All About Food

Category: Hungarian

An interesting part of the world that is pretty distinct and native to Central Europe.

  • Corner 75

    Corner 75

    Rating:

    7 / 10
    Taste: 7/10
    Price: $20 – $25 main dish
    Place: 7/10


    Review:
    Our review this week was based on a recommendation from our reader. It was a Hungarian restaurant, named Corner 75. The restaurant looks like a traditional Central European restaurant, with its table cloth and overabundance wall decors.

    We ordered two servings of Langos and Lecho (Lecso) Frankfurter. The Langos was massive and it was accompanied by garlic oil. Towards the end of consuming it, we remembered that we didn’t get the sour cream and should’ve ordered one. However, if the langos was crispier it would’ve been perfect. For the frankfurter, we were only served two pieces with a lot of lecho salsa.

    For the next three, I couldn’t really give you the whole picture since I only tried a small portion of it. They were Veal Brassoi, Veal Fillet with ‘Lecho Salsa’, and Fishpaprikash. Brassoi was the nicer option of them three, and the lecho in veal fillet tasted exactly like the frankfurter starter.

    The next two dishes could easily be shared by four people due to their sheer size. First, it was Crispy Roast Duckling with the additional Cherry Sauce. It was half a duck with two scoops of mashed potato and red cabbage. The duck was crispy and very tender. The sauce complemented the savoury taste of the dish. It was slightly too sweet.

    The one I ordered was Veal Knuckle. It was one gigantic knuckle of veal. It has the same sides as the duck, but the veal had a different seasoning. Despite of the size, it was actually thoroughly seasoned and incredibly tender. If I were given only a fork, I could easily rip the meat off easily without the help of a knife. You might consider sharing this dish, since I think only a few people can actually finish this on his/her own.

    We then moved on to dessert. Our first option was Cherry Strudel. The strudel was very well-presented. It looked appetising and the pastry was crispy. The second one was Gundel Pancake, two walnut-filled crepes with chocolate sauce. The sauce was packed with booze, but the crepes were pretty standard.

    The final verdict: Their duck and veal knuckle were the best dishes of the day and I strongly recommend those two. They were incredibly yummy and big. However, I was pretty content with the rest of the dishes. My Hungarian friend pointed out that those two are not ‘Authentic’ Hungarian. The brassoi and lecho were as close as you can get from the ‘real Hungarian cuisine.

    Did you know?

    This is the second Hungarian restaurant that I reviewed. Both presented ‘home-cooked’ style dishes and had pretty good standards. However, there was an authentic dish missing from this restaurant, Stuffed Cabbage.
    There are a lot of exotic restaurants to try in Randwick, from Indonesian to Nepalese. There is one two-hat restaurant in the suburb.

    Details:

    75 Frenchmans Road, Randwick, NSW 2031

    (02) 9399 5712
    http://www.corner75.com.au/ (this website is no longer operational)

    Corner 75 Hungarian on Urbanspoon

  • Cafe Gundel

    Cafe Gundel

    Rating:

    7 / 10

     

    Taste: 7 /10

    Price: $35 per person

    Place: 7/10

    Review:

    This week I am going to take you to a journey half way round the world. Similar in name to the original Cafe Gundel, this Hungarian restaurant is well known for its authenticity in home-cooked meals. They also provided nice Hungarian Beer, Dreher. Considering that the portion is humongous, my friend advised us to order one appetiser, a main, and a dessert per couple. I didn’t really obey this rule and opted for two mains instead (although one was small size).

    Before we start, the owner suggested us to taste Hungary’s original Langos. Bear resemblance to Chinese’s yóutiáo(Cakwe),this dish was unfortunately one of the better ones of the night. The extra sour cream and garlic oil created a fantastic combination to the bread’s puffy and crispy taste. For the appetiser, our friend ordered Duck Liver. I understand that the dish might sound a little bit exotic, since it was duck’s liver cooked with onions and spice.

    Our two dishes of the night were Veal Knuckle and Veal Goulash. Our friend was right; the dishes were massive! We got two slowly roasted – but not crispy – veal knuckles atop sautéed red cabbage and onion potatoes. The knuckles were very soft and juicy. The Goulash on the other hand, was served with nockerl (Hungarian noodles) and cucumber salad. It certainly had the aura of home-cooked meal. Possibly best served during wintertime.

    Our friends ordered Oven roasted Crispy Duck with braised red cabbage & onion potatoes and Hungarian Cabbage Roll with mashed potatoes. We were told that the preparation of this cabbage roll took around 5 hours. The soup in the plate was actually the juice coming out of the meat that was slowly roasted in layers of cabbage. This dish was noteworthy because of the rice element. It was put with the meat inside the cabbage. This was evidently the only traditional Hungarian dish with rice.

    We tried to order Apple and Rhubarb Crumble, but they were sold out. We had to settle for the second best in Apple Strudel. Luckily the strudel was great. Nice, warm, crispy slice of Apple strudel served with Vanilla Ice Cream. We were also fortunate to be able to taste the Cherry Strudel as well. This one was sourer than the apple but was compensated with the sweet taste of (possibly) walnut.

    The final verdict: It might not be the infamous Cafe Gundel, but it’s a very good place to taste authentic Hungarian home-cooked meals. Don’t forget to order Langos since it’s not on the menu. Taste wise? It was nice, but lacks the wow factor to make it great.

    Did you know?

    Unfortunately Rose Bay is not a culinary place and more like a residential area.

    Location:

    U5/698 Old South Head Road, Rose Bay NSW 2029

    Cafe Gundel on Urbanspoon