Apetito Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary

I usually don’t blog about restaurants, because, quite honestly, I rarely find one that is anything more than overpriced fare.

Throughout Europe you will find signs like these….


My advice is to avoid the establishments that advertise "Turist Menu". Translation: food and drinks that are overpriced, waitstaff that isn't interested in you, a room filled with tourists, food that locals wouldn't touch with a 3 meter pole, and a prime location for pickpockets!

While in Budapest, we stayed at the Hilton-Castle Hill. Across the street is a nice restaurant called Apetito. The appearance from the outside is white table cloth, wine glasses, WMF cutlery….which reads, expensive. Honestly, by European standards, it is very reasonably priced.

Chuck ordered the pumpkin cream soup and a gingered boneless chicken on cornbread with a polenta type mush underneath. I wasn’t that hungry, so I ordered the pasta with spicy vegetables, grilled tomatoes and a farmer’s ham. I tried Chuck’s pumpkin soup and I desperately wanted to order my own bowl. Our meal also included a large bread basket (gratis), two large beers and two Coke lights. The total bill was 30 Euro!

After we ordered, our server brought us the bread basket and two little dishes. He said (in perfect English), here is some bread and some…….(about a 10 second pause) fat. We both smiled at him and said, fat? Yes, it is schmaltz or rendered goose fat and chicken fat, which we use as an appetizer spread on bread.

Here’s a picture for your enjoyment. Chuck tried some and quickly said, maybe I put too much on. So, he tried another piece with not quite as big of a slather of the ‘fat’. Ah, much better. I smelled the, um, ‘fat’ and decided to have a piece of plain bread. It, too, was tasty!