Hungarian cooking is hearty, paprika-driven, and built for cold winters. Pork is the dominant meat; sour cream (tejföl) appears in and on almost everything. The cuisine takes some adjusting if you're used to lighter food, but it's deeply satisfying.
Goulash (gulyás) is the national dish — a soup of beef, potato, onion, and paprika that bears little resemblance to the thick stew served in Western Europe under the same name. In Hungary it's a broth, eaten with bread. The richer, stewlike version is pörkölt.
Chicken paprikash (paprikás csirke) is chicken simmered in a paprika cream sauce, typically served with egg dumplings (nokedli or galuska). One of the most comforting dishes in the repertoire.
Halászlé (fisherman's soup) is a fiery red broth made from freshwater fish — carp, catfish, pike — heavily seasoned with hot paprika. The version from Szeged and the one from Baja are rivals; both are excellent and both are aggressively spicy.
Lángos is street food: deep-fried dough, hot and chewy, typically topped with garlic oil, sour cream, and grated cheese. Get it at a market or at Lake Balaton — it's a summer institution.
Töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage) is minced pork and rice wrapped in soured cabbage leaves, stewed slowly and served with sour cream. Classic winter food.
For dessert, look for somlói galuska (sponge cake with rum, walnuts, and chocolate cream) or rétes (strudel), which Hungarians make with many fillings including cherry, poppy seed, and cottage cheese.
Drink
Hungary has underrated wine. Tokaj in the northeast produces Aszú, a luscious dessert wine made from botrytised grapes — it really was the Wine of Kings. But the country also makes good dry whites in the Tokaj, Eger, Badacsony (Balaton), and Villány regions, and Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood) is a red worth knowing.
Pálinka is the national spirit — fruit brandy, legally required to be made from Hungarian fruit. Plum (szilva) and apricot (barack) are the most common varieties. It ranges from rough to excellent; the best pálinka is as fine as a good Cognac. Refusing a glass when offered in someone's home is a social misstep.
Unicum is the Hungarian herbal liqueur — bitter, medicinal, and very much an acquired taste. It's been made by the Zwack family for over 200 years.
Eating out is excellent value by Western European standards. A sit-down lunch with wine in a good Budapest restaurant typically costs 4,000–7,000 HUF per person; outside the capital, even less.