6/21/13-6/29/13: Budapest, Hungary
CJWDT'13 Euphoriania grand tour 5th stop... Budapest, Hungary! I have been recognized Budapest is one of the most popular destination for many backpackers. Indeed the city is perfect walkable size and offering nice architectures, museums, foods and one of my personal favorite to go... 'Onsen', thermal bath! What else... majorly English is widely spoken and compared with major western European city, everything is much cheaper. Simply I can say Budapest became one of top 10 favorite destinations I ever visited.
Speak of CJWDT mission! Stage > Unfortunately I couldn't set up any stage this time. Discovering new ingredients > Two Hungarian products comes to my mind first, would be Paprika & Foie gras. I went to a few markets including famous great market hall, be honest I didn't find something particularly 'new' for me.... Local eat > I went out to try traditional 'classic' Hungarian dishes such as fisherman soup with carp fish roe, goulash, paprika chicken, stuffed cabbage, duck liver, piggie knuckle, tripe stew, langos, dobos cake and of course foie gras! Let me talk about the dish I have a bit...
As I mentioned previously, I wouldn't review the restaurant on this blog like some foodies. Mainly two reasons, 1. there're no single dish in this world EVERYONE love, NO SINGLE DISH, that's I believe. (that make me want to cook whatever I WANT TO EAT) So.. I really don't wanna point out the restaurant and say brah brah brah by my taste. 2.for me the restaurant is judged by what's going on in the kitchen. I mean if people work with passion, spirit and if the food is inspiring or not, BASICALLY. But in general the restaurant should be judged by the dishes on the table/the service/the atmosphere. So as you figured, I'm just too weird to do dining review. / laugh
Anyway I went to one restaurant, fine dining upscale restaurant, would say. I have two foie gras dishes. First one is foie gras soup, which is like veloute, really creamy great flavor and texture, garnished with flat mushroom, thumbs up, I loved it. 2nd dish, I saw on the menu and curious and ordered it. It is roasted foie gras / hazelnuts puree / coffee sauce. ..... Interesting. To me, dining fun is 2 stages, 1. imagine/simulate the dishes from the menu , 2. taste the dish and think how I can make the dish better.
So... I started analyze the flavor profile and simulate the garnish on the table. .... Hungarian foie is bitter than Hudson/French foie, hazelnut=earthy/sharp, coffee=bitter... felt like need something bouncing back with power. For me, foie gras=fat x fruitiness, acidity, sweetnesst is kinda 'template' of IPF(ingredients profiling file). What chef would choose for this dish? some kinda compote.. berry-ish? avant-garde melonny? sounds weird, but may worth trying.. freshy to cut fat and no acidity to mute with nuts & coffee? light caramel/praline? madeleine crumbs? !@X+%^*0.... What you readers think???
..... and I got the dish.... the garnish was.... ENDIVE. ..... was like slapped my face, something never I think on this flavor profile. Taste? Nnnn... I wouldn't choose endive, that's all I can say. Well, I had fun myself. I will make my version of foie x hazelnuts x coffee one day.... ... eh, after I get a job!
CJWDT Hungary restaurant list:
http://www.costes.hu/en
http://www.onyxrestaurant.hu/en
http://www.alabardos.hu
http://www.kempinski.com/en/budapest/hotel-corvinus/dining/restaurants/nobu-restaurant/
http://www.fausto.hu/index.php/en
http://www.gundel.hu
CJWDT Hungary web links:
http://kundaeats.com/budapest/
http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/best-restaurants-in-budapest.html
http://www.elitetraveler.com/finest-dining/restaurant-guide/the-11-best-restaurants-in-budapest
http://visit-hungary.com/what-new/top12-traditional-restaurant
http://www.timeout.com/travel/features/1201/budapest-the-foodies-guide
http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/szimpla-kert-farmers-market/
http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/budapest-markets/
http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-markets.html
http://velvetescape.com/2012/09/farmers-market-szimpla-bar/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_cuisine
http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/pastry-shops-in-budapest/
http://welovebudapest.com/en/cafes-bars/articles/2012/09/19/the-best-confectionaries-in-budapest
Coming up..... Bratislava, Slovakia next!