Gresham Palace, Budapest

This beautiful building is a must visit to admire its art noveau
located just a few steps away from our hotel, we have no reason not go drop by
built in early 1900s , it didn't look old nor classical at all
well didn't I just mentioned art noveau a while ago?
hmmmmm

beautiful isn't it?
I felt like I'm in the home of Mr. Dracula
hihihihiiihihihihihi

during the World Wars it was pretty much damaged and vandalized
soldiers resided in this very same spot
:(((((

in 2001 Four Seasons bought this palace and turned it into a luxury hotel
no expenses were spared, and the palace was once again restored.

since it's now a beautiful luxury hotel.....there's alwiz bound to be yummy food
hiak hiak hiak....
and before we could explore the rest of the internal architecture of the palace, our butts landed ourselves at their restaurant

even the ceiling is so exquisite with crystal chandeliers
the waiter was preparing my macaroons....
ok ok ok u'll get to see the pics later.

hmmmm this gave me new idea to serve butter for my guests in the future
just use a cookie cutter and press on frozen butter :))))

a few varieties of bread in different texture

from soft fluffy ones to thin and crispy

I'll never have enough of Goulash in this part of the world
the Hungarian goulash is more watery compared to those in Austria
they like to serve it with "dumplings", lil gnoochi-liked dumplings
the dumplings tasted of really good potatoes
anyway in cold weather places like this....goulash is just perfect
moreover it's spicy with the usage of hungarian pepper and paprika

JS had beef *edited: it was actually Hungarian pork called Mangalica Pork, the highly prized and of a special breed*

and some greens for our daily dietary needs

as for dessert he had a yummy apple rolls

with vanilla cream

:))))))))))))))

 

and as for me...wuahahhahaha...

I dunno which one to choose

hmmmmmmm I wanted to go for those exotic and rare ones
but then my heart was pretty skeptical

after much discussion I finally chose this four
Paprika, Salt Caramel, Raspberry and coffee

yeah have to make up my mind coz the waiter was holding the whole tray for me to choose while I took my own time
and the box ain't light :P

this one here is Paprika macaroon
it's not weird but something new
tantalized my palate

well in LIFE u must try EVERYTHING
at least once, before u decide whether u like it or not
:)))))))))))))

Gresham Restaurant
Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace,
Szechenyi Istvan ter 5-6,
1051 Budapest, Hungary.
Tel: +36 1268 6000
www.fourseasons.com/budapest

Great Market Hall, Budapest

Visiting a market is like a ritual for the both of us
esp whenever it comes to a foreign country
I enjoyed most when it comes to GAWKING at all those beautiful fresh produce
perfect looking, grown on rich fertile soil, these vegetables were almost ready for Ms. Pageant
*ermmm the vegetable category hehehehehehe*

clean, fresh, colorful with spotless skin
the chilies were as big as my PHONE receiver...yes my office phone receiver
well if u compare the red chilies against the cauliflower u'll have a rough idea how big they were

if u wanna go to the market, the best time would be early in the morning
but Spring came early in Budapest, the SUN shone like there's no tmrw even though it's only 9am
the UV rays hit our face and it was awfully painful

Monkey is alwiz the tour guide for all our travels
even though it could be a country that she's never been

as we were approaching the beautiful tiled buildings
with yellow and green mosaic roof, JS kept asking me the same question
"Are u sure this is the market???"

yeah I know....such a beautiful market rite?
it looked more like a train station to me

built in 1896 by Samu Pecz
his loved to work with Zsolnay tiles - colourful ceramic or stoneware tiles
Samu Pecz also designed and built the Matthias Church in Budapest which I'll blog about it another time.
his style is so distinctive and rich.

from the floor to the arches
nothing was spared....everything was very well thought after

Great Market Hall is the largest indoor market in Budapest
it was only a 15 mins walk from our hotel
lucky us :D hehehehehehehe
but it was a pleasant walk down Vaci Ter to the market with so many shops for us to gawk at

JS did not believe his eyes when he saw the building
he was almost kneeling down near the tramways to have a good photo of this building
yeah I know, too beautiful to be a MARKET

Once we were inside the same question repeat itself
"Is this a market? Are we in a market?"

yes I know...it's SOOOO CLEAN
SPANKING CLEAN!!!
CLEANER THAN MY HOME
ok maybe my house is dirty

JS dashed to his favourite porkie stall
yes this is a fresh narket
u can get everything anything from fresh meat to seafood to chicken, vegetables, fresh food
ready cooked food, groceries, eggs, noodles, pastas, dumplings etc

