Best of Budapest

Biscuits are a novelty for people in Budapest. Most of them have'n got a glue what to do with this very popular 'food' in other European countries.

Up until quite recently we were exactly the same. The biscuit is a very dry and boring thing and if you have a good old-fashioned granny, she will make it into drums, soak them in rum, mix some chocolate in and pumps this dough until it becomes a proper cake.

Than one day we visited La Delizia Biscuit Manufacture on Jókai street 13. and EVERYTHING has changed, since that day I became a fan of biscuits. You may mock me for this!

The place is a family business, this was the main reason why we went there after their kind invitation made. Éva Oczella and her hubby were coming back home from skiing this January and on the long journey they came up with the idea of this biscuit manufacture.

They were munching on Eva's homemade cookies and then they decided to make a business out of it. They quit their previous secure well paying jobs for this idillic dream, and 6 month ago they have opened up their dream shop.

They have plenty of recipes from all around the world (Italy, Germany and local too): home-made jam filled ones, chocolate ones, chilli ones, cookies with cinnamon, coconut, and so on... the list is endless. We have tasted almost all, and please allow me to tell you about my fans: moorish kiss which reminds me of macaroons, which morrishly chocolaty, and you can definitely OD yourself on it and the mixed in almonds are just the exra added bonus.

Not to mention the candied orange biscuit, in which you can precisely taste the quality ingredients and you would definitely tell the shopping list for it. From now on I would always have this with my cuppa. Oh, and the coconut-berry biscuit... the shortbread base with the slightly sour taste of he berry with a pinch of coconut .... Heavenly.

And down to the rough and dirty, cca 30 cookies for 4 EUR, this would make a nice companion for teas and coffees, and just the right sweet ending of a dinner. Worth every penny!

La Delizia
1066 Budapest, Jókai u. 13. Hungary

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If you walk towards 'Szabadság híd' - Liberty bridge from Kálvin square, on the right side you can easily miss the entrance of a tiny canteen that wasn't there a couple of months back. The place in not much wider than the door itself. One of our readers Gabi recommended the miniature shop where allegedly genius soup is sold.

The name of the place is 'Leves.' - Soup.  It was created by the same group as Pasta., but this was the first place.

At my arrival three people were queuing and I've squeezed myself into the place to try out what do they know about soup. That afternoon there were 3 different soups by the blackboard: Morocco style thick lentil soup, Carrot cream soup with saffron and chicken soup Lyon style. I've asked for the last, payed 450 forints (1,5 EUR) and in exchange I've got a cup with a bayonetted spoon:

I've tasted it and my mouth dropped. Excitingly spiced, neatly cooked reach soup what they gave me. My plan was only to taste it and than to have it on the street, but than and there I just had to have the whole thing at the roughly 1 meter long counter.

On the same day I was mocking about the neighbourhood, so when I remembered the soup I had earlier I turn my way the direction of the place again. I wanted to try a different soup knowing by now that I'll write about the little shop. Carrot cream soup with saffron and half of a grilled baguette is what I've asked for this time. Bonaparte flavour was my choice for the toasted baguette with chicken, caramelised carrot, leak, white wine and cheese stuffed in the middle.

This second course was fantastic too. At the beginning the sweetness of vegetables was dominating my first taste of the soup than came the blast of the carrot relish that filled up my entire mouth. I didn't expect much of the baguette than to the contrary it cranked my former experiences up.

Consequently the place is very sympathetic, it is cheap, uses good ingredients to make ambitious soups without any mystification. You get the paper cup, walk out to the street and by spooning the steaming stuff on the open you get the 'cool factor' never seen before. The sandwich is not a necessary extra that's tossed on the soup but a new excellent dish, the whole thing done quickly and compact, ready to go.

Leves.
Vámház körút 14., Budapest, HU.

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The question is a recent one arising after the fall of the iron curtain in the late 1980s. Not many came from the west visiting east for relaxation and holiday. The few who did mainly went to lake Balaton. These days tourists from Great Brittain, Italy, Germany and so on can freely come and go without facing much scrutiny from stern border patrol.

From the former Eastern Block it seems that Prague became the number one destination for Western visitors. The beautifully renovated inner city, the strategicly planned developments, welcoming friendlyness of the locals and very reasonable prices worked a charm with foreign tourists.

Such was Prague's popularity that there was even a book written about Budapest but mentioned the Checz capital in the title, so it would make reasonable sales.

