21 Magyar Vendeglo, Budapest, Hungary — on our Danube cruise

After that magnificent entry into Budapest, our tour of the city, and that tower cake, Nancy and I had dinner and one last night aboard ship. In the morning, Viking let us sleep in, compared to those catching flights home, and then seamlessly moved us and our luggage up to our hotel, the Hilton on the Castle Hill, for a two-night post-cruise stay.

Nancy and I unpacked and got settled, and then went out and explored more of the considerable Castle Hill area. One of the many remarkable things about Budapest is the designs with colored roof tiles, as here on the cathedral.

Budapest is such striking city! We also took advantage of reduced crowds to wander the Fishermens’ Bastion — here’s a shot from that evening.

You can see a good shot of the Bastion from our river arrival in Budapest here. In medieval times the fishermen of Budapest were responsible for guarding that section of the castle walls, thus the name. The current walls are modern, completed in 1902, long after castle walls became obsolete militarily. They are certainly a sight, however, and the various portals offer grand views of the Pest side.

We consulted our Budapest guide book and a sheet of recommendations from Viking, and chose 21 Magyar Vendeglo, also known as Hungarian Kitchen, at Fortuna Utica 21. It’s a pleasant looking place with covered outside seating where two fellow passengers had been eating happily. We sat down and ordered from thier traditional Hungarian menu, goulash soup for Nancy,

and for me Hungarian mangalika pork (mangalika is a native Hungarian breed) with letcho (a sauce of onions, peppers, tomato, and paprika),

and a side order of homemade sourdough bread for the table.

That shimmering goulash was very good, with a delicious broth full of complex flavors. I thought I tasted a hint of caraway seeds! We both were very high on it.

The pork, on the other hand, turned out to be quite tough, and it lacked the richness you expect in pork. The letcho also tasted bland, despite all those onions and peppers. The raw onion helped, but I was startled by the lack of flavor of both the sauce and the pork. I later learned that mangalika pork is especially fatty, and how they managed to leave it so tough baffles me. 

The sourdough bread, on the other hand, was excellent. Doesn’t it just look delicious?

My pork was the first food failure of the trip. The lunch was redeemed, however, by Nancy’s soup, that delicious bread, and cold, citrusy local IPA. Onward and upward.

If you find yourself hungry on Castle Hill, try the goulash and sourdough bread at 21 Magyar Vendeglo.

***

And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box.  Or bookmark us and check in from time to time.  If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event).  Comments, questions, and suggestions of places to eat or stories to cover are very welcome.  And check our Instagram and Twitter pages, johntannerbbq.