While I dashed to........hehehehehehehehehe

all the yummy cookioes
I dunno which one to get???
they were so buttery and melts in ur mouth

since our stomachs were bz playing Symphony no. 5, we decided to head upstairs for breakfast
there's this famous Langos stall, a Hungarian specialty
If the Spaniard has got their Churros, the Hungarians has got their Langos

it's basically a deep fried bread made from sour cream or yogurt or milk
mixed with flour, yeast, salt and water

there's 2 version of sweet and savoury Langos
with numerous toppings
the traditional way to eat them is with grated cheese and sour cream

the sweet Langos
with toppings of Jam, Cinnamon sugar, chocolates, nuts

a traditional Savoury Langos of salami sausages, sour cream at the bottom with a lot of grated cheese
and finally topped with onions, cubed feta cheese, onions and bell pepper

Since we were suckers for Chilies
heheheheheheh yes I know for breakfast this looked overly spicy
but Hungary has got the best chilies around

the 2 different type of cheeses used were very balanced
underneath the grated cheese were some sliced ham
topped with a few squirts of ketchup
and TONNES OF pickled chilies
HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA has got the best pickled chilies in the world
Monkey & JS were fighting over the tiny cut pickled chilies :P

the dough was amazingly crispy
nothing like the chinese Yu Tiao
its edges were crunchy and towards the middle is really thin

while chomping down our Langos my eyes were feasting on other stuffs
yeah I'm a greedy bugger
without a word, JS knew wat I was thinking and threw me a snarling look

ok I get it...nothing more than a Langos
but those sausages looked AMAZINGLY YUMMY!!!!
eaten with those pickled chilies...oh damn I m craving for it now

Hungarians are really civilised
definitely more than Malaysian
everyone seemed to clean their table once they are done
so we did the same....*okie not me, only JS...lazy me*

we don't see any rubbish on the street
well the market's tiled floors speak for itself...
it's so darn clean!!!!!

anyhow we had a yummy breakfast
stuffing our faces with Langos and local coffee melange
while trying to talk to locals eating alongside with us
it usually started with sign languages, then all of us got cozier and warmer
Them speaking Hungarian and us speaking English
somehow we knew wat each other were talking about
or perhaps not :P

maybe they were just saying that we are eating it the wrong way
or we were thinking they were referring to something else
hahahahhahaha

from our Langos booth we watched the market goes by downstairs
it's a weekday so it wasn't that busy

so CLEAN rite???
even cleaner than our supermarkets T_T

JS went to the toilet and I hated public toilets
he came back a short while later and I asked him how was it?
"AMAZINGLY CLEAN!!!!!"
-_-"
sure boh????

Budapest's Great Market Hall is divided into 3 floors
the ground floor sells fresh produce, 1st floor - cooked food and souvenirs
while the basement is a fish market.

I like the high ceiling which lets in natural lights
and also "air" this place

we spent an hour gawking at food
while ppl were staring at us coz it seems we were the only tourists around then

I like how Europeans are so "Green" with their basket when it comes to groceries shopping
no plastic bags were used
everything including meat were wrapped with paper and dropped unto their basket
which maybe be carried or pulled on wheels

perhaps the next time, we should capture the baskets/trolleys used
coz it comes in so many different variations, designs and colors
very interesting to look at

we went crazy over these dried paprika

I WANT!!!!!!!
at the beginning, we thought it was just some sort of decoration
or a marketing tool to shout that this stall sells dried chilies and Paprika
but these are definitely for sale

and we got ourselves a bunch of the hottest dried chilies that they have
Hungarian eats sweet chilies, spicy chilies, chilies with length and chilies just to add colors to their food

the number of chilies sold speak for itself
so many types of Paprika
I've alwiz thought there's only one type

after an hour of research, sight-seeing
we made a conclusion
Hungarians consumed mostly roots vegetables
they do not have many leafy ones

a lot of pork, they also sell only crispy chunky pork lards *the size of a piece of fried chicken*
a lot of cookies
bottles and bottles of Tokaji - sweet Hungarian wines with a noble rot
and tonnes of chilies
hahahahhaha

though we don't have the facility to cook in Hungary
the sights, smells and colors made us so excited :P
I alwiz look fwd to another market visit

Budapest Great Market Hall
Fovam Ter 1,
1118 Budapest,
Hungary.

Onyx Restaurant, Budapest *One Michelin Star*

It was an impromptu plan to dine at Onyx
we wanted to try the best restaurant (Costes) in Budapest but it was closed
T_T

after reading a gigantic luxury book in our suite, we found another Michelin starred restaurant in Budapest
it's so rare coz there's only Costes and Onyx with stars rating here

our fingers were so frantic tapping the numbers to make reservation
Guess lucky stars were with us then
:))))))))))))) hehehehehehehe

I love my dress that matches so well with the interior of the restaurant
me and the sofa were almost one...kekekekkekeke...

the napkin holder has got the restaurant's logo imprinted on it
everything was so decadent and beyond expectation
well after all it is a One Michelin starred restaurant....
but then Budapest was beyond our expectation in totality

