Vapiano: é fantastico

At the risk of making a very cool, very popular place even more popular I have to mention this Italian restaurant a friend and I went to last night. It's called Vapiano and it's in the city centre, in the 5th District on Bécsi utca (here's the review and map on Google).

It's an italian restaurant with a nice modern style. The first thing you notice that's different is that they have a swipe card system, so you get a card when you go in to the restaurant and then swipe it when you buy something, so that on your way out you give them the card and pay the bill. The second thing that's very cool is that you order your food directly with the chefs, who cook the food right there in front of you.

When you've ordered your food (I had the ravioli with chilli and garlic, which tasted fantastic) you can sit down in different areas - on bar stools, at tables, there's even some comfy lounge sofas and chairs. A really nice touch is that there's olive oil, spices, and fresh herbs plants on the tables, so you can add some fresh basil or thyme yourself :-)

The price was also really reasonable - sure, it's not the cheapest place to eat in the city, but for the quality of the food it's certainly not that expensive. I paid about 1800HUF for my meal which is about 6-7 euros.

I can't praise it highly enough, it was great, and I've decided that whenever someone is visiting, we'll have to eat out at Vapiano.

www.vapiano.hu

Weekend in Pécs (Part 2)

Saturday started all too early - it was the weekend and getting up before 10 should be banned - we got up at 8am, had a coffee and then drove into the countryside, towards the Croatian border.

We visited one small village near a national park, and on seeing a property for sale, we stopped and went to have a look around. A dear old lady, with thick glasses that covered most of her face came out and began telling us all about the house and the old farm buildings in the garden - of course, when I say she was telling us these things, she was really telling Aron and his father - she kept talking to me, and I kept standing there and nodding, throwing in the occasional "mmm ... okay". She must have been wondering "who is this mute with sunglasses?".

The sun was shining and everything seemed like a normal day - I felt a little ill actually, but Aron did too so we concluded that it was probably in connection with the beer from the previous night. We drove to another village, and stopped to look at some more houses. We then met someone who Aron's father knew through his work, and that's when normality left the building.

[In order to protect the innocent I've changed some of the details here]

Here was a short guy, probably in his late 50s/early 60s, with a beer belly and a thirst for drinking. It was very quickly apparent that he had spent some time smuggling cheese from Holland, because he quickly offered us a suitcase full of cheese. While Aron and his father spoke to cheese-smuggler, I was offered a range of drinks by another man in his 50s who looked constantly shocked - don't get me wrong, he had a happy expression on his face - it just looked as if he'd walked into a room to see 3 semi-naked models waiting for him. After drinking several shots of palinka, a coffee and a coke (it seemed to be the only words they knew ... okay, they didn't know coffee, but I know that's kavé from my many visits to different coffee shops) Aron indicated that it was about time to leave. Of course, first we had to hear a long story involving deers, a jeep, automatic weapons, alcohol, a farmer and the police. Afterwards, I learnt the Hungarian phrase "nem normalis" meaning "not normal".

I thought that the day couldn't get any stranger, but then we drove to the river (the Dráva), which was a lovely peaceful place - nature everywhere, and very few people. Some workers were explaining how they opening up some of the small pools and tributaries alongside the river, so that the local fish once again would have somewhere to lay eggs. It was nice. Then along came a guy dressed as a soldier with two german shephards - I say "dressed as" because there was little chance this guy was anything to do with the military. For a start he had no control over his dogs. As we walked off to another part of the river, and left him to "patrol" the woods we caught a glimpse of a stray dog in the forrest. A few minutes later, we heard the sounds of dogs fighting and it was clear that one dog was losing. It was horrible really. By the time we made it back through to woods the stray dog had disappeared, however from what the "soldier" said, the dog wouldn't last long. That guy was a jerk (and I'm being very polite when I use that term) and we left as soon as possible. Once again I could hear Aron and his Dad chatting, and the phrase "nem normalis" seemed to be repeated many times in the conversation.

Gypsy Steak

By this time it was early afternoon, and we were all rather hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant in a town on the way home. After some discussions, I left my choice of food up to Aron and his father, who selected the gypsy steak for me. After the recent experiences, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in these small towns and villages, however Aron and his father assured me that it wasn't made of gypsy. Which was a relief, because even though I'll try a lot of things I draw the line at cannibalism. I'm pleased to say that the steak tasted great, however there was so much food (english chips and a salad) that I couldn't eat everything.

