Coffee Houses and Patisseries
Many Hungarians like to kick-start the day with coffee , followed by further intakes at various intervals throughout the day, usually in the form of tiny glasses of kave : super-strong, served black and sweetened to taste, this is a brew that can double your heart beat. Coffee houses were once the centres of Budapest's cultural and political life - hotbeds of gossip where penurious writers got credit and the clientele dawdled for hours over the free newspapers. Sadly this is no longer the case, but you'll find plenty of unpretentious kavehaz serving the beverage with milk ( tejeskave ) or whipped cream ( tejszinhabbal ), should you request it. Ordering a cappuccino can be a very hit-or-miss affair as they vary dramatically in quality wherever you go, with the worst efforts consisting of little more than a regular coffee with a dollop of whipped cream unattractively slumped on top. Tea-drinkers are in a minority here, perhaps because Hungarian tea with milk ( tejes tea ) is so insipid, although tea citrommal (with lemon) is pleasantly refreshing. However, some delightful teahouses have recently opened up in several towns, including Sopron and Eger, serving a terrific range of teas from around the world, as well as all manner of other beverages. Most coffee houses have some pastries on offer, although you'll find much more choice in the patisseries ( cukraszda ), which pander to the Magyar fondness for sweet things. Pancakes ( palacsinta ) with fillings - almas (apple), dios (walnuts), fahejas (cinnamon), makos (poppy seeds), mandulas (almonds) or Gundel -style, with nuts, chocolate sauce, cream and raisins - are very popular, as are strudels ( retes ) made with curds and dill ( kapros turos retes ), poppy seeds ( makosretes ) or plums ( szilvas retes ). Even the humble dumpling is transformed into a somloi galuska , flavoured with vanilla, nuts and chocolate. But the frontrunners in the rich and sticky stakes have to be chestnut puree with whipped cream ( gesztenyepure ); coffee souffle ( kapucineres felfujt ); baked apple with vanilla, raisins and cream ( toltott alma ); and the staggering array of cakes . The average cukraszda displays a dozen or more types, including dobostorta (chocolate cream cake topped with caramel) and the pineapple-laden ananasztorta . If you're still not satiated, there's ice cream ( fagylalt ), the opium of the masses, sold by the scoop ( gomboc ) and priced low enough so that anyone can afford a cone. The most common flavours are vanilia, csokolade, puncs (fruit punch), citrom and kave , though mango, pistachio and various nutty flavours can be found too - see the fruit section of the food glossary for the Magyar names. And finally there's metelt or teszta - a rather unlikely-sounding but quite tasty dessert of chopped sweet noodles, served cold with poppy seeds or some other topping.
Your Tip for Hungary
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Hungary - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Hungary - visit the main Hungary forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Hungary webguide section below! Thanks.
|
