On my first night in Debrecen I settled dinner at IKON Restaurant which serves a fusion of contemporary and traditional Hungarian cuisine. It’s one of the nice gourmet restaurants in town located on the main avenue of Piac Utca (Piac Street). This is the centre of Debrecen where the main happening is.
Because the weather was nice, I decided to sit outside at the terrace. It’s a pretty area of the city centre as it is pedestrianized. The streets are laid out and designed in a recreational style with lots of foliage and benches for people to sit. The trams pass by in the middle of the street as well, so there’s a lot to see whilst sitting outdoors.
I asked the waiter what could be a traditional Hungarian meal and he gave me two options on the menu. I went for the Beef Goulash with Nokedli. It’s basically a meat stew with Hungarian noodles. The restaurant provides its own modern twist and flavour to traditional Hungarian cuisine so this is their own version of goulash and nokedli. I then paired it with a kadarka red wine.
Hungarian cuisine features meat as its principal food item, which I am quite familiar with, however, this is my first time to try some Hungarian pasta so I am quite curious. They are somewhat small and short like spatzle. They vary in sizes and you can make or cut them as small as you want. I find it quite tasty but its loaded with carbohydrates. Meat and carbohydrates aren’t the best combination, especially when there’s almost to none vegetables on the plate. Well, there were a few cucumbers on top which did help balance the taste and gave a lovely colour contrast to the food presentation.
I am travelling and exploring the local cuisine, so a compromise is always in order =)
Travel Period: May 2014
Destination: Debrecen (Northern Great Plain), Hungary
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