Budapest, Hungary -- Day 3

Having failed to get dinner at Szent Jupát Étterem once before, we were determined that this time we'd get a reservation. Since we'd be in the area anyway, we figured we'd just drop by and tell them in person. When the time came, J and I looked at each other, and decided, oh what the hell. It's lunch time -- let's just eat here now.

The portions were ludicrously huge. J and I each ordered a soup, and we split an entrée of deer ragout. It was a fair meal, hot and filling, but the flavors were pretty standard and unremarkable. The deer meat was reasonably tender, leaning a bit toward the dry side, but not tough and chewy.

For dinner, we looked up a guidebook-recommended fish restaurant which served up some delicious soups and stews. We each had a fish soup, a "catfish cracklings" as a starter, and J had a pike-perch fillet while I had a catfish stew.

The cracklings were a bit under-salted, and they very quickly wilted and became soggy before we could actually enjoy them. I found the amount of catfish fat in the cracklings mildly nauseating. J thought they were "interesting" but not stupendous.

The broth portion of my catfish stew was incredibly rich and delicious, bursting with amazing fish flavor. The catfish in my stew was again somewhat nauseatingly fat, but well-flavored despite this and reasonably good to eat. J's pike-perch fillet was pretty tasty, tender, moist, and flaky. Unfortunately, it was also a bit oily.

Overall it was a nice meal that warmed our bones after the cold rain we'd been slogging through the entire day.

Written 2010-05-30 06:58