Decorate by Grandmothers

Later in the evening, once we'd got back to Pécs and some sense of normality, we went out for something to eat and a few drinks. We found a restaurant in a basement (Aron assured me it was good), which looked as if it had been decorated with only furniture and ornaments from your grandmother's house - it was really quite charming. We ate some kind of spicy, paprika/tomato soup, which was covered by a bread "hat", that you eat with the soup, which was really nice. Afterwards we went to a few different bars and, partly because the University semester was just starting, they were busy and there was a really good atmosphere.

The Lock Wall in Pécs

The next day I took the train back to Budapest, but all in all I'd recommend Pécs - it was a lovely town and definitely worth a weekend visit. I can't say I can recommend the towns and villages near the Croatian border, but maybe we were unlucky, maybe their not all crazy.

Weekend in Pécs (Part 1)

I have a Hungarian friend called Aron, who I've been studying with and written a project with, and since he's staying at his parent's apartment in Pécs [pronounced "pea-ch", well, almost] at the moment, while he waits to start his internship, I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit him.  First of all I had to catch the train from Budapest Déli station (on the Buda side).

I always imagine that journeys are going to be stressful events and sometimes they are. This however was really quite straightforward. It was Friday afternoon, and the queue for the ticket office was long - there are a few ticket machines outside the office, but the queue for them was also long, so I took a deep breath and stood in line. Thankfully it was a relatively speedy process, and apart from a rotund middle-aged woman who kept trying to subtly shuffle her way forward, it all went smoothly. A good tip to remember is that there's a 50% discount on student tickets, so the ticket was only 2000HUF (about 7-8 euros) for a second-class ticket in intercity train ... and of course, remember your student card - I showed my Danish one, which seemed to be fine.

The train itself was really very comfortable ... I was a little bit surprised to be honest. After what some Hungarian friends had said, I half expected it to be cramped with no leg room and overcrowded, however the seats were comfortable, there was air conditioning, and there was plenty of leg room. The only thing I thought was a little strange was that there was no carpet - I don't whether they were in the middle of refurbishing the carriage, but after about 30 seconds I didn't think about it again. I'd like to tell you about the journey and the sights on the way, however to be honest I fell asleep for most of the 3 hour journey.

When I arrived in Pécs, Aron was there to meet me and we wandered up to the town centre - Aron was keen to explain the history of the town and show me the beautiful local delights. On leaving the train station you wouldn't think that there was much beauty in Pécs to be honest - the buildings weren't well looked after and it was all a bit run-down - it reminded me of derelict streets on the outskirts of Manchester or Birmingham, well, okay, maybe not that bad. But still, after 5 minutes we approached the main square and shopping street, and it was beautiful - it was full of life, with a mixture of people drinking coffee, sitting by the fountain, chatting and having fun, all set to the backdrop of a mosque/church (it had been used by different groups in its history), fountains and baroque/neo-classical buildings.

After we had visited a few bars and cafés (just to start the weekend in the right way :-) we went to get something to eat and that's when something amazing happened ... it looked like a simple, everyday kebab shop on the outside, however in that kebab shop, with it's KFC-esque, cheap, red plastic illuminated sign and a heating system which meant that the climate was that of a rain forest, they produce magic. I bought a chicken kebab (with everything) which I can only describe as THE best kebab I've ever eaten - it was delicious - it was (to coin a phrase) legendary. While I can't remember the name of the shop (I was in shock at the time), I do remember where it was (on Rákötczi üt, next to a mall, and opposite a small shop). If you want to see it on Google Maps just click here. It's on the south side of the street, opposite the angelic light (seriously, look at the map).

Once we'd eaten our heavenly kebabs, we found a nice bar/café in the square and had a few drinks and a chat, and periodically listening to the cheers as Hungary beat Sweden 2-1. It was a great atmosphere. Then we walked to Aron's parent's apartment, where Aron showed me to my room and mentioned that we had to be up early to look at some properties with his Dad. Feeling exhausted at this point I went to sleep as my head hit the pillow, unaware of the adventures that tomorrow had in store (see Part 2).