Taste of Hungary Passport

Deep-fried dough with sour cream and grated cheese.

Market halls and lake beaches

Paprika-spiced sausage, best with mustard and rye bread.

Street stalls and food markets

Stuffed cabbage rolls, slow-cooked with smoked pork.

Neighbourhood étterem

The real thing is a soup, not a stew.

Anywhere with a Hungarian grandma in the kitchen

The rich paprika stew people mistake for goulash.

Classic Budapest dining rooms

Fiery river-fish soup — Baja and Szeged argue over the recipe.

Danube and Tisza riverside towns

Hungary's signature indulgence, often pan-seared with apple.

Bistros in District V and VI

Hungarian schnitzel with potatoes and pickles.

Lunch menus (napi menü) everywhere

Chimney cake turned over coals and rolled in sugar.

Christmas markets and Váci utca

Sponge, walnut, chocolate and rum — the national trifle.

Old-school restaurants

Five sponge layers under a caramel lid.

Historic cafés

Curd-cheese strudel, best warm and mid-morning.

Rétes bakeries

Golden dessert wine once served to kings.

Tokaj cellars

Bull's Blood — Eger's spicy red blend.

Valley of the Beautiful Women, Eger

Hungary's crisp, mineral white — the sommelier's pick.

Wine bars in Budapest

Fruit brandy. One shot, and always a toast first.

Every celebration in Hungary

Herbal bitter in the round black bottle.

Ruin bars and old pubs

Summer in a glass — learn the ratios by name.

Balaton terraces

Marble, mirrors and a proper cortado moment.

New York Café, Central, Gerbeaud

Budapest's roasters hold their own in Europe.

District VII and IX cafés

The neighbourhood patisserie ritual, best at 4pm.

Any residential street

Thick enough to stand a spoon in, for winter days.

Cafés near the Opera House