Budapest: Part 2 – Restaurants and pigs fat and dumplings…oh my!

Posted in Restaurants, Restaurants in Budapest, Travelling by dreamalittledreamalot

I might have touched on the food aspect of Budapest slightly in my first post but I can’t stress enough what excellent value all the restaurants we ate in were. Great value for money on the actual food but also the level of service – to the point that I didn’t mind that every single place we went automatically added a 12.5% ‘voluntary’ tip to the bill.

Just one word of warning, though pretty much all menus had an English translation, the translation can be a bit sketchy – I would argue over their definition of cake – so it’s worth checking the Magyar version with a phrasebook to check!

Recommended Budapest restaurants

Bock Bistro/Bisztro
Next door to the Corinthia, we went for lunch here once we’d dumped our suitcase and absolutely loved the atmosphere, the wine (520 HUF’s a glass = about £1.80) and the delicious ‘cracklings’ – be warned, this is not crackling as we know it but is instead pork fat with little bits of crackling in it – they don’t seem to do butter in Budapest! We had their meat and salad plate (or, as they call it – ‘A cold taste from Lali chef’s pantry’) to share and it was very generous, with loads of bread. Beware of the super hot chilli pepper – delicious but deadly! I would recommend booking as we were very lucky to get a table.

Menza

Houses of Parliament at night

Chocolate ‘cake’ from 21 Kitchen

Apple strudel to share

My main – Pork schnitzel with potato salad

Mr B’s main – Knuckle of lamb with Rosemary

Bone Marrow on Toast – yep, I tried it!

The biggest starter I’ve ever seen! Mr B’s Beef Consomme

Poor, poor photography at Menza

Just round the corner from the opera house, this place was soooo cool, I wanted pretty much all the fittings, wallpaper and tablecloths for my house! I loved this place so much that I want to go back every day – my stomach would be so happy. We had cocktails, two starters, two mains, one puddings, two coffees, two liqueurs and a bottle of wine for under £50 including tip…???!!!
21 Magyar Vendeglo (Hungarian Kitchen)
Chocolate 'cake' from 21 Kitchen

In the castle district this restaurant was just plain lovely, we had their meat and salad plate (Hungarian bistro plate) to share – we enjoyed the first one so much – why not?
Legenda river cruise
Houses of Parliament at night

Not strictly a restaurant I know but the food was very good – four courses with three choices for each course – and the view unparalleled!

Budapest in a nutshell, on a shoestring (January 2011) (moonunderwater.org)
Weekend Update: Budapest (iamchrisbritton.wordpress.com)
Hello from Budapest (niscili.wordpress.com)

17Mar2012

My Top Tips for visiting Budapest

Posted in Travelling by dreamalittledreamalot

1. Get a Budapest card - This gives you unlimited access to public transport which is clean, efficient and 24 hr! We got ours from our concierge but you can order online too.

2. Go in the late winter/early spring – The deal we got is offered by a lot of hotels in the winter as this is when they get the least tourists – however its win win for you as you get luxury on a budget, everywhere’s cheaper and you get a voucher for 50% off a Budapest card each.

3. Go on a dinner cruise on the Danube – everything is stunning at night and the food is pretty excellent – particularly when you see the size of the kitchen they have! Try Legenda cruises – once again we booked through our concierge (and got a discount) but you can also book online.

Panorama from the Castle District across to Pest

4. Make sure you visit the castle district in Buda – get the tram across Margaret Bridge from Pest and then wander along the river bank – you get an amazing view of parliament and end up at the Chain Bridge where you can get the cutest little funicular up to the ‘castle’ – it’s a really long walk u a steep hill otherwise – not recommended!

5. Don’t bother with a taxi from the airport – You can get a train from Terminal 1 (there’s a bus transfer from terminal 2) to Nyugati station and from there can get to pretty much anywhere else in Budapest – it was a nice 10 minute walk to our hotel. Plus it costs about half what a cab does!

Buda and Pest … Budapest!! (Obviously) – Budapest, Hungary (travelpod.com)
Budapest in a nutshell, on a shoestring (January 2011) (moonunderwater.org)
Budapest III: Terror, some big baths, & chaos – Budapest, Hungary (travelpod.com)

16Mar2012

Budapest: Part 1 – A quest for relaxation and plentiful food

Posted in Travelling by dreamalittledreamalot

Having recently returned from a little sojourn with Mr B to the most wonderful city (cities) of Budapest, I felt I had to share with you quite how beautiful, relaxing and full of amazing food the place is.

I don’t know why we chose Budapest as a place to go for a weekend to put out of mind the winter blues and get into the spring spirit but it seemed as good a place as any – and cheap as!

Once we got over the (almost) disastrous problem with Malev airlines folding only 2 weeks before we were due to go, everything went very smoothly. A note here about how exceptionally helpful Expedia were in giving us a full refund on our flights! The downside was we had to fly with RyanAir, which left us both feeling slightly dirty and having to get up at 4am on both journeys, but it could have been much worse!

I found us a hotel in Pest on Expedia, a five star hotel with a spa in fact, for a stupidly cheap price – under £60 per night, walking distance from the chain bridge and opposite a tram stop. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of the Royal Corinithia I would stay, without a shadow of a doubt, it’s location and amenities make it perfect for a relaxing and decadent weekend away as an exhausted and slightly frazzled couple.

More to come on Budapest but firstly some pictures of the beautiful city…