Hungary

Eastern Europe is a meat-and-potatoes kind of place. Hungarian meat and potatoes, however, are better than the ones in the surrounding countries as they’re spicier—paprika, black pepper and onions are essential ingredients in just about any Hungarian dish.

Goulash is the Eastern European dish most recognized by foreigners, and if you don’t try some while you’re in Hungary you wasted a trip. It originated in Hungary, and Hungarians still do it best. Most restaurants have a few different kinds of goulash, a different meat used for each – you probably won’t find a vegetarian one, though.

The meat here is often fattier than what you might be used to. Hungarians, like Indians, try to use every part of the animal. Tripe, for example (soup made from cow or pig intestines), is a common dish here and can be found in just about every restaurant in Hungary. Goose liver is also considered a delicacy – it’s so soft that you can spread it on bread, often with salt and pepper added. Try the lamb brain soup, too, you won’t regret it.

Menus at restaurants here tell you exactly how many grams each dish weighs. With fish, this can affect the price – it’s priced by gram, with the price for the average fish listed in the column. Don’t be surprised if your fish ends up costing more than you expected, if today’s catch was a bit fatter than your normal fish. The cost of meat dishes occasionally varies, too, depending on how big whatever they had laying around was. Don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions about your total – waiters here won’t roll their eyes and storm off like in Slovakia. Fish here are usually served whole, fins, eyes and all. There’s a technique for eating them without getting all the bones in your fork, you’d be advised to learn it.

Restaurants in Budapest and other tourist spots sometimes have the menu in German and/or English as well as Hungarian. A 10-15% tip for the waiter is usual, although a minority of places include a service charge in the bill. Be generous, unless the service is truly atrocious – a dollar or two goes a lot further for them.

Gypsy musicians often come through restaurants where there are customers with money. They’ll surround each table individually and play too loud for anyone at the table to talk for a minute or two, then expect a tip. Just give them 100 florints or so, no matter how pissed off you are at being interrupted without asking for it or how much you hate accordions. It’s not worth an argument. Always keep in mind, even if you’re poor back home you’re rich here.

This isn’t the country for vegetarians. In a traditional Hungarian restaurant, there won’t be much for them except fried cheese and fried mushrooms. Lately, though, Italian food has been growing more popular, and there are plenty of Italian dishes without meat. The pizza in most of Eastern Europe is awful, but it’s surprisingly good at some restaurants here.

Breakfast in Hungary, like elsewhere on the Continent, usually consists of rolls with various cold cuts and spreads. Although both cheese and meat are usual, cheese cold cuts predominate more strongly here than further west. Eggs are popular too, always hard-boiled. You won’t find them any other way on the Continent, fried and scrambled eggs are an Anglo-Saxon thing.

Tea is always drunk without milk. Hungarians, and many other Continentals, think the English and Irish are lunatics for taking milk in theirs. Coffee is a lot more popular than tea. Traditionally, Hungarians liked their coffee strong and black, although western tastes are starting to catch on.

If you order bottled water, there’s a chance you’ll get tap water in an old bottle instead. There’s a law saying that drinks have to be served with the top on, to prevent this, but not enough people bother to complain to make much of a difference.

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