Pest-Buda, Buda, Budapest

We have a couple more posts about Budapest – recap – we were there in November last year for a long weekend … click here, here and here to see some samples of earlier posts.

Pest-Buda Vendéglő (Pest-Buda Inn) is located on the Buda side of the city. It is described in a local guidebook as the place to try traditional Hungarian dish made according to grandma’s recipe.

The hotel concierge gave us two options when asked about traditional fare, Pest-Buda was one of them.

A 10-minute taxi ride across the Chain Bridge and up the Castle Hill (Fortuna utca 3) brought us to this homey bistro restaurant.

Sue started with Goulash soup with Csipetke. The name Csipetke comes from pinching small, fingernail-sized bits out of the dough (csipet =pinch) before adding them to the boiling soup. Sue ordered goulash soup every chance she had and none were as good as Pest-Buda.

I ordered the Hungarian fish soup. It was one of the best I have ever tasted. I like bouillabaisse (see earlier post here) and cioppino and this soup tastes more like cioppino.

Hungarian goulash is the most famous and often cooked dish outside the borders of Hungary. So that’s what I ordered. Hungarian goulash is neither a soup nor a stew, it’s somewhere in between. Though in Hungary it’s considered a soup rather than a stew. Mine came with egg barley. A herd of cattle is gulya and herdsman is gulyás in Hungarian, so that’s where the dish’s name comes from.

 

We heard a lot of English in the restaurant. So we suspect that this is an establishment that caters to a lot of tourists but it is not touristy. While this is not where the locals go, we trust that the food is not too far off the authentic.

I had a glass of Hungarian Cabernet Franc (from Villány or Szekszárd, I can’t remember) which was tannic, robust and matched the goulash perfectly.

Sue ordered a chicken ragout with garlic potato. The garlic blended in with the other flavors very well. Both our main courses were very good, home-style comfort food, and strangely, neither one tasted particularly exotic or ethnic, even though we were very far from our homes.

Like every tourist who visits Hungary and buys paprika, we bought both sweet and spicy paprika powders as well as the sweet and spicy creams for making goulash which already contains some of the other species.

Now we have a reliable idea of how a goulash is supposed to look and taste like. Let’s see if we can replicate some aspects of it at home.

 

Bordó Bisztró, Budapest

We ate our first dinner here by ourselves after Chris’s conference ended. It was Halloween weekend.

The bistro is located at the corner of Nagymező Street and Király Street, a block or so from Andrássy út in the center of Budapest.

We avoided a whole line of clearly touristy establishments on Liszt Ferenc tér (friendly host offering English menu, similar dishes with similar prices) and quickly ran into this place.

It was rather early when we first arrived. But it quickly turned into a lively place full of people having a bite before going out on a Friday night.

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The place is converted from a concrete printing house with an interesting multi-level layout.

On weekends, it hosts bands and DJs.

The printing house had a red floor, hence the name Bordó meaning claret.

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Great ambiance but the food is not its forté. Nor did we expect it. It was priced fairly.

Glad to have come across this place. We think someone should compile a short list of such non-touristy restaurants which are located in the touristy areas of major cities.

 

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Brasserie Bahnhof Basel

When it comes to finding a place to eat at a train station, the Brasserie at the Basel train station is hard to beat. I stumbled into this place recently.

This brasserie is located in the Basel SBB train station on the Swiss side of the border and not the Basel Badischer Bahnhof which handles the German train services. I (Chris) had passed through this station several times but did not have the need to wait for a train.

 

When I walked in, I did not expect such a space – the dining hall with a high ceiling enhancing the retro ambiance.

 

All four walls are covered with art or painting by Swiss artists – Dieter Roth, Pierre Haubensak – well-known locally.

The back of the dining room. The classic Swiss railway station platform clock is probably the only thing to suggest that this dining room might be located inside a train station.

The center section of the brasserie sits on a raised platform, illuminated by a skylight directly above. It could make one feel like the center of attention.

There are other dining rooms in adjoining wings, separated from the main room by heavy velvety curtains. What chandeliers!

 More art above the entrance.

The brasserie is almost a destination itself. The only other railway station I know that has something similar is Grand Central in New York. There were several bars and restaurants that share the magnificient space with the main waiting room at Grand Central. This place is more intimate than grand.

Unfortunately, the food is not what motivated me to write this place up.

The restaurant’s website is here.

The Magazine, London

The Magazine is a newish restaurant that is housed in an extension of the classically-proportioned Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, central London. I(Chris) was staying in Lancaster Gate. JL came over to meet me and we wandered into the park and stopped there for an iced latte in a sunny afternoon.

