Hungary for more? No.

The only thing I knew about Hungary before a recent trip was that was that it was the home of Goulash. It turns out Hungary has a few other notable inventions to its name – the humble Biro, vitamin C and even the worlds biggest selling toy EVER – the Rubik’s cube.

Franken-cheese

Lately however, it seems Hungary’s creative types have lost their way a tad. I’m referring  to a popular treat called Turo Rudi. This, ladies and gents, is a small chocolate bar filled with… cheese. Yep, the Hungarians have created a monster. In the name of science of course I bought one and dear readers, I ate it so you don’t have to. If you see one of these ever, just walk away.

Wrong on every level

One shouldn’t however be deterred by a single aberration, and I was determined to find a more tradition Hungarian cheese to try. As luck would have it I stumbled across a stall in Budapest that looked much more like it. Manned by gruff man with a craggy face, lazy eye, and not much English I managed to establish the majority of cheeses on display were locally produced and all cows milk. I went for one (unnamed) that had bits of paprika and chilli flakes poking out of it. Mistake.

Don’t even think about it

Now let it be known I do like a stinky cheese, but this one broke all records in the pong department. In fact, it should probably be banned under the international chemical weapons treaty. It didn’t taste much better sadly, and with watering eyes from the hot paprika it was time to move on.

My ‘favourite’ Hungarian cheese

So far, not so good. Not prepared to throw in the towel just yet I pointed to something that looked a bit less aggressive (also unnamed), which actually turned out to be quite reasonable. Smooth, creamy and mild it had a rubbery texture and small holes throughout and though it wouldn’t win any prizes it was definitely the best of the bunch. Think Edam, but from the rough part of town.

Goes well with cheese

I wandered off to explore the rest of Budapest wondering if other hungarian food would be quite as iffy but needn’t have worried, there are some things the Hungarians do very well; the goulash was far from ghoulish and funnily enough the Tokaj sweet wine and paprika salami I brought home go amazingly well with cheese, just make sure it’s not the type that’s covered in chocolate…