Budapest, Hungary 5

Day 5 was the last full day in Budapest. It was our shopping day as usual. First we headed to the Central Market Hall. We briefly stopped by Párisi Udvar Hotel on our way to the market to admire the famous beautiful lobby.

The building was originally constructed in 1817 as a neoclassic shopping arcade and in 1906 it became the home of Budapest's Central Savings Bank after entire renovation. Later the building was occupied by an office for the state travel company and an ice cream parlor, and then the arcade was closed finally when a Hungarian hospitality firm took over the property in 2014. Today the building houses Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest, a 5 star hotel. The historical Art Nouveau arcade, featuring ornaments in Moorish and Gothic style beautifully, was transformed into the hotel's lobby and dining space. It looked gorgeous. Why didn't we stay at the hotel?

Ok, we were back to the original mission, Let's go to the Central Market!

It was nice to do shopping at the Central Market Hall in the early morning on a weekday when there was much less visitors.

Traditional Hungarian sausages were on J's shopping list. There were many vendors who sell sausages. I had no idea who would be the best. J had his own strategy and bought a Mangalitsa (a traditional Hungarian breed pig) sausage and a 'Winter Salami,' a traditional style of Hungarian salami. We also picked canned Hungarian foie gras and two kinds of Hungarian honey.

Paprika powder was on our shopping list. Two towns, Szegedi and Kalocsai are the main paprika producers in Hungary. Also, rózsa or rose paprika is generally considered the finest variety. Many vendors at the market were selling paprika from Szegedi or Kalocsai, but it wasn't clear which one was rose paprika. We bought the premium sweet and hot paprika each from Kalocsai. I don't know whether those are rose or not, but the lady at the vendor insisted they are the top quality Hungarian paprika. We also bought sweet paprika from Szegedi at a different vendor. A lady there told us that was rose paprika although the package doesn't mention so. All we could do was to believe what we were told.

We bought Checking bakeries was fun as always although I didn't buy any. 

J was interested in trying cheese. He picked Parenyica, semi-firm, non-ripening, semi-skimmed, steamed, and smoked cheese. It's a traditional Slovak cheese. The cheese must be popular since any cheesemongers at the market was selling it. He also picked a half of Rolad Sajt because its shape was cute, which looked like corn on the cob. It was also smoked. We already tasted Rolad Sajt at home and it made a pretty good sandwich.

We saw a huge jar filled with dark color paste. At that time I didn't know what it was and J bought about 100g of it just out of curiosity. Szilva means Plum and Lekvar means Jam in Hungarian. Hence it was plum jam. Traditional Hungarian plum jam is made without adding sugar. It had a thick texture and a deep lovely plum flavor. We loved buttering the plum jam and almond butter together on toast and finished all the jam up so quickly. I have to find where I can buy it.  

J had cappuccino and I had hot chocolate from a tiny coffee stand at the market. Surprisingly my hot chocolate was very good. We talked about getting a Hungarian apple strudel from a pastry vendor but it didn't happen. We left the market and had a quick late-breakfast at NOR\MA Grand, a Nordic-style craft bakery. I had a pistachio roll, which was nice. My green tea was flavored with a kind of flower??? That was unexpected. I think J had a kind of cheese pastry and I believe that wasn't his favorite. 

We walked around the Jewish Quarter and stopped by Arán Bakery, one of the top rated bakeries in Budapest. The bakery was very crowded. We managed to squeeze ourselves into the small shop and see their counter. Once I found Flódni, I didn't check other baked goods but asked J to buy two Flódni. Flódni is a traditional Hungarian Jewish, consisting of four filling layers: poppy seeds, walnut, apple, and plum jam, separated with five layers of thin pastry. I saw flódni at the bakeries at the Central Market Hall, but couldn't decide from which bakery I should get. Arán Bakery's Flódni was tasty. It was my first Flódni, so I don't know what it should taste like, but Arán Bakery's looked pretty and well-made. I was happy with it. Flódni was definitely unique. Each filling is not really special; in fact they are common ingredients of German pastries and cakes while I have never seen the fillings all together in one cake. Now I know the four sweet, sour, nutty, fruity fillings can harmonize with each other delightfully.

We went to a wine store near the bakery and purchased Hungarian red wine and Tokaj, a Hungarian sweet wine.

Last stop was a chocolateir, Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé. They are a craft bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Budapest. We picked up some treats, which I would like to introduce at another time. 

We finished shopping but it was still early for lunch. We visited Hungarian National Museum to learn the history, art, and archaeology of Hungary.

Within the collection of the glass, porcelain and ceramic objects, Herend's tea set looked adorable. Herend is one of the three most renowned porcelain factories of Hungary. Later I learned the pattern of little green leaves was a favorite with Francis Joseph, Emperor and King.

The Seuso treasure, the most significant late Roman silver treasure. 

The story of the Kingdom of Hungary was on the upstairs...

The stone relics from the Roman province of Pannonia were displayed in downstairs of the building. 

Finally it was time to go for lunch. The restaurant was far east, about 30 minute walk from the museum. We didn't mind the extra workout before the feast.  

Rosenstein Vendéglő is an old family-run, traditional Hungarian-Jewish restaurant. There were many photos of guests on the wall and we found Robert de Niro. 

We shared two starters. One was Friss lecsó, Hungarian-style ratatouille; the other was Zsidótojás háziasan, home-made Jewish egg spread. Both were lovely!  

One of two main dishes we ordered was Borjúpaprikás tojásos galuskával, veal paprika with egg spaetzle. The veal was tender and the creamy paprika sauce was tasty. Serving spaetzel by mixing with scrambled egg was new for me and it was very good. I got used to see the bright red-orange color of paprika in a dish by then and somehow I haven't got tired with it. I must like paprika so much.  

The other was Mandulás fogas goujon friss salátával, almond-coated pike-perch goujons with green salad. The fried fish was also delicious. The crispy almonds went well with the delicate pike-perch. The portion was generous and we became so full and satisfied. I couldn't find any space for dessert. What a shame!

To be continued...