both special and good. The mangalica ham was delicious and the toast was fine. The home made ice tea tasted like at home when I made hot tea, add some sugar and put it in the fridge, so nothing special. The cocoa gave a little surprise, because normally when you go out to eat you get hot cocoa, but in Tejivo you get it served in a cold way. The taste was nice, but I would probably have preferred it served warm instead.

The price for all of this was 1700 HUF, and then I forgot to tell the fact that we also ate a cocoa roll. What made it all cheaper was the fact that they have quite some menus reducing the price, and as we bought some of the standard menus we saved some money doing so.

Tejivo is trendy, but I guess I am not going to be very trendy in the future. It is nice to have been there, and I am glad that I tasted it all, but it did not steal my heart forcing me to return back again in the near future. Of course it is nice knowing about this place in central Budapest where you can get a tasty sandwich and bring it with you if you are in a hurry, but I will probably go try something new in the future instead of returning to Tejivo. But, I know lots of others who will do exactly the opposite; instead of finding a new place they will rather return to Tejivo, so I am not worried that Tejivo will end up like most other shops and bars that have opened at the same place (they all ended in bankruptcy).

If you are in Budapest and want a light meal, check out Tejivo!

Tejivo seen from the outside

Tejivo Budapest

Sütő utca 2, 1052 Budapest
Opening times: 7.30 – 22.00

MAK Bistro Budapest review

Posted on by Budablogger

A new star is rising in Budapest, and the name of it is MÁK Bistro. The restaurant has a rustic feeling to it, and it is almost hidden away in the very center of Budapest, only one minute away from the beautiful Chain Bridge on the Pest side of the city. MAk Bistro opened in 2010 and has since then received lots of great reviews, making it one of the most trendy restaurants in Budapest at the moment, but it does not feel to touristic, which is a bonus.

In the Dining Guide 2012 edition and in the Gault&Millau restaurant guide for 2012 MÁK Bistro was listed among the top five restaurants of Budapest. That is quite a job from such a young restaurant, and as I visited the restaurant earlier I was curious to get to know the place better.

During lunch time the restaurant offers two or three course lunches. The price for a two course lunch is 2800 HUF and for three courses the price is 3500 HUF. No drinks are included, so you should add 500-1000 HUF to the bill, and then the service fee, which they automatically add to the bill as you get it. Therefore a lunch for one person here with three courses will normally end up somewhere between 4500-5000 HUF (of course depending on how much you drink).

I (Budablogger) am not so much of a gourmet, so therefore I was curious to see how I would like the food in the restaurant. If it gets to advanced and with to many strange spices and ingredients, I often miss the traditional Hungarian courses. But, today something happened, as I enjoyed all the three courses, and also the „free” courses given along the way. The first course was a soup (Parsnip velouté) which was tasting completely different from most soups I have ever tasted in Hungary, but it was interesting and delicious. The main course (Pink perch with buckwheat pasta) was made from fish with buckwheat pasta, and even though it felt strange at the start, I enjoyed it so much that as all the fish was gone, I took what was left of bread from the table and started to put it into the sauce left from the main course to enjoy them together.

The dessert (Cottage cheese-pomegranate dessert) was extremely fresh and the combination of fruit, cottage cheese and something similar to crunched biscuits made it a perfect end to the lunch menu.

The menu at MÁK Bistro changes continuously, making it an interesting place to visit over and over again, and the prices are not at all scary. Main courses if you come during dinner time cost somewhere between 2500-5000 HUF normally, and they use lots of traditional Hungarian ingredients, though with lots of turns and twists to it. This makes MÁK Bistro a super place to visit if you want to eat upper class food in Budapest with nice prices, great service, a central location and with high quality. Be surprised and enjoy your meal as you visit MÁK Bistro.

MAK Bistro Budapest

Vigyázó Ferenc utca 4, 1051 Budapest
Tuesday – Saturday from 12.00-15.00 and 18.00-24.00
Telephone: +36307239383

What others have written about MÁK Bistro.
Their distinguishing trait is the consisting use of excellet raw material, prepared with the care it deserves… outstanding desserts bring an upbeat ending to your meal. (Gault&Millau 2012)

Chicken paprika with noodles recipe

Posted on by Budablogger

Chicken paprika is a very traditional Hungarian course, and it is something you can get served in lots of Hungarian restaurants in Budapest and you will also be served it quite regularly if you visit a Hungarian family in their own home and they will cook for you there. The basics of the Chicken paprika is very similar to the Goulash soup basics, but there are some major differences which you will find as soon as you study both the goulash soup and the chicken paprika recipe.

Chicken paprika is normally served together with noodle (often called dumplings), and as you combine these you will get a tasty lunch/dinner which will make your stomach full for quite a while, at least if you eat a lot of the noodles. First comes the ingredients, and afterwards I will tell you how to prepare this stuff!

Chicken paprika recipe for four persons

4 pieces of chicken leg
2 onions
1,5 tablespoons with sweet red paprika (powder)
1 tomato
1 white paprika (sweet)
170-200ml sour cream
2 tablespoons flour
some oil

How to prepare it?
Chop the onions into small pieces and put them in a pan together with the oil. Fry them until they get almost brownish. Remove the pan from the heat and add the sweet red paprika. Mix them, and add some salt and pepper as you do this. Put it back on the heat and add some water to make the food simmer. If the water turns into steam and disappears, add more water so that the ingredients will not get burned. You can now add the chicken, the tomato and the white paprika. If you have some „erös pista” (strong Hungarian paprika) or some „pörkölt cream” or similar stuff, you can add that as well at this point. Keep it on the heat until the chicken is tender and tasty. Add water if needed, just make sure nothing gets burned!

While doing this add the sour cream to a bowl. Add some flour first to the sour cream, stir it, and then add the rest. Make sure it is soft and nice. Before you add this to the pan, add some of the gravy for the pan to the sour cream mixture (do this twice).

You can now add the sour cream mixture to the pan with the rest of the ingredients. Let it simmer for some minutes, and then the Chicken paprika is finished.

Dumplings / Noodles:

2 eggs
about 350 gram flour
salt
water

How to prepare it?
Put 2,5-3 litres of water into a large bowl and put some salt in the water. Make sure the water is boiling. In another bowl you should add the eggs, the flour and the salt and add water. The dough should be quite thick, not at all watery. Later you can use a knife and cut it into smaller pieces and put them into the boiling water. If they get dissolved in the water or do not stick together, the dough is to watery. As the pieces of dough come to the surface of the water, the dumplings are finished and can be served together with the chicken paprika.

Chicken paprika made by Budablogger!

How did it succeed for Budablogger?

I used this recipe as I created Chicken paprika for the first time in my life. My father in law makes the best Chicken paprika in the world, so I thought my own would be a big disappointment to myself as I made it, but somehow I was quite satisfied. It tasted well, even my family liked it. The hardest thing was to get the dumplings perfect, but training makes master, so next time I try, it will get even better. Go for it, and write a comment to share how it went for you as you made Chicken paprika in your own kitchen!