Luckily times are changing and Budapest is getting increasingly popular. More and more tourists visit to discover this beautiful city that might not be as polished at places as Prague but nevertheless more exciting buzzing and lively.

I was curious to find out what foreign travellers thought of the two cities and done some research on some of the popular travel websites where people were discussing the pros and cons of both places.

On Fodors.com and Tripadvisor more people favoured Prague, roughly in a 2:1 ratio.

Those who preferred Prague were mostly taken by the beautifully renovated inner city and Budapest fans were taken by the lively reality of the city steeped in history. Some mentioned the lack of renovation on some buildings that saw better days, and disliked the uninspiring office buildings built in the 50s, some even saying these resembled to "Gestapo headquarters".

Interestingly the same reasons make many love Budapest. The imperfections and scars that had been left on the city by its stormy history and how the determined Hungarian people set out to constantly rebuild and improve their city. The culture and amazing nightlife is a joy to experience by foreigners and locals alike.

The rebuilt Czech capital mostly praised for its compactness, though less to see compared to Budapest, the inner city is ideal for tourists as it's cleverly built where all that is worth seeing can be covered by walking.

All in all Prague is winning this little contest for now, but it's worth to take a glance behind the points raised. Budapest has more offerings in terms of sightseeing and those who visited love that it has so much more than just a pretty city centre, with a lively buzzing far streching historic place. The few crumbling parts of the inner city was a negative for most however.

I think you have to visit both cities but definitely come and see what Budapest has to offer!

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We like to offer advice on the best places to go for a great meal with an acceptable price tag in Budapest. Sometimes it is useful to mention the places you should just avoid too!

The other day we were walking on Váci Street in search of some hot mulled wine. Meanwhile we worked up an appetite too and decided to grab a sandwich at Nordsee a German chain restaurant which seemed one of the better ones on the fast food scene. We asked for a fried fish sandwich that had a mouthwatering picture on the menu. I won't even go on about that we had to wait 15 minutes for it as there were bigger problems.

I don't want to be Michael Douglas from the film Falling Down where he totally looses it when his food resembles nothing of what the picture on the menu suggests and even proceeds firing an automatic riffle into the ceiling. I simply would like to express my disappointment that in 2012 in Budapest someone can charge 4 EURO for a tiny sandwich with a little frozen value range fish finished off with some uninteresting garnish.

For the same price you could find many restaurants with a very nice three course special lunch offer, though you are likely to fork out more in the evenings for dinner. Going back to Nordsee such glaring quality-price in-balance should not be accepted at any time of the day.

You may have walked or took the tram on Nagykörút to cover the large half circle stretching from Boráros square to Jászai Mari Square. This route has seen it's high days at the early 19th century when there were many cafes and bohemian bars filled with talented artists and poets of the times, quite a few of them drinking on credit.

Not many knows that at one point there were plans for shaping the inner city of Budapest similar to Venice. Instead of the road of Nagykörút, they dreamt up a large canal with boats similar to the famous Italian water town. If the plan went ahead, today's tourists likely would travel around in style on gondolas.

In those days the Danube embankment was a buzzing business exchange with boats providing Budapest with as much goods it could take and also take away any surplus. The idea to build a wide canal suitable for boats in the inner city where Nagykörút is today was the brain child of Ferenc Reitter a chief city engineer in the 1860s. He dreamt up a plan of a 36 meter wide side branch of the Danube in the city complete with water locks and 12 bridges. Though the press was running with the idea and many could already see the beautiful houses and palaces being built on the sides of this waterway, the transport ministry was concerned by the costs involved and rejected the plans.

In 1868 the French Financial Institution 'Societe du Credit General' offered to build the canal without Hungarian help, but this offer was also rejected.

Slowly there were other plans surfacing. A Belgian group for example proposed an extensive overhaul of Budapest. Their plans included a new bridge over the Danube, 2200 new houses, schools, libraries, abattoir, waste management site, horse racing ground, highstreets. The plan also included a crescent shaped boulevard, this in effect would have been Nagykörút Parisian style without any water or boats in sight. In those days many were feverishly excited about investments, buildings and trade so the Belgian plan was also rejected despite they wanting to build as much as a whole new town. It was difficult to calculate all eventualities exactly and after a financial boom many were cautious about a following crash that had indeed happened in 1873.

At the end much had been built from these grand plans but bit by bit financed by the town itself. When in the mid-70s Nagykörút was built, the idea of the canal with the meticulously prepared plans sank forever.