I was reminded of our food tour in Budapest when I walked into our hostel room in Singapore and was hit with a waft of moldy, cheesy air. This wasn’t your average pong, it’s the smell of that distinct, fluffy, velvety white rind on a round of Camembert. Delicious, right? Needless to say, this wasn’t my favorite hostel of the whole trip; we’ve had better and we’ve certainly had cheaper. Our hostel in Singapore was not the highlight of the trip.

Great Market Hall, Budapest. A beautiful turn of the century building.

However, the food tour in Budapest  with Taste Hungary was one of the best parts of our 3 weeks away from Bali. Our guide Ana was extremely informative and showed us some of the tastiest bites of traditional Hungarian food.

The tour began in the breathtaking art deco Central Market building, and had us sampling a traditional Hungarian apertif called Unicum as well as some ewe’s milk cheese, both very potent and tasty.

A shot of Unicum, an herbal digestif liqueur.

Sour cherry yogurt and sheep’s cheese.

We also sampled hard sausages made from venison and pork, alongside some cracklins. It was all fantastic, but I really loved the butcher’s displays.

Pickling is clearly a big thing Hungarian cuisine, typically made with a sweet and vinegary brine.

Zev’s Mum is clearly delighted by the displays of pickled beets and peppers.

More pickles

Next we headed to a local lunch spot, where we stood outside around a long wooden table among a mass of workers on their lunch break. The emphasis of this meal was meat; blood sausage, liver sausage, paprika sausage, duck leg, cabbage, potatoes, horseradish, pickled veggies, and paprika noodles.

Pickled peppers at Belvarosi Disznotoros

The Taste Hungary food tour was an excellent introduction to traditional Hungarian cuisine. Some of the foods really reminded me of American food, and Zev’s parents certainly recognized some dishes from their grandparents from Eastern Europe.