9 Hungarian Foods You Must Try in Budapest
Are you looking for must-try foods in Budapest?
In our Budapest food guide, you will get all the information to help you plan what to eat while visiting the Hungarian capital.
Check out our Budapest food guide for all of Budapest’s must-eat foods. We cover our nine must-try foods and restaurants for sampling the best dishes in the capital city. In addition, we include other information for visiting Vienna, Austria.
In Budapest, excellent food is plentiful, so get ready to indulge in mouth-watering Hungarian cuisine.
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Check out our Budapest Food Vlog, where we visit the places mentioned in this post: 9 Hungarian Foods You Must Try in Budapest.
9 Hungarian Foods You Must Try in Budapest
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Where is Budapest?
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. Hungary is in central Europe and has seven bordering countries; Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Austria. Being Hungary’s largest city, it is also its most populous city. Budapest is famous for its thermal baths, parliament building, and ruin bars.
What should you eat in Budapest?
These are the 9 Hungarian Foods You Must Try in Budapest.
Kolbász (Hungarian Sausages)
Dobos Torta (Hungarian cake)
Lángos (freid Hungarian bread)
Túró Rudi (Curd Snack)
Gelato (Rose-shaped)
Gulyás (Goulash)
Hungarian Alcohol (Pálinka)
Paprikás Csirke (Paprika Chicken)
Nokedli (Hungarian Dumplings)
1. Kolbász
Central Market Hall
The Central Market Hall is the oldest covered market in Budapest. It is on the Pest side of the city near the green Liberty Bridge.
In the Great Market Hall, you can find sausages, produce, souvenirs, and food stalls selling traditional Hungarian food.
We went to Panoráma Food on the top floor to try a traditional Hungarian sausage.
The name for sausage in Hungarian is kolbász. Paprika, a common spice in Hungarian food, is used to season the sausages.
The kolbász came with bread and a side of mustard.
One Hungarian sausage is 1500 HUF ($3.93).
2. Dobos Torta
Auguszt Cukrászda Belváros
Auguszt Confectionery has four locations in Budapest. The family-run confectionery has been open since 1870.
We visited the downtown location and loved the cozy interior. The cafe has a beautiful chandelier and a pastry display shelf in the middle.
August specializes in Dobos Torta (drum cake). The Hungarian cake consists of sponge cake and chocolate buttercream. At the top of the cake is hardened caramel.
The cost of one slice of the cake is 1045 HUF ($2.74).
3. Lángos
Retró Lángos
Lángos is the famous Hungarian street food. The best way to describe it is like a Hungarian pizza.
We went to Retró Lángos to try Hungary’s deep-fried breakfast/snack food. They have an outdoor terrace and an indoor seating area to enjoy your lángos.
The base of lángos is a deep-fried bread. Traditionally it has garlic, sour cream, and cheese as the toppings, but plenty of other toppings can go on lángos. Some toppings are onions, sausage, ham, and even Nutella for a sweet lángos.
The cost of the lángos is 990 HUF ($2.60).
4. Túró Rudi
Grocery stores
If you want to try the traditional Hungarian curd snack, Túró Rudi, you can find them in most grocery stores in Hungary.
We bought ours from a SPAR grocery store while walking around Budapest. You will find them in a red polka dot packaging in the refrigerated section.
Túró Rudi has a chocolate-flavored outer shell, and the inside has curd and jam. It tasted a bit like cheesecake.
We tried the strawberry and apricot ones.
Each curd snack is 159 HUF ($.42).
5. Gelato
Gelarto Rosa
Even though gelato is not Hungarian, this gelato shop in Budapest is unique and a must-try. Gelarto Rosa is the ice cream shop in Budapest for one-of-a-kind rose-shaped gelato.
They have a variety of unique flavors, so we had a hard time deciding what to get. We went with the white chocolate lavender and salted caramel; it was almost too pretty to eat. Not only is the ice cream beautiful, but it is also tasty.
One scoop of gelato is 950 HUF ($2.49).
6. Gulyás
Goulash Station at Street Food Karaván
Goulash is one of Hungary’s national dishes, so naturally, we had to include it in our list of Budapest's must-eat foods.
To try this famous Hungarian dish, we went to Street Food Karaván. Karaván is on Kazinczy utca, which is known as Budapest’s party street.
Inside Karaván, food trucks and stalls serve traditional Hungarian cuisine and international dishes.
Goulash Station is a food truck inside Karaván that serves goulash in a bread bowl. Goulash is a soup or stew that contains meat, vegetables, and paprika.
One bread bowl filled with goulash is 3,300 HUF ($8.66).
7. Hungarian Pálinka
Szimpla Kert
Szimpla Kert (Simple Garden) is Budapest’s most famous ruin bar and a well-known bar worldwide.
Ruin bars are housed inside abandoned buildings and became popular in Budapest in the early 2000s.
We went to the wine bar in Szimpla Kert to try the traditional Hungarian fruit brandy, pálinka. We tried the cherry and grape-flavored pálinka.
A shot of pálinka is 1,620 HUF ($4.25).
8. Paprikás Csirke & 9. Nokedli
Barack és Szilva étterem
Barack és Szilva (Peaches and Plums) is in the heart of Budapest. The restaurant serves traditional Hungarian cuisine and international dishes.
Here we tried their delicious paprika chicken. The chicken marinates in a cream sauce seasoned with sour cream and paprika.
The chicken paprika comes with a side dish of Nokedli. Nokedli is Hungarian dumplings that are similar to German Spätzle. They are a popular side dish in Hungarian cuisine.
The paprika chicken with Nokedli is 4,500 HUF ($11.81).
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What city should you visit after Budapest?
Vienna is about two and a half hours away from Budapest.
In our Vienna vlog, we show you Vienna’s most popular attractions.
A few days is plenty of time to see most of the main attractions. Vienna is known for its classical music culture, coffeehouses, and architecture.
Check out our 10 best things to do in Vienna, Austria blog.
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Have you been to Budapest? What was your favorite restaurant or must-try food in Budapest? We’d love to hear about your experience. Let us know in the comments.
