Budapest Travel Guide
What to Eat and Drink in Budapest
A guide to Hungarian food and drink in Budapest — the dishes to try, the Great Market Hall, the grand cafés and cakes, Hungarian wines from Tokaj to Villány, pálinka, Unicum and how to eat well without falling into the tourist traps.
Hungarian food is hearty, generous and built on paprika, and Budapest is the best place to discover it, from the stalls of the Great Market Hall to the grand cafés, the wine bars of the Inner City and a growing number of ambitious modern restaurants. Here is what to eat and drink, and how to find it.
The dishes to try. Start with gulyás, goulash, which in Hungary is a soup rather than a stew: beef, potatoes, carrots and paprika in a rich red broth, traditionally cooked by herdsmen over open fires. Pörkölt is the thick paprika stew that many foreigners call goulash, made with beef, pork or veal and served with nokedli, small egg dumplings. Paprikás csirke, chicken paprikash, cooked in a creamy paprika sauce, is the classic home dish. Halászlé, the fisherman's soup, is a fiery paprika broth with river fish, a Christmas Eve tradition. Töltött káposzta, stuffed cabbage with sour cream, is comfort food in winter, and lecsó, a stew of peppers, tomatoes and onions, is the taste of summer. Hortobágy pancakes, filled with meat and covered in paprika sauce, are a favourite starter.
Street food and snacks. Lángos is the essential Hungarian snack: a disc of deep-fried dough rubbed with garlic and topped with sour cream and grated cheese, best eaten hot. Kürtőskalács, chimney cake, is a spiral of sweet dough baked on a spit over coals and rolled in sugar, cinnamon or nuts, sold at markets and Christmas fairs. Pogácsa, small savoury scones, are the perfect snack with a glass of wine. And everywhere you will find salami, paprika sausages and pickles.
The Great Market Hall. The grand covered market by the Liberty Bridge is the best introduction to Hungarian ingredients. On the ground floor, look for paprika in every grade, from sweet to hot, garlands of dried peppers, salami, sausages, goose liver, honey, wine and pálinka. Upstairs, food counters serve lángos, goulash and stuffed cabbage. Go on a weekday morning, taste before you buy, and remember that the hall is closed on Sundays. For a more local market experience, the Sunday farmers market at Szimpla Kert, the ruin bar in the Jewish Quarter, sells cheese, bread, honey and vegetables from small producers.
Cafés and cakes. Budapest's café culture dates back to the late nineteenth century, when the city had hundreds of coffee houses where writers, journalists and artists spent their days. A few of the grand cafés survive, gloriously restored, and they are worth visiting at least once for the architecture as much as the coffee: the New York Café, with its gilded, extravagantly decorated interior, and Gerbeaud on Vörösmarty tér, the classic confectionery, are the most famous. Try the cakes that Hungary is famous for: Dobos torte, layers of sponge and chocolate buttercream topped with caramel; Esterházy torte, with walnut meringue and cream; Rigó Jancsi, a chocolate mousse cake; and flódni, a rich Jewish pastry of apple, walnut, poppy seed and plum, found in the Jewish Quarter. Somlói galuska, a trifle of sponge, chocolate sauce and cream, is the favourite restaurant dessert.
Wine. Hungary is one of the great, underrated wine countries of Europe, and Budapest's wine bars are the best place to explore it. Tokaji Aszú, the sweet wine of the Tokaj region, made from grapes affected by noble rot, has been prized by kings and emperors for centuries, and dry Furmint from the same region is one of the most exciting white wines in Europe. Egri Bikavér, Bull's Blood, is the famous red blend from Eger, and Villány, in the south, produces rich reds. Balaton and Somló are known for minerally whites. Ask for a tasting flight, and do not be afraid to ask for recommendations; Hungarian sommeliers love to share.
Spirits. Pálinka is Hungary's fruit brandy, distilled from plums, apricots, pears, cherries and other fruits, and it is offered as a welcome, a toast and a digestif. Good pálinka is aromatic and smooth; cheap pálinka is fiery. Unicum, the bitter herbal liqueur made by the Zwack family to a secret recipe, is a national institution, sipped as a digestif. Both make good gifts.
Fine dining. Budapest has a growing number of Michelin-starred and Michelin-recognised restaurants, many offering modern takes on Hungarian cooking. SALT, at Hotel Rum, holds a Michelin star and a green star for its farm-to-table approach, and Spago by Wolfgang Puck at Matild Palace brings Californian fine dining to a Belle Époque palace. Book well ahead, especially at weekends.
Vegetarians and lighter eating. Traditional Hungarian cooking is meat-heavy, but vegetarians will not go hungry. Look for főzelék, a thick vegetable stew made with peas, lentils, potatoes, spinach or squash, often served at lunch counters, and for túrós csusza, pasta with curd cheese, sour cream and dill. Lecsó and lángos can be ordered without meat, and Budapest's younger restaurants, particularly in the Jewish Quarter and around the Basilica, offer plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Summer brings cold fruit soups, especially sour cherry soup, a refreshing Hungarian speciality.
Avoiding the traps. The restaurants on the busiest tourist streets, especially Váci utca, often charge high prices for mediocre food, and some add unexpected charges. Check that prices are displayed, look at the bill, and note that many restaurants add a service charge of around 10 to 15 percent. Locals eat in the side streets, in traditional restaurants called étterem, and at lunchtime many places offer a good-value daily menu. Eat your main meal at lunch if you are on a budget.
A day of eating. Breakfast with pastries and coffee in a café; mid-morning lángos at the Great Market Hall; lunch of goulash and pörkölt in a traditional restaurant; afternoon cake in a grand café; a wine-tasting flight in the Inner City at dusk; and dinner in the Jewish Quarter, followed by a pálinka in a ruin bar. That is Budapest on a plate.