The contrast between the gallery and the restaurant is beyond words.

It looked to me like a jelly fish made of space-age material and glass has landed and is hugging the 19th century brown-bricked building.

The restaurant is so named because it is “attached” to the gallery which used to be a weapons storage.

The female Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid, is responsible for this creation which opened in 2013.

The interior suggested to me the inside of a white tent (I reckon the matt finish of the ceiling has something to do with it).

Five stiletto-shaped columns support the “roof” and channels natural light into the restaurant.

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The only fixed structure is a kitchen island and a long bar.

The bar faces what used to the exterior wall of the gallery.

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The columns are lit from its base, giving it shape and lightness, and act as a diffuser to lit the dining room in the evening. Just don’t sit too close to the spotlights.

The columns looked like chinese-style soup spoons to me.

 

We did not have a chance to eat there.  Reviews of the food have been mixed.

I also liked the polygonal-shaped tables and the logo on their door.

This place may look very dramatic at dusk. Have to come back to see it and taste the food.

 

Sabiá @ Vila Madalena, Sao Paulo

While I was wandering around in Vila Madalena, looking for some galleries, I came across this bar/restaurant – Sabiá. See this earlier post about Vila Madalena.

It had all its windows opened. It was bright and airy inside.

The bar is at the end of the dining room.

One wall is covered by a huge black-and-white mural.

There was a long table booked for a lively group of people getting together for a Friday lunch. I recognized some people in the restaurant – they are the employees of one of the galleries I visited.

This must be a great place to hang out at night. My young heavily-tattooed waitress spoke quite a bit of English – very helpful and patient. I ordered the plate of the day (Prato do dia) as written on the board at the entrance (top photo).

Filé de peixe empanado com creme de espinafre e batata salteada (Breaded fish fillet with creamed spinach and sautéed potatoes). It was Friday, hence fish. My apologies for the out-of-focus photo.  Obviously, I was in too much of a hurry to start eating my lunch.

Nice friendly place. Glad to have eaten there.

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Interlaken – part 2

Continuing with our long weekend in Interlaken …

Interlaken’s hotels are expensive and they are often fully booked. Our hotel is BeauSite located in the next town – Unterseen.

It is a family-owned hotel which has a nice little seating area in front and ample parking spaces. It was impossible to find parking in Interlaken … we tried.

Unterseen is really about 5-10 minutes walk from Interlaken’s main drag – Höheweg – and just because it is situated across the river Aare – there is hardly any tourists.

The River Aare connects Lake Thun and Lake Brienz – the “inter” part of Interlaken.

We joined a free walking tour and the guide took us treking across the river and up onto a trail just above the town. Poor Sue, her feet suffered for not having the right shoes.

The trail offered wonderful views of Interlaken – it was not so far up where everything appears tiny. One can just see Lake Thun in a distance
in the above photo – looking west – just when sun was setting.

Looking just across town – the backs of the old grand hotels on Höheweg are visible in the middle.

And looking east,  Höhematte (the big lawn in the center of town) is in the foreground (of the photo below).

Our little tour looped into Unterseen via a riverside walk before crossing the Aare and then turning back into the town center.

So peaceful.

Our walk around town took us near the funicular that connects Interlaken with the nearest summit – Harderkulm at 1323 meters (4341 feet) – which affords one a bird’s eye view of the town. Didn’t go there, we were quite happy with what we saw already.

Near the funicular station is a small zoo – better described as a fenced-off area – where a few mountain sheep/goat is kept.  What puzzled me was the height of the huts – are there two floors inside ?

As expected, the town is full of restaurants including many ethnic restaurants – for the home-sick tourists who cannot deal with daily European meals.  Well, we had a Korean dinner one night (Sue cannot resist it) and a generic “middle-eastern” on another. The best dinner we had was Italian at Citta Vecchia just down the street from our hotel – simple risotto con porcini and pasta alla vongole – it tasted great!  It is one of those mythical little Italian restaurants which every couple knows at least one.

 Another restaurant that was recommended to us by our guide was the “Bear” which serves traditional Swiss fare and is also just down the street. We did not have a chance to try it and we avoided all the steak places and continental restaurants in the town center.

Our hotel room has a direct view of the famous Jungfrau – 4158 meters (13,641 feet).  But on the first day, visibility is zero.

On the last day – the day we went up there, the weather was cooperating.

