Budapest- Castro Bisztro Restaurant

I had low expectations for Budapest mostly because of my own ignorance of this ancient, amazing city. Whenever you hear of Eastern Europe, invariably Prague gets mentioned, or perhaps Warsaw. Prior to our August trip we'd never been to Eastern Europe. I am so sorry that was the case! We're definitely going back, and Budapest is high on my list due, in part, to the baths.

Unfortunately, I do not have many photos from this particular evening out to dinner at Castro Bisztro because it was directly after we visited the famous Széchenyi Baths, and I had not brought along my camera (not even my purse!) simply because I wasn't sure if we'd have a secure place to store stuff while we visited the baths. Silly me, not only could we store stuff, but we could rent a small changing room, with a lock activated using the wrist watch-thingy they assigned to us. Very modern, very amazing, and how I wish we had visited the baths every day of our trip! We almost did not go at all, because we were not sure if children were allowed (we'd read they were discouraged) but not only were there a few (admittedly less than a dozen) kids there, it was no problem blending in with the hundreds of people in the many, many natural spring baths.


The water was incredible- I've never felt anything quite like that- healing, soothing, smooth. Of the 20 or so baths inside, I most enjoyed the ones marked '30 degrees'. Yes, different baths were different temperatures, and seemed to contain different amounts of the famous chemical cocktail said to heal various illness: sulphate, calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate, to name a few. It did smell a bit like rotten eggs, but not overly, and once you slipped into the water, all you felt was 'ahhhhh'.

The restaurant I'll tell you about was down a side street, past other fine looking establishments, and yet completely worth the extra walk. Castro Bisztro had both meat and vegetarian options and catered to both those seeking traditional Hungarian fare and also offered fusion style. Their trance-style music and mismatched chairs made me feel comfortable. I'm sure post-baths I was in a great mood for good food.

We started with a squash soup with kidney beans. How interesting!

Since there were so many options, we decided on sharing two very different meals. The first had red beet patties (beetcakes?) alongside grilled chicken pieces and a very interesting herb cream sauce. The second was more traditional Hungarian fare with pickles, potatoes, boiled eggs, and a similar sauce - a very unfamiliar combination!

 I highly recommend Castro Bisztro for both vegetarians and meat-eaters. It was difficult to decide which entree to choose- everything sounded so good! One warning- they do not take credit or debit cards- cash only. For the price, it was an amazing value.

 Castro Bisztro, 1075 Bp. Madach ter 3, Pest, Hungary... check it out!

Restaurant Review in Prague

On our most recent trips we've used a Trip Advisor app on our mobile phone to find restaurants. (It is the "Offline City Guide".) It has been amazingly accurate, and now I won't sit down somewhere to eat unless I know where the place ranks on this app. We ate at top-25 places in Rome, Amsterdam, and now most recently Prague and Budapest. No need for wireless internet, either. You download the city you want before you leave home, and then you can browse the map (if you are somewhere and want a good place close to you) or the rankings (if you are keen to find the very best place in that city).

Needless to say, I am hooked on this app! Good food is something I sorely miss here in the Netherlands, so every time we travel I don't want to risk a bad meal because we're in a hurry or we don't know where to go. The app always knows where to go!

Prague: gorgeous architecture, great food, and Starbucks on every corner.

 One of the popular things to do in Prague is to touch certain parts of statues, facades, etc.

It is apparent, both because of the queue to do so, and because of the shininess of the proper area to be touched, so of course I got in line (for this one).

The Three Storks was the closest highly ranked restaurant to where we ended up at dinner time in Prague.  Despite the lack of customers (it was early in the evening), we settled down at a huge table, and tried to entertain Dina while we waited for culinary greatness.

We didn't have to wait long for the assorted bread and herbed butter. The squash soup was amazing, with just the right level of spice and creamyness.

My husband's appetizer was unique, pairing goat cheese with red beets, caramelized onions, and sunflower seeds.

Unfortunately, my Spicy Chicken with Jasmine rice entree was way too heavy on the salt.

