Restaurant Review: Kiskakukk Étterem
- 20 Sep 2007 2:32 AM
"Dining Companion may have missed the point when she complained about the interior of Kiskakukk. To her, the design was the near epitome of the stereotype Hungarian restaurant décor.
You can imagine: The big brass chandeliers hanging from high ceilings, the tables made of dark-stained wood thick as a brick, the artwork depicting pastoral scenes – it was all terribly old-fashioned for her.
But hey, it’s in the history that Kiskakukk takes pride. You don’t have to go back to 1913 and the restaurant’s origin to miss the “old-world atmosphere” this eatery actually touts on its webpage.
Those who lived in Budapest in the 1990s can recall a time when you couldn’t walk a block in most districts without seeing at least a proper étkezde or a vendeglő in which to load up on good stick-to-your-ribs Hungarian food.
Unfortunately, restaurants hocking the wares that give both Hungarian food and hospitality good names among travelers are seemingly an endangered species going the way of the írószerbolt, with the infusion of more ethnic eateries and the ubiquitous chains.
Heck, this writer’s personal favorite homegrown eatery was an excellent little spot formerly located on the Oktogon known as “Kékes,” a traditional restaurant that sported a green sign (of course). The waiters wore the standard uniform of Hungarian servers: white shirt, black pants. The food was prepared by folks who knew and the clientele steady. But Kékes unsuspectedly met with progress. When folks here hungered for more Continental cuisine, Kékes was replaced by Wendy’s.
Restaurant Kiskakukk, however, “was established … in the era when eating out was appreciated. It was the time when even great writers like Krúdy and Máray and other gourmands traveled for hours to have delicious oxtail soup.”
But enough of history – on to the food!
The onset of autumn meant an excuse to try the soup, and the goose liver cream soup sounded way too heavy to pass up. Coupled with a traditional pint of Stella Artois (yes, it’s Belgian, but everyone knows all Budapest’s Hungarian places sport either Stella or Pilsner Urquell as the featured draft), this has simply got to be the greatest single soup order in the city.
Whoa, is it good: Earthy, creamy, smooth, lots of other adjectives… and it’s made even better with the bonus toast and liver cream.
For an appetizer, we ordered up that great measuring stick of this city’s straight Hungarian and continental restaurants, fried camembert. This made for a solid entry, too, with a nice nutty coating and presented with the traditional curled fruit wedges.
As for entrees, the menu is packed with the requisite favorites also recorded in the traditionally, um, interesting menu English of Budapest.
My “aubergine rounds with fried mozzarella, tomato and cheese sauce” was a notable creation of typical ingredients concocted in an atypical fashion this restaurant addict hasn’t seen recently, though the cheese sauce was a bit bland and unexciting – order it with two parts tomato sauce instead to test the restaurant’s promise of “making a sacrifice by paying attention to and taking care of our respected guests.”
Dining Companion ordered the salmon steak with Chardonnay sauce (wait a minute, is salmon really traditional Hungarian cuisine?), which turned out to be a healthy hunk of seafood with nice thyme flavor.
No small portion here, this one’s worth the price.
By the end of lunch, Dining Companion was suitably sated and impressed enough to lighten up on the surroundings, suggesting that the place would be best in spring and summer, so as to sit outside and check out the street instead.
This expatriate probably won’t wait six months for a return trip, however; after all, this old-world place on Pozsonyi utca is hardly hours away.
Kiskakukk, however, does seem to have one startling omission: no delicious oxtail soup.
From the menu:
Appetizers
Smoked salmon slices Ft 1590
Kiskakukk-style chicken salad Ft 1490
Main courses
Date-stuffed turkey breast Ft 1780
Leg of goose Ft 1990
Venison marinated in red wine Ft 1990
Salmon steak with Chardonnay sauce Ft 2790
Lamb cutlets with dill and goat cheese Ft 3490
Desserts
Poppyseed parfait with berry sauce Ft 590
Chocolate soufflé with orange sauce Ft 590"
Address: District XIII, Pozsonyi u. 12
Tel.: 450-0829
Open: Daily 12-24
By David Landry
Source: BBJ
But hey, it’s in the history that Kiskakukk takes pride. You don’t have to go back to 1913 and the restaurant’s origin to miss the “old-world atmosphere” this eatery actually touts on its webpage.
