If Hungarian cuisine could be boiled down to one word, it would be… paprika.  This smoky spice is used in just about everything.  I think the only thing we didn’t find paprika in was ice cream (but I wouldn’t be surprised if that existed somewhere).

Paprika is made from ground up red peppers and comes in two varieties: sweet and spicy.  More often than not in Hungary, spicy paprika is used in everything from soups to entrees to breads.

The meals are generally big, heavy and revolve around meat.  Here’s what you can expect to eat in Hungary:

Soups

Goulash is a soup you’ll find in practically every restaurant.  Goulash is an appetizing dish for such an unappetizing word.  It’s a hearty meat and vegetable stew seasoned with… you guessed it, paprika.  It could be an appetizer or an entree.

Halászlé is a bright red, hot and spicy fish soup.  But since Hungary is a landlocked country, the fish in the soup is mostly carp pulled out of the river Danube.

Hideg meggyleves is chilled sour cherry soup.

Entrees

Főzelék is a traditional thick vegetable stew.  It’s usually topped with bacon or cooked with bacon fat.

Paprikás csirke is chicken served in a pungent, tangy paprika sauce.

Töltött paprika are peppers stuffed with ground meat and rice.

Pörkölt sounds like it would be a pork dish, but it’s a meat stew that’s most commonly made using beef (though pork can be used too).  It’s similar to goulash.

Töltött káposzta is cabbage stuffed with meats, rice, vegetables and seasonings.

Snacks

Hungarian bread and salami, served in an open face sandwich, is the most common type of snack.  There are a plethora of salami and cold sausage options.

Desserts

You know ‘em as crepes, but in Hungary they’re called palacsinta.  These thin pancakes can be filled with sweet items such as fruits, jams and chocolate, or filled with savory items such as meats and cheeses.

Rétes is strudel that is similar to palacscinta in that it can be savory or sweet.  It was common to see sour cherry or apple rétes, but we also tried a cheese and chive strudel, and a cabbage strudel.

Dobos torte is a rich and elegant layered chocolate cake that is covered with a thin blanket of chocolate glaze and, occasionally, ground nuts.

Beverages

Hungary is well-known for producing high-quality, full bodied wines.  The red wines really complimented our already “red” meals of paprika and meat.

For the love of whatever you believe in, do NOT drink Theodora water.  Even though it’s “still water” (no gas, no bubbles), it’s aerated.  We’ve read up on the aeration process, but still don’t fully understand it.  But regardless of the process, the end result is water that tastes like what you’d think hydrogen peroxide might taste like.

We weren’t sure if it was water or acid.  Out of sheer thirst desperation (and an overall fear of foreign tap water) we probably drank two or three small bottles of this stuff at restaurants, and can attest that our stomachs DIDN’T dissolve from the inside out.  So while completely disgusting tasting in our opinion, it’s not unsafe.  Just be aware that if you order “still bottled water” in Budapest, you’re probably going to end up with a bottle of Theodora.