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 Continuing on our IACP awards celebration, today’s guest blogger is Carolyn Banfalvi the author of Food Wine Budapest a finalist in the Food Reference & Technical Category. Carolyn, who has lived in Budapest nearly ten years, has put all of her food finds together in Food Wine Budapest which is a culinary guide to Budapest. Her book has recommendations for restaurants, cafés, specialty shops, and market along with background on the culture of eating and drinking in Hungary, explanations of specific dishes and drinks, and a history of Hungarian cuisine. Today Carolyn shares her top choices of Budapest food given a mere 24 hours in the city… 24 Hours in Budapest by Carolyn Banfalvi Despite its vast repertoire and variety, Hungarian cuisine is possibly one of the most under-appreciated and unknown European cuisines, and there are few good Hungarian restaurants outside of the country. Most people already know about paprika and goulash. But when they come to Hungary, they’ll learn that their goulash is actually pörkölt and that Hungarian food isn’t all about paprika. Goulash is just one of the many world-class dishes that define Hungarian cuisine, and paprika is just one of the crucial Hungarian ingredients. Since moving to Budapest I’ve become passionate about exploring Hungary’s bounty of fantastic food and drink. And I love that I’m still discovering more—a tiny mom-and-pop eatery that I’d somehow never walked by before, a rarely-made dish that suddenly appears on a restaurant menu, a new boutique winery in the countryside, or a great product at the market that had somehow eluded me before.
 Photo by George Konkoly-Thege The Gerlóczy Kávéház (V. Gerlóczy utca 1, www.gerloczy.hu) sits on a lovely little square in the heart of central Budapest. Owned by a cheesemonger (who has a shop down the street), breakfast here is an ideal way to start the day. Better yet, book a room at the Gerlóczy Rooms De lux, one of Budapest’s few personable boutique hotels, which sits above the café.  Photo by George Konkoly-Thege Head back across the river to Pest and have lunch at Kádár Étkezde (VII. Klauzál tér 9), a bustling lunch-room in the old Jewish district, serving home-style classics like stuffed cabbage and boiled beef with horseradish. Be ready to share a table with strangers. Skip coffee and dessert and instead head to Centrál Kávéház (V. Károlyi Mihály utca 9, www.centralkavehaz.hu), a favorite haunt of some of Hungary’s most famous twentieth-century writers. It was shuttered for decades and lovingly restored a few years ago to be returned to its status as one of the city’s best traditional coffee houses.  Photo by George Konkoly-Thege Have dinner at Klassz (VI. Andrássy út 41, www.klassz.eu), a bistro with a modern menu that always includes a few Hungarian classics. The bread is deliciously house-made, and the place is owned by Bortársaság. Start with a glass of Gellavilla Olaszrizling, a white wine made in tiny quantities at Lake Balaton by one of the restaurants owners. If you’re up to it, stay out late exploring the funky, ever-changing bar scene in the seventh district. Mumus (VII. Dob utca 18)and Szimpla (VII. Kazinczy utca 14) are two of many cool places to sample an Unicum (a Hungarian bitter liquor) or a pálinka. Egészségedre. (Cheers)
Disclosure: Review copies of books discussed in this post may have been provided to Project Foodie by publicists and/or publishers.
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I suppose if that's all I had, but there are so many fantastic places. I don't think I could make it past lunch without a Hortobagyi Palacsinta, for one.
