In the last few years there has been an increase in the number of restaurants serving more sophisticated cuisine and the introduction of foreign dishes such as Japanese and Chinese.

Hungarian cuisine is similar to that of Austria and the Czech Republic; meat dishes served with potatoes or dumplings being the traditional fayre. There is however one unique characteristic of the cuisine, which is paprika – this spicy pepper is found in many soups and sauces and is invariably set on the table as well. For dessert try freshly made strudel and pancakes.

Tip: the salt and pepper pots tend to be the opposite from what we use in the UK, i.e. the pepper pot has one hole and the salt pot has several holes.

It is worth trying a traditional meal of goulash or ‘turos csusza’ (pasta with curd cheese and sour cream) which when served in more tourist type restaurants tends to be accompanied by a live gypsy music.