Top Eats in Budapest (In no particular Order) or The last of the Budapest Entries Until I can post some photographs

When people travel--they often look to exerience the culture. One easy way of doing that is by food. We, however, after 10 months of being in Ukraine, were less concered about ghoulash as we were about CHOICE, something that is nearly impossible in our daily lives. Our decisions about where to eat definitely were dictated by what we were unable to get in Ukraine. Hence--

1. Pizza Hut-vegetable pizza. Tasty and the waiter spoke great English. This is the first place we ate after getting off the train and before getting to the hotel.

2. Burger King-whopper and onion rings. You can not imagine how much I have missed the BK.

So, having fulfilled the American urges we were ready to experiment.

3. Rick's (or Casablanca, or some similarly tacky name)-asparagus soup and salad. Attempt at "authentic" food gone bad as noticed entire staff speaking strangely familiar language without Ukrainian accent. Decorated tackily (perhaps a notable second giveaway). Bald man playing casio keyboard and singing. Hmm.. Well, it was past 1 am. But the completely unforgivable was the green caterpillar in my salad. Yes. Climbing on the edge of a cucumber he was camouflaged so well I almost ate him. I am grateful I noticed him. Yuck.

So much for experimenting with local cuisine.

4. Chinese fast food/buffet-some beef in sauce with rice. Went here after a visit to the baths. For under $5 a piece we got a full meal and a beer. Granted, after putting the food on our plates he turned around and shoved them in the microwave, but hey, we got what we paid for and it wasn't half bad.

5. John Bull Pub--some cambert cheese in strawberry jam appetizer. One would think typical fish and chips joint, but no. Variety, sort of pub fare. Got a unique beer-banana bread beer, it was called. Was alright. Food was okay-again pub food. I had an appetizer while the girls ate pasta meals which loked good. We ended up getting charged incorrectly after I had to hound the waiter for the bill. Upside? Was right next to our hotel.

Surprizes

6. Street fair-chicken chili. At the Buda side of the Chain bridge big huge gorgeous pans of this stuff called out to me. Was good.

7. Rinok-Chocolate Croissant. Before 1pm, closing time. She spoke no English or Russian. I speak no Hungarian. But I got a fresh chocolate croissant for less than a dollar by buying it at the market. Not a bad deal.

Special Occasions

8. Wasabi-everything and anything. An unforgettable dining experience that perhaps merits its own entry, but will be instead put here. To celebrate a friend's birthday, we let her decide where to go. She selected a vegetarian restaurant called Wabasabi but we were unable to locate it after searching for perhaps an hour. So, we gave up and instead went here-to an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet.

The decor was simple and elegant. Black chairs, interior, and tables. Only white chair covers. Every table was positioned next to a long conveyor belt with two rows. It was lit up and had small portions of Japanese food on plates moving from the kitchen, down one side of the restaurant, then up the other side before going back to the kitchen.

We were ready. I sat directly next to the sliding window and told everyone about five times just to tell me when they wanted something and I'd grab it for them.

I became boastful. "I will eat everything," I proclaimed. "There will be nothing left." And valiantly I tried to accomplish this goal--swallowing sushi, seaweed wraps, and other things. This restauant quickly became my undoing. The food started to win and I could no longer eat every fried crab leg that came jauntily by on the top shelf of the conveyor belt. I felt the food mocking me. It became too much. I conceded my victory and left ashamed. Never again will I ever eat at such a place. I learnt my lesson and it was not enjoyable.

9. Italian Restaurant-lasanga. The same day I wandered around alone and found the rinok I also found this cute (and affordable) Italian restaurant tucked away on a side street in est. Looking quickly at the menu, I decided to come back for dinner, either alone or with company. Everyone decided to come. It was very much a cute little Italian restaurant, the kind you'd find anywhere but Ukraine. The service was fantastic, the fod delicious, and again, affordable. By far my favorite meal of the week and we all left stuffed with pasta and wine.

And not so special occasions

10. Ice Cream Vendors. All over the city. Variety of flavors and just gorgeous looking stuff (more like gelattos). Some favorites were the Belgian chocolate and cinnamon flavors. But everyone was great! At about 50 cents a scoop, it is hard to get it wrong!