Budapest and vegetarians

Hey all,
I am in Budapest this week and it's turning into a long week, foodwise. I 'm a vegetarian here in a country that eats meat for breakfast (cold cuts!) I went to one place that was reccomended called Marquis de Salade. I had been told it was vegetarain. Who knew steak and chicken aren't meat? I eat fish and was able to find salmon there. I'm eating a lot of bread and cheese. I haven't seen much in the way of vegetables yet. More tomorrow
Mike

[lgss]

Mike,
Where are you? Please provide info about Apricot & Artichoke...Where in Budapest are they?

[DockPotato]

One thing i like about mu Hungarian extraction is the large number of really great meatless dishes in the everyday fare.

A few examples: cold bean soup; lecso and rice made with tomato. pepper and onion; strapacska, potato dumplings with a curd cheese; fozelek, various vegetables in tangy sour cream sauce; summmer squash in tomato sauce; cabbage, walnut, poppy seed or cheese noodles; mushroom paprikas; gomboc, potato dumplings stuffed with a prune and fried in bread crumbs; along with a canon of dried bean preparations and soup without a shred of flesh in them.

These are examples of one dish meals arising from scarcity and lenting.

I'm dining at the next table, Mike. But vicariously.

Well, I've been in Budapest for 5 days and have done quite well. There are very few options, but there are options. After Marquis de Salade, we had dinner the next night at a cafe very late at night. It wasn't very good butthe cheese sandwich took the edge off. Last night we ate at Artichoke. Very trendy but a large (by Hungary standards) number of veggie and fish dishes. The food was good. Service was terrible and the price by Hungarian standards, quite expensive. Tonight we look for a veggie Indian restaraunt.

Had the best food yet last night. Vegetarium is a veggie restaraunt on an unassuming side street in the downtown area. The food was incredible. A big menu half of wich is vegan and half has dairy, it was hard to choose. Even better incredibly cheap. I started with a traditional Hungarian potato and bean soup (I think it is called Polenc) That was amazing. Then I had a stuffed pepper that was fantastic. I'm in Keskemet now and found really good pizza so I'm hoping to have luck here

[lgss]

Where is Artichoke? Do they serve vegan, gluten-free food?

Right outside the Main train station, there are a
few food stalls that serve excellent falafels.

Right up the hill by the Church (I forget the name of the church) there is a very good Italian restaurant.
Ask them for paste with rabe. And I know not the name of the neighborhood, but there was this only indian restaurant which had many vege dishes (The neighborhood was by the plaza with all these statues)

Thanks for the message. The good news is that there are a few Vegetarian restaraunts (or so they claim) Last night we hit paydirt! There is a wonderful place called Gahndi in town. Completely vegetarian! No meat, eggs, etc. The menu is whatever they cook that day. There are 2 plates one can choose from. I got a piece of fantastic vegie lasagna, a piece of corn bread, jasmine rice and a stewed tomato dish for the equivalent of 6 dollars!
The food was fantastic. The thing I really liked about it was they didn't atempt to make some meat dish sans meat. It was just good vegie dishes!
Tonight we may try Gvinda which is supposedly a vegie Indian place or A place called Apricots. The adventure continues

[lgss]

Where is and how was Apricots? Do they have a website? Where is Gahndi and is that the correct spelling?

The Hungarians use lard a lot, but you should feel safe in eating the wonderful cucumber salad (uborkasalata). Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I would also think that the pastries would be safe for you, and eat the cold fruit soups. Of course, that doesn't cover your sources of protein. Hungary is a landlocked country that has a limited supply of freshwater fish; other meats have been vital protein sources for them. I'd counsel you to consider whether your health is more important than the principled urge to resist paprikas csirke, but I'm not a vegetarian.

I hope you're enjoying the wonderful city of Budapest, regardless. Oh, and try a palinka (apricot brandy) if you drink alcohol.

I have been able to find foods to eat but it isn't always easy. Last night we went for dessert to a little cafe and the waitress reminded me of the old school New York waiters at Bernsteins etc. She threw the menu at us and said " What do you want" She seemed to be pissed when we ordered food!! Coffee was good milkshake tasted like watered down Quick. We tried Unicom? Some liquer sounds like that. Tasted like skunked Jagermeister.
I have been able to get protein. Cheese at Breakffast everyday and a fair amount of yogurt.I've only been a vegetarian for a year. I have no moral or ethical reasons. I have found that not eating meat , I feel better. More tomorrow

There are various ways that uborkasalata is made. No-one served it to me with yogurt, but I recall a Czech restaurant near the Zeneakademi (Music Academy) Liszt Ferenc (not a particularly good restaurant) served it with sour cream and a lot of salt and some black pepper as well as paprika. I prefer the uborkasalata to be served with some onions in a not noticeably salty mixture of vinegar and water with some paprika. It turns out that the recipe I've used, which uses salt to get the water out of the cucumber, then calls for the cucumber slices to be washed and dried with paper towels, and a pinch of sugar added along with, I believe, a 1:4 ratio of vinegar and water, plus paprika, produces just about a perfect facsimile of the great uborkasalata I ate several times at a very good moderate-priced (around 600-850 Forint, which was probably equivalent in those days - 1994 - to about $25-35 in buying power in New York, though the exchange rate was approximately $1=100 Forint), slightly fancy neighborhood restaurant on Rea'ltanova Utca, across from a private (middle?) school (one block south of Kossuth Laius Utca, the street which forms the southern boundary of the downtown Budapest pedestrian zone). Whether the nice restaurant I enjoyed still exists, and whether it's good 7 years later, who knows?

I admit I did not miss lettuce at all in Budapest. Then again, cucumber is one of my favorite vegetables to eat raw.

Incidentally, the recipe I use comes from Gundel's Hungarian cookbook, which my father bought on the street on the Upper West Side for $1. [smile]