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Eastern Europe may give a shudder to many of those who enjoy great gastronomy.Intimations of boiled cabbage, lardy sausages and calorific stodge – all those qualities which modern European cuisine has resolutely eschewed prevail.

Whilst the stodge has not completely disappeared, there are some amazing new restaurants and food trends which I experienced on a recent visit.For me Eastern Europe has a different character. One of the first books on gastronomy I read many years ago was a classic by the great Hungarian epicure, Joseph Wechsberg; Blue Trout and Black Truffles: The Peregrinations of an Epicure was a revelation.It was a turning point in my life.Food was something one ate, it was not something one rhapsodised about and that, too, in the most lapidary prose.

Wechsberg summoned up the ghosts of the past, glimpses of the lost glories of the Austro-Hungarian cuisine at its most baroque, institutions like the great Budapest restaurant, Gundels.Charles Gundel, who he knew, was a legend in his time and there still is a Gundels in Budapest, but, unfortunately, has no connections with the family.But I read about such marvels as Balatini Fogas, perch from the Lake Balaton, white and not as muddied as the perch from Danube with a more subtle flavour than its Danubian cousin.

Hungarian cuisine is known for the liberal use of paprika in its cooking.In public perception, the goulash, a kind of beef stew with caraway and paprika is the national dish.At the Sea Lounge one of my favourite soups was the paloc, it was a sort of mutton broth with paprika and a dollop of sour cream.

There is a lot more to Hungarian cuisine than that, fish, game, various kinds of schnitzels, garlicky sausages, sweet pastries as I discovered during my visit.In fact according to Charles Gundel, sweet paprika was only brought to Hungary by the Turks in the 16th century from India (perhaps our Kashmiri chilli), except that chilli was brought to India via the new world in the 18th century and only had an impact on our cooking only in the 19th century.What did the Turks bring and where did they bring it from remains a gastronomic mystery.

In Budapest you see architectural marvels, divided between the stately and grand Buda with the bohemian, buzzing and atmospheric Pest across the Danube.In Buda, eat at Appetito on Castle Hill, a completely cutting edge modern Hungarian restaurant in an area full of gastronomic tourist traps.Go across the Pest and to get a taste of mittel Europe. Gerbauds, the famous coffee house with its ornate rococo surroundings and finery fits the bill.

Near Opera House, there is an extraordinary restaurant called Menza which serves retro Hungarian food, dishes like a traditional pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin seeds and a sharp balsamic vinaigrette, as well as an absolute delight of a steak heaped with fried onions. Its décor is very ’60: Soviet bloc, heavily patterned wall paper and lamp shades.It is hugely popular and you have to queue up to get in.The very opposite of that was another gem of a restaurant called Babel on the unfashionable end of the Vaci Utca where I had the most exquisite trout in the most delicate filo pastry casing and other charming delights.
Email: javed.gaya@gmail.com