Those black specks? They are some kind of salt-pepper mixture which made the dish one-dimensional and completely overpowered the lovely chicken and cilantro.

My husband's entree of duck with beets and dumpling-like potatoes lived up to the hype.

A fancy bar added to the ambiance. Dina is in the picture for scale and cuteness.

On a less sophisticated note, everywhere we turned we saw a special kind of breaded-snack for sale called, "Trdelnik".

After the fourth or fifth spotting, we realized we had to try this "traditional cake and sweet pastry" from this part of the world. 

 The shop we selected was on the stairs up to the castle area. Perhaps it was too close to the end of the day because the last remaining trdelnik were no longer spinning.

Unfortunately I'd not recommend this pastry because it was rather chewy, with perhaps too much yeast flavor and not enough flake. One might suggest we got a bad one, however, so take this review with a grain of salt.

Go to the top of the stairs for the view of the city, however, because it is gorgeous.

I was so pleased with the ubiquitous architecture in Prague.

Meticulous details, like the mosaic at the top of this building, are everywhere:

 We also got some fancy coffee in a small cafe in the same building as the cubist museum, which is closed on Mondays, d'oh!

Yes, that is Dina swiping my cookie.

If you have kids, I also recommend the "Mirror-Maze", if you can find it. Here's your hint: follow the signs pointing to "Bludiště".

Stay tuned for a review of a very interesting restaurant in Budapest.

Veggie Restaurant Review: Avalon in Gent, Belgium

Gent is a lovely city in Belgium about 90 minutes drive from our home. Aside from the fabulous churches, museums, and eye-candy architecture lining the river in the old city center, a castle from the middle ages beckons. We lucked out as a antique bike fair was happening the day we visited.

Dina's third miracle nap also happened, unbelievably just as we were about to visit the Gent Altarpiece: The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. For an hour both Mike and I listened to the audio guide, affording myself a museum luxury not known since Dina was born.

In the Lonely Planet Belgium guide they list three vegetarian restaurants, which is quite a few more than normally listed in a city in Europe. We chose Avalon, situated near the castle.

 

 The reflection in the restaurant window is of Gravensteen castle, full of torture devices and armor, as at one time it housed a prison.

Avalon has a darling interior, but I recommend strolling right on through to the back garden. Gorgeous wisteria ambles up the side of the building and both sun and shaded tables abound.

We chose a shady spot and I ordered the miso soup.

 Interestingly it contained mushrooms, not something I am used to in miso, but contributing a lovely complexity. Our entrees each had six(!) different side dishes. Since I inhaled that soup, it disappointed me that I was too full to finish my Vegetable pie, or Groetentaart.

 The creamy potato-looking side at 6:00 on my plate is actually rutabaga with the most amazing dressing on it. I begged to know what was in it and the waitress told me it was a tartar sauce with rosemary and avocado. We both agreed it was brilliant. Mike got a tempeh Rueben sandwich, and the same side dishes as me.

The tempeh Rueben sandwich, pictured above, and the tempeh close-up.

The Avalon menu in English on the left and Dutch on the right.

We would definitely go back to Avalon, however the other two vegetarian restaurants await, and with Avalon definitely living up to the Lonely Planet recommendation, I'd be psyched to try the others, too.
The only improvement I'd recommend to Avalon was a rather entertaining translation issue in the drink section of the menu:

"We have a big assortment of teas and infusions. You can pick your bag of tea out of the boxes near the toilet."
Advice for all restaurants: no matter how tempting, never write the word, "toilet" on a menu.

Our seat in the shade pictured above. I also enjoyed that the napkins and menus were fun fluorescent shades.

We also found a Starbucks in Gent, however the line was almost out the door, and we were in a bit of a hurry to take full advantage of stroller-sleeping Dina.

 Starbucks worked their magic anyway, however, with free samples of their strawberry frappuccino along the side of the building, much to my delight.

I wanted to hug these guys.

Gent (or Ghent in Dutch). Gorgeous, timeless, entertaining, and full of great vegetarian food. It was so appropriate that along the river walk I spotted these two flags, waving in the summer breeze:

My home and where I'm presently calling 'home'.