Back in Budapest: Hachapuri, Bock bistro, Laci Konhya, Rosensteins, Kacsa, Alabardos

Hachapuri

Hachapuri may be the only Georgian resto in Budapest. I was passing in a taxi and noticed it. Stopped the taxi, looked at the menu and went in for lunch. The presentations looked interesting.

The Georgians do a wonderful crushed walnut ball app, combining the walnuts with such fillers as cooked spinach, cooked cabbage, beets and carrots. Above you will see the cabbage ball which was very savory and tasty. On the right is grilled eggplant with garlic sauce.

Georgian red bean pot accompanied by corn bread, marinated cabbage and peppers and a small yellow pepper that had been hollowed out and filled with marinated cabbage. All quite delicious.

House made Georgian bread grilled over a charcoal fire accompanied a wonderful stew/ bowl of eggplant, squash, potatoes and other veggies in a tomato based sauce. The bread tasted of the smoke from the coals of the fire and was delicious.

The self named hachipuri, these dumplings filled with mushrooms or spinach.

This resto was an accidental, inexpensive find.

Bock Biszstro

I mention this resto bc it is one of my faves in Budapest and I returned for a second time this trip. Regretfully, none of the images turned out bc of a fault in the camera. but they can be viewed in my blog about the Budapest restos I visited  and posted in 2015.

Laci Konhya

"One hundred year old soup": beef broth that has literally been simmering non-stop for 4 YEARS (thats what they told me!), beef tongue, beef jowl, lemon grass lemon seed, coriander, soy sauce, parsley, chive oil and lime juice. A delightful soup of remarkably transparent and complex flavours.

The House ameuse bouche, House made sausage sliced paper thin on a great red slicer, doused with some good olive oil and served with house made bread and an olive.

St Peter fish, perfectly cooked, with kohlrabi foam, radish, green apple and baby bock choy.

Rhubarb espuma with acacia flowers, strawberries and strawberry ice cream. 

Carrot ice cream accompanied by hazel nuts and a slice of banana, gift of the chef.

Kacsa

Ameuses: cream cheese with garlic and dill; pureed beans; pureed pork crackling.

Fish plate: aroma redolent of the aroma of dill and the pungency of Hungarian oregano.

Duck with red wine sauce and diced mushrooms and currents.

Apple strudel.

Rosenstein

Fish soup with carp milt and roe.

Lecso, a very good traditional stew made with onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, paprika and garlic.

Porcini mushroom stew that was really quite delicious.

Condiments of hot paprika and tomato sauce and mildly hot peppers.

Garlicky mangalitsa pork loin roast with Hungarian potato pasta (no photo).

Layered cake with poppy seeds, plum jam and apple with cracked walnuts

Alabardos

Tapioca with cheese sauce and a touch of paddle fish caviar.

Roasted morel mushrooms, caviar, baby radishes, extremely tasty/good house made sour cream (which was rich but not sour), little caviar like roe that looked like caviar but was made of algae and tasted smokey and new potato chips.

Soup, langostino with layers of crispy sliced garlic; green veggies that were perfectly undercooked.

Perfectly undercooked trout, topped with shaved fennel, accompanied by fava bean and black beans. The smoked apple jus sauce was mildly acidulous but this sauce was highly complementary to the fish

Pig loin with veggie "stew", every element prepared and cooked to perfection.

Dobos torte (a spongecake layered with chocolate butter cream, topped with caramel) was accompanied by wonderfully crunchy elements and the coffee ice cream provided the perfect contrast

****This is a highly accomplished chef with prodigious technical skills. Every element of every dish was cooked to perfection.