HUNGARY - Budapest Food

Lets start today with a bit of gossip! I was sitting in the hotel bar last night eating a Schnizel and minding my own business but also in the bar were a group of ladies who were obviously here in Budapest to have some work done. Apparently if you want some Botox, Lipsuction or just an old fashioned lift (and I don't just mean the face) it seems Budapest is the place to be!

I am here for three days, and because I have visited twice before, its mainly about some mid holiday relaxation, between the adventure in the High Tatras and the things I have planned in Romania. I have a nice hotel and am just pottering about.

Starting off at the Central Market I joined 7 other people for a Budapest food tour. The guide took us to a couple of stalls in the market to sample a) different types of Hungarian salami and b) different pickled fruits and vegetables. Now some of you might be aware I have a thing about water melon. Once I start eating it I find it difficult to stop and in hotels there is often a game on the breakfast buffet of how much water melon can I take without it being noticed! Anyway one of the things we were given was pickled water melon - why would you pickle a water melon? I don't know - that was odd! We also had some Palinka - which for us was a quince brandy - that blew your socks off.

After this we went to a restaurant and had some Langos - garlic, cheese and sour cream just like I had in Slovakia. Apparently this is how the Hungarians eat it, the other flavours are just for tourists. The Langos was followed by two types of chimney cake, these were vanilla and cinnamon. They should be open at both ends and not filled. Cone shaped ones filled with chocolate and or cream are just to extract a higher price from tourists.

A selection of Hungarian sausages was made available at the next restaurant visited - this description is not of course correct but it is the easiest way to explain flavours and textures - Pepperoni, Haggis and Black Pudding.

The final restaurant gave us some Goulash - which should be a soup type dish rather than the stew we call Goulash in the UK. This was washed down with some Hungarian wine - red, white and rose. Hungarian red wines are well known to be of good quality. Pancakes brought the tour to a close one of which was filled with cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is eaten a lot here both in sweet and savoury things.

This is the second food tour I have done, having also had a tour like this in New York and I can really recommend them. They might seem pricey when you book but remember you are not going to need to eat afterwards!

Those of you who are looking for some scenic pictures of the Danube and the parliament building, don't worry we have another two days of sightseeing to do.....