Those who lived in Budapest in the 1990s can recall a time when you couldn’t walk a block in most districts without seeing at least a proper étkezde or a vendeglő in which to load up on good stick-to-your-ribs Hungarian food.
Unfortunately, restaurants hocking the wares that give both Hungarian food and hospitality good names among travelers are seemingly an endangered species going the way of the írószerbolt, with the infusion of more ethnic eateries and the ubiquitous chains.
Heck, this writer’s personal favorite homegrown eatery was an excellent little spot formerly located on the Oktogon known as “Kékes,” a traditional restaurant that sported a green sign (of course). The waiters wore the standard uniform of Hungarian servers: white shirt, black pants. The food was prepared by folks who knew and the clientele steady. But Kékes unsuspectedly met with progress. When folks here hungered for more Continental cuisine, Kékes was replaced by Wendy’s.
Restaurant Kiskakukk, however, “was established … in the era when eating out was appreciated. It was the time when even great writers like Krúdy and Máray and other gourmands traveled for hours to have delicious oxtail soup.”
But enough of history – on to the food!
The onset of autumn meant an excuse to try the soup, and the goose liver cream soup sounded way too heavy to pass up. Coupled with a traditional pint of Stella Artois (yes, it’s Belgian, but everyone knows all Budapest’s Hungarian places sport either Stella or Pilsner Urquell as the featured draft), this has simply got to be the greatest single soup order in the city.
Whoa, is it good: Earthy, creamy, smooth, lots of other adjectives… and it’s made even better with the bonus toast and liver cream.
For an appetizer, we ordered up that great measuring stick of this city’s straight Hungarian and continental restaurants, fried camembert. This made for a solid entry, too, with a nice nutty coating and presented with the traditional curled fruit wedges.
As for entrees, the menu is packed with the requisite favorites also recorded in the traditionally, um, interesting menu English of Budapest.
My “aubergine rounds with fried mozzarella, tomato and cheese sauce” was a notable creation of typical ingredients concocted in an atypical fashion this restaurant addict hasn’t seen recently, though the cheese sauce was a bit bland and unexciting – order it with two parts tomato sauce instead to test the restaurant’s promise of “making a sacrifice by paying attention to and taking care of our respected guests.”
Dining Companion ordered the salmon steak with Chardonnay sauce (wait a minute, is salmon really traditional Hungarian cuisine?), which turned out to be a healthy hunk of seafood with nice thyme flavor.
No small portion here, this one’s worth the price.
By the end of lunch, Dining Companion was suitably sated and impressed enough to lighten up on the surroundings, suggesting that the place would be best in spring and summer, so as to sit outside and check out the street instead.
This expatriate probably won’t wait six months for a return trip, however; after all, this old-world place on Pozsonyi utca is hardly hours away.
Kiskakukk, however, does seem to have one startling omission: no delicious oxtail soup.
From the menu:
Appetizers
Smoked salmon slices Ft 1590
Kiskakukk-style chicken salad Ft 1490
Main courses
Date-stuffed turkey breast Ft 1780
Leg of goose Ft 1990
Venison marinated in red wine Ft 1990
Salmon steak with Chardonnay sauce Ft 2790
Lamb cutlets with dill and goat cheese Ft 3490
Desserts
Poppyseed parfait with berry sauce Ft 590
Chocolate soufflé with orange sauce Ft 590"
Address: District XIII, Pozsonyi u. 12
Tel.: 450-0829
Open: Daily 12-24
By David Landry
Source: BBJ
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