I did not even bump into any beggars on the street
it's such a safe city with warm ppl
most of all it's so CLEAN!!!!! and beautiful :))))))))))))

I can not confirmed that London and Paris are the dirtiest cities in Europe
with bad air quality and tonnes of beggars, gypsies etc

I was sooooo soooo madly in love with this tea light holder
don't u think it's so pretty?

since I didn't wanna make meself looked stupid by lifting it up to check its brand name at the bottom, I didn't get to find out which brand was this T_T
Miss Monkey, opportunity comes and goes, since when u so "maintain"????
hai...now the only solution is to write to the restaurant to find out its brand so I can go source for it.

the rest of the restaurant is so so so pretty with chandeliers, lovely glassware, customised cutleries
comfortable lightings and beautiful ppl dining there
everything was so well thought-after, its interior, layout and tablewares

ermmm except him...I dunno wat's with the face
must be the Hungarian red wines that he was having :P
pffffttttt told ya to stick to white wines when it comes to Hungarian wines
wakkakakakakakkakaka

I alwiz look forward to the bread tray/cart
the arrays of bread served at European restaurants are endless
usually by the time they are describing the 6th bread I've forgotten the 1st one
*the biggest bread cart experience has to be at Guy Savoy, Paris*
so the key is dun kill brain cells memorising the bread...just pick up key favourites when he's describing them...

so JS & Monkey picked out their favourites
there's some traditional hungarian bread
some with pork lard, with sausages, with bacons, cheese, grains, potatoes etc
the purple one was with potatoes...really yummy
some with herbs, nuts, fruits etc
and also some with different type of flours

the bread came with servings of terrine-liked thingy which I suspected was lard
really really yummy butter and sour cream
the butter was AMAZING!!!!!!


Dinner started with an amuse bouche of crackers and roes
just to tantalize our taste buds :)))))

since we were in Hungary, we tried the Hungarian Evolution tasting menu
the 1st course was a goose liver torte with orange-coffee gelee and goose liver royal
I'm not a fan of terrine-liked food but this one...totally blew my mind
I finished the entire plate :P
really smooth terrine and balance taste

it's served with homemade brioche which was really buttery
at that juncture, we realised we had a lot of bread hahahaahaa

Next was a simple bean soup with chorizo, langoustine and mangalica bacon
inside the soup, there's this unidentified yellow broad-liked beans
and my gawd....the STAR was the mangalica bacon

Hungary is famous with this Mangalica pork
it is a very very old breed of pig with Curly hair/fleece like a sheep
direct descendent of a wild boar...so u can imagine its flavour :))))
Mangalica has got a high proportion of lard/fat on its body with very very lil lean mean
but the taste....even chinese roast pork lose to it
I just wished the portion was bigger for me to further explore its palate
kekekekkekekekeke

so if u are in Hungary, just consume anything coming fr Mangalica
Sausages, ham, burgers etc

Next was a suckling pig shoulder with lentils, sour cabbage foam and quail egg
anything fr oink oink is good
tee hee hee :))))))))))

at this juncture, we've concluded this is a modern european food with a hungarian twist to it
quite light and not as heavy as traditional french

the next dish was supposed to be a rabbit from its Hungarian Evolution Menu
but we requested it to be changed to something else....NO RABBIT!!!!

so we were served a course from its other Tasting Menu - Prestige Menu
fillet of sole with carrot textures served with pistachios and vongole clam sauce

Main course was a beef - look at its color!!! :))))))
Tenderloin of beed and ravioli stuffed with confit shoulder of beef
served with goulash jus
it has got grilled huge hungarian chilis and pepper
most of all just the right portion, when it comes to degustation menu....u want to leave enuff room for DESSERTS :)))))))))))
Granits to cleanse our palate

our first dessert was really cute...
the yellow noodle-liked was actually not pasta nor noodle
it's something buttery which melts in ur mouth

the actual dessert
21st century Somlo sponge cake
it was really good I finished the whole goblet

there's a "cheese" course in between main and dessert but we skipped that too
hehehhehehehee not a fan of cheeses

hehehehehehehehe
a picture speaks a thousand words

and there's a lil pressie to be taken home too!!
macaroons and pralines

This restaurant left such a surprise and delightful experience
of creativity in the culinary creation of Modern Hungarian Food
helmed by Executive Chef Szabina Szullo and Sous Chef Tamas Szell

Don't miss Onyx whenever u go to Hungary
do book ur table in advance as there's only 55 seats in this restaurant
don't be like us ok....last minute reservation ain't gonna secure anything
and u can only be lucky once like us :))))

Onyx *One Michelin Star*
ter 7-8 Vorosmarty,
1051 Budapest,
Hungary.
Tel: +36 30508 0622
www.onyxrestaurant.hu