budapest,  hungary,  new york

hungary in new york: our dinner at andre’s

the-romantic-the-winoLike the good little bloggers that we are, we’ve been conducting strenuous research surrounding our upcoming jaunt through Eastern Europe. Mainly, this has involved a lot of procrastinating via Google Image searches and trying to name all the Czech beers we want to drink. Last night, we took our mission to the streets of New York in search of some true blue Hungarian food.

To clarify: we walked about 50 feet from our apartments and met at Andre’s Cafe on 85th & 2nd to research what, exactly, Hungarian food involves. It turns out: we’re, like, really into Hungarian food. Let’s review, shall we?

The wine.

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Cool label? Check. Interesting name? Check. A fancy crest reminiscent of knights in shining armor and fancy castle parties? Check and Check.

Until recently, we didn’t think of Hungary as a go-to country for wine–or any country in Eastern Europe, for that matter. We had kind of resigned ourselves to tw0 weeks of beer guzzling, and we can’t say we were disappointed. But then! Lo and behold, we started reading more and more about Hungarian wine and perhaps, just like in Switzerland, we would be pleasantly surprised? We can now say that if our wine experiences are anything like the bottle we enjoyed last night then yes! This will be the case.

Also, per Sarah from Wake Up Mona, we should instead say, “igen igen igen igen!” instead of yes. Do I sense a summer catchphrase?

IGEN! (IGEN! IGEN! IGEN!)

The decor.

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New York in February is just the meanest place on earth. Everyone is cold and cranky and you constantly feel like you’re coming down with something. We turn into total curmudgeons, and nothing can warm our angry, angry hearts.

Except, that is, for exposed brick and copper piping and silly little tchotchkes adorning the walls! Perfection!

The Paprika.

We’re not quite sure what we were expecting when we sat down for our meal, but its safe to say that the end game was not what we imagined. Our first course was… well, we’re not entirely sure of the name but it was something Hungarian that meant “crepe with chicken paprikash” and it was AB-SO-LUTLEY delicious. The flavor that we couldn’t quite put our fingers on, according to our Hungarian-born waitress? Paprika! The wino’s entree, layered potatoes with sausage and eggs (like, yum) was also sprinkled with hints of paprika. Though we’re not well versed enough to say if this is truly a Hungarian palate, we are big enough foodies to highly recommend the paprika-laced dishes at Andre’s.

Chicken Paprikash

Chicken paprikash-filled crepe, yes please.

Hungarian layered potatoes

The wino’s layered potatoes. #nomnoms

In retrospect, having typed “Paprikash” more than once in this post, we’re now seeing why paprika may have been the prominent spice involved. Hmm.

Final verdict: the New York version of Hungarian food is absolutely delicious. Show us what you got, Budapest.

xo!

the romantic & the wino

The Lazy Travelers are two transatlantic best friends who have mastered the art of exploring a new city. Though Ashley is based in London and Carolyn is in Philadelphia, we'll use any excuse to reunite around the world. We’re professional bar hoppers, pub crawlers, and food testers, and you’ll never see us zipping around, checking things off a list of “must-sees.”

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