Múzeum Café & Restaurant In Budapest

Everyone has heard of the Hungarian Gulyás soup with its spicy richness served in a kettle pot, but not many have heard of their equally delicious Halászlé or Fisherman’s Soup.

And what better place to sample this delight than one of Budapest’s oldest and most famous restaurant, the Múzeum Café & Restaurant.

This was in Summer of this year where, because of global warming, the climate in Budapest was hot and muggy. Dining inside restaurants can be very tedious because most of them only have heaters. Office attire here tend to be short sleeve shirts and business shorts. Europeans tend to be very practical people.

Of course, this is also the best time to sample the summer menu which tend to include chilled fruit soups and other cold dishes. Of course, this blog being what he is decided to go for the Fisherman’s Soup as a starter because many good things have been said about it.

Served in a kettle pot with a wedge of Lemon, the spicy aroma was mouth-watering. Initially I was nervous about squeezing the lemon into a cream-based soup but then I remembered that no self-respecting Hungarian restaurant would use cream in either the Gulyás or the Halászlé. The creaminess is derived solely from the root vegetables such as potato. Ladled into a soup bowl, it was fantastic.

The carp was fatty and flaky which was a surprise as I was expecting a tougher flesh. Some of the older gentlemen at the table advised me that the restaurants have toned down the heat of the soup to cater to the younger crowd. To get the proper heat and flavor, one would have to fortify it with more paprika.

And lo, a small jar of Paprika was brought out with some ceremony and the whole table watched as I spooned a reasonably large portion into the kettle pot, stirred, served and tasted.

Immediately, I broke out into a sweat. The Paprika did not have the burn in your mouth sensation as some of the more devious chillies and peppers have. Instead, this was a heat that spread throughout your body. It gave the soup more body added a sweetness to the soup and the fish that was really satisfying.

From then on, I’ve always been adding Paprika to all my spicy soups in Hungary.

Hungary is also famous for it’s Goose Liver. And it being summer, my pan-fried Goose liver was served with stewed summer fruits. The sweet (from the red wine), tart softness of the fruits was a brilliant match to the heavy, sweet Goose liver.

The taste of summer is very fine indeed.

Múzeum Café & Restaurant is at 1088 Múzeum krt. 12 Tel.: 36-1-338-42-21, 36-1-2670375.

Posted on 12th Sep 2008 in Food and Drink

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There Are 2 Comments

xian commented on September 14, 2008 at 7:08 pm

I really love your photos…it totally capture the objects in the best light..may I know what camera are u using?? Some camera that is so expensive that I can’t afford?!

Ivan commented on September 15, 2008 at 3:03 pm

@xian: Thanks! I use a Nikon D300 but really any camera will do as it really depends on what you like to take pictures of.

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