More pictures on our trip up Jungfrau to come …

London Chinatown Restaurants – Four Seasons and Plum Valley

One night while we were in London, we met a few friends for dinner in Chinatown. In my experience, there are several typical kinds of restaurants in the chinatowns of the world. First, there are those that provide a quick and inexpensive soup noodle lunch or single-plate dinner and pay no attention to decor or service. Wong Kei on Wardour Street near Shaftesbury Avenue is the best known in this category. It has been at that location for many many years (since my student days).  The waiters were plain rude but it was cheap. We did not visit Wong Kei this time.

A second type aims to provide local Chinese with authentic quality dinners and sometime even banquets. They are usually more comfortable, provide wrapped chopsticks and table cloth, and very likely have tanks containing live seafood on display. The Four Seasons on 23 Wardour Street is an example of this category. However, they do not have a fish tank, instead roast duck were hanging in the window – a practice more prevalent with the likes of Wong Kei.  Apparently, Four Seasons are famous for it but at the time without knowing it, we ordered a portion. The kitchen deboned it before serving – a rather uncommon practice in Chinese restaurant. It turned out to be one of the best I have tasted for many years – even the soy sauce is so good that I can taste the yellow beans. When in London again, we will definitely return to this restaurant or their branch in Queensway.

Then there are those restaurants that try to modernize the the traditional dishes with matching decor to provide a fine dining experience. Plum Valley at 20 Gerrard Street is an example of this third category. Unlike all the restaurants lining this street in the middle of Chinatown, Plum Valley’s facade is monochromatic with its Chinese name in matt gun metal grey.

The decor is all dark wood and natural stones. The interior is dimly lit. Many Japanese restaurants and spas don this look. Not innovative but definitely better than many others in the area.

It is certainly a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Chinatown just outside the front door. It reminded me of those Chinese restaurants in New York that are situated at the borders with Soho or Nolita.

We sat in a set of banquettes at the back which seated four people (not like these shown in the pictures). And the seating was very comfortable – a rare experience in any chinatown restaurant around the world.

We ordered a variety of dishes from dim sum, noodles, to stir-fry dishes. The dim sum were delicious.

Lobster fried noodles – very tasty but also a bit salty – they should have put more noodles on the plate given the amount of sauce.

Another vertically-oriented dish – stir-fried steak cubes in black bean sauce – perfect with white rice.

All in all, the ambiance was pleasant, service was responsive, but the taste was not quite refined enough to be classified as “fine dining” in my humble opinion.  While the dishes all tasted good, the flavors were a bit too bold. One surprise was that our bill was not unreasonable. Plum Valley is worth exploring.

Roganic, London

Roganic is a restaurant by Simon Rogan in Marylebone, London.  He is known for the innovative food served in his restaurant L’Enclume situated in the faraway Lake District in northwest England.

The restaurant is referred to as “pop-up” in the press and it is accordingly sparsely decorated as it only has a 2-year lease.

The staff was very friendly, the atmosphere informal. There were four of us, two on Olympics-related businesses and we were on vacation to see the Games.

Those who were on business arrived late by almost half an hour, they were excused as their responsibilities were more-or-less round the clock. Three types of rolls were served as soon as all were seated. The flavors of the bread were different but the texture were all the same. Amuse bouche soon followed.

We were hungry by that time and curious about the chef’s creations – so we all went for the 10-course tasting menu. They also offered a 6-course regular as well as a 6-course vegetarian menu. First course was Peas with beef tongue, dill and calamint.  Sue did not want beef tongue so that they substituted it with artichoke – which is the version of this dish on the vegetarian menu.

Grown-up yolk from the golden egg, celeriac and garlic. We forgot the explanation.

Keen’s dumpling, cream of onion, nausturtiums and liquorice powder. The brown spots in the bowl matched the sprinkled on liquorice powder.

This dish is the most visually-striking of the evening. Raw mackeral in coal oil, lovage, and gooseberries. Coal oil and lovage ?

Grilled salad smoked over embers, truffle custard and cobnuts. “I” who was on business spent a good 15 minutes on the phone to deal with an emerging situation, poor girl, so we were eating exceedingly slowly.  The restaurant staff politely told us that we should hurry a bit as the kitchen was “concerned”. They were very nice about it and we were ok with the suggestion, after all, we started late.

Razors with sea herbs, turnips, and pearl barley. A change of background color of the plate was not a bad idea but the plate was very japanese-y.

Chick ‘O’ Hake, beetroots, red orach, sorrel and cockles. If I remember correctly, it was a piece of grilled crispy chicken skin(?) on top of a chunk of fish.

