If you like stuffed animal heads and hides adorning your dining area, then this is the place for you. I thought it was super charming and lovely. They even had a table surrounded by chairs made from deer antlers and sheep hide. I'm personally a huge fan of using all the parts of an animal, so this practical and creative use of antlers made me really happy.
The food itself was also good. They did a fine goose liver trio, very tender and sweet, and very hearty portions for the entrées. (It's been a full 2 weeks since we ate there, so please forgive me for being sparse on the details!) Overall, lunch was a great experience.
After lunch, we walked out to the Valley of Beautiful Women to visit the numerous wine cellars and taste some wine. More details can be found here, but suffice it to say that I got thoroughly sozzled (some cellars failed to provide a spittoon, blargh). J had to steer me all the way back to the train station.
Because of my drunken state, we went back to Budapest rather earlier than we'd expected. On the train ride home, we looked up another restaurant, Alföldi. Being that it was a Monday, J reasoned that it ought to be slow enough that we wouldn't need a reservation. We were wrong again.
As we milled about outside this little restaurant, a couple stepped out and warned us off it. The food was hit-and-miss, they said, and the service was awful. Better to go to a place nearby called "For Sale."
After wandering for a good while, we finally found it. I was surprised to find that it was a rowdy, sawdust on the floor, basket of peanuts on bench tables sort of pub. We milled around uncertainly for a good few minutes before someone came to ask what we wanted. They tried to tell us they were full, but a couple was just finishing up, so we were spared this aggravating assertion.
Despite the questionable service, the food was decent. Their bean goulash was good and hearty, with wonderfully intense, rich meaty flavors and that ubiquitous Hungarian king of spices, paprika. The veal ragout was only passable. The weird Hungarian noodles were bland and dry, though their texture was interesting enough. The meat was also dry, and the sauce was not as intensely flavored. All in all, the ragout made for a rather poor follow-up to the goulash.
The portions were unbelievably huge, so we only got the 2 dishes... and even then, we didn't finish it all. Overall, it was a good cheap meal, but pubs aren't exactly my cup of tea.
Written 2010-05-31 13:15
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