Reg’s duck breast with yellow beans, sweetbreads, sage and corn.

Douglas fir, cherries, goat’s milk, and pennyroyal.

Hazelnuts and sweet cheese, rosehips and anise hyssop.

A total of 41 ingredients were mentioned in the menu. We have not eaten a meal like this before where a English-language dictionary was needed to explain many of the British vegetables that went into the dishes.

Since the four of us had not seen each other for a long time, we were spending more time chatting than tasting. It was a shame that we cannot remember more about the tastes as a lot of efforts must have gone into designing the dishes. If you are an adventurous diner, it is certainly worth a try.

We were the last guests to leave Roganic and it was so late that we completely missed the Olympics beach volley ball evening competitions.

Österreicher im MAK, Wien

Österreicher is a restaurant in the Museum of Applied Arts (Museum der Angewanten Kunst, MAK, see previous post). 

We arrived at the restaurant towards the end of lunchtime on a weekday – and the dining room is empty? It turned out every one was seated outside in the garden enjoying a bit of sunshine. There was a small glass-sided extension which contains a smaller and more intimate dining room (with a ceiling that rolls back – which we did not know at the time).

This restaurant is run by Helmut Österreicher, a star chef who reinvents traditional Austrian dishes. After we saw all those asparagus posted earlier in Nacshmarkt, we had to have some – with Hollandaise sauce. It went really well with the preserved meats.

We ordered the simplest dishes on the menu, and they are reliably excellent.

Garlic soup.

Shrimp pesto risotto

Since the schnitzel is a very common dish in Austria, we wanted to do a comparison between a decent street version (at Glacis Beisl) and this version by a renowned chef. I honestly cannot tell the difference. The least I can say is that they must have used a gigantic frying pan.

We entered the restaurant from the shop – the big dining room has a very elaborately decorated ceiling. An overhead structure marks the path across the room to a set of descending stairs which lead to the patio.

The long dinning room is simply stunning –  it must be a great place to see and be seen.

There is an area for drinks which is tiered so that even when one is seated, every one in the bar area is in view.

Judging by the spaces for standing drinkers, it is probably not a hushed dining room.

Love to visit the place in the evening when there are more patrons.

Jamie Oliver and Chris Bianco’s Union Jacks at Covent Garden

After visiting Stanfords the map-seller (see earlier post) on Long Acre in Covent Garden, we wandered into the covered market looking for a brunch place. When I was living in London many years ago, I would not have coming to such a touristy location for a meal.

But somehow, this time as a visitor, we were happy to give this fresh-looking place a try. Part of the reason was that the market had not yet gotten crowded and the whole place was bathed in cheery sunlight. The glass perimeter around the restaurant really worked well.

We know of Jamie Oliver but not Chris Biano (he is apparently a well-regarded Pizza chef from the US, Zagat gave his pizzeria in Phoenix, Arizona a score of 29/30). Also, little did we know that this Union Jacks restaurant – apparently is Jamie’s fourth in a chain – and it started only in July.

We circled the place before it opened. The staff was having their brunch and a briefing. Shortly thereafter, the whole place was buzzing with activity as it was getting ready to open.

What really sold us wasn’t the ambiance of the covered market but the menu which is online here at Jamie Oliver’s web site.

The menu emphasizes “Proud British Flavours”. We ordered a bunch of these so-called British Tapas – “By-catch Fish Fingers & Tartare sauce” above, and “Garlic Mushroom & Mayonaise” below – both very tasty.

“Roasted baby beets, Westcombe curd and smoked seeds” – Sue’s fav.

“Heritage tomatoes, shallot, tarragon & apple balsamic dressing” – rather ordinary tasting.

This is my (Chris) favourite – “Bloody Mary Welsh mussels”

A bit of British humor awaiting the nosy customer – “Stop looking at my bottom” – we do not normally look but I cannot remember what caused us to flip the plate over.

Potatoes with thyme – not on the menu but we saw them making it – so we ordered a plate.

Wood-grilled Pizza “Red Ox” which contains oxtail & brisket, slow braised in Worcestershire sauce, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, watercress & fresh horseradish – and no tomato sauce ! Sue did not like it but I thought it was a novel and tasty idea.

The place must be really chilly in winter for them to install this heating system – it is definitely much better than heat lamps.

Overall, we thought every thing was flavorful without being salty. Some dishes worked better than others. It was perfect for what we were looking for on that day.

When we left the restaurant, there was a short line of people waiting for a table. A busker got a crowd going nearby – so we stopped for a bit of street entertainment before setting off in search of a cafe.