Budapest: Manga Cowboy

We are on Raday street, in Budapest, famous restaurant-pub-entertainment street in the heart of the city, close to universities and major attractions. There are restaurants right next to each other, also Budapet’s very first Michelin star restaurant-”Costes”. Also there are places in all kinds of price range, also providing daily lunch offers. With a friend of mine we picked Manga Cowboy (Raday street 33), to be honest only because of the name, i was wondering how they manage to infuse these 2 completely different kind of style and culture.

To be honest, the eastern part of the deal only appears in the name, and maybe in the wasabi-mayo, also the items listed on the menu, have “funny” and “cute” japanese names. Pretty much thats it. The decoration inside also reminds us the western world. On their website I find out, they would like to infuse hungarian-asian-american influencial cuisine. That sound interesting, also very dangerous. Because in this case they not only have to master 1 but 3 completely different and unique kitchens. And yes, many things can go wrong. Their menu is more or less american, with its cesar salad, burgers, and big sandwiches. Me, I dont mind burgers, if they are good, not necessarily thinking about fast food chain products. The burger itself can be hard to master, if we dont want to serv something dry and over-cooked for our costumers. And the creativity comes with the filling which can be anything from tomato to peanut-butter.

Also good to know about Manga Cowboy, they have all day breakfast, they have bagel which is very rare in this city. Also they have stand-up comedy night, also sometimes english stand-up as well.  They do lunch time offers, 5 days a week, and we can pay with ticket restaurant vouchers as well!

Our lunch:

Well the place started with some hickups, while i was waiting for my friend, i didnt even had a chance to look at a menu or a drink-list, for about 10 minutes nobody really cared if im ordering or not. In this heath i could have really used a bottle of water to be honest. Thankfully things speed up after my friend arrives. She is having a lunch deal, im having a burger. The lunch time offers are actually pretty good, the costumers can either choose from a soup-main or main-dessert variation, from 2 different mains a day. The price-range is very friendly as well, around 800Ft-s with a drink, which is about 3 euros.  There are also more asian and hungarian dishes on the menu, everything from the very traditional to the more creative.

The soup she is having (spring vegetable) is pretty nice, she gets it withing 3 minutes. The main “tokfozelek”-(fozelek is a traditional hungarian dish, made out of vegetables it can be anything from cabbage, potatoe, or in this case pumpkin. Its hard to find an english example for it, the best i can come up with is stew, but still, its nothing like a stew). Anyway, the tokfozelek, is a pretty nice portion with 2 meatloafs, very tasty as well. My burger comes with chips and coleslaw salad. It looks like a decent burger, nothing extra nothing new, with tomato-onion-gherkin-cheese filling. The loaf is a bit raw inside, but still edible. Costs 1800Ft-6,50 euros. Its nice and filling, theres not much more i can say about a simple burger to be honest. Our waitress is nice, so i dont really have problens with the service.

Manga Cowboy could develop a bit more, but if they serve decent good priced food im very sure will survive on the market. If im in the area, will very sure use it for lunch..or maybe stand up comedy?

Budapest, Raday utca, ettermek erik egymast mindections. n meteren. Mi, egy baratnommel a Manga Cowboyt valasztottuk. Igazabol tetszett a neve es kivancsi voltam, hogy ezt a ket egeszen eltero stilust, hogyan tudjak osszehozni.

A keleti oldala a dolognak, igazabol csak minimalisan jelenik meg az etelek kozott, esetleg leves vagy wasabi-majonez formajaban. Ilettve a legtobb etelnek “vicces” japan neve van. Ennyi. Belul a dekoracio is, a tehenmintas falakkal inkabb emlekeztetik a vadnyugatot. Honlapjukon megtudom, hogy az azsiai, amerikai, es magyar konyhat szeretnek otvozni. Ez szerintem eleg veszelyes probalkozas, mert mar rogton 3 teljesen eltero kulturat kell igen makas fokon uzni, illetve a vendegeknek talalni. Az etlapjuk tulnyomo reszt amerikai, szendvicses-burgeres-salatas. Igaz, en nagy kedveloje vagyok a hamburgereknek, is ilyenkor nem feltetlenul kell a gyorsettermi-lancok termekeire gondolni. A huspogacsa elkeszitese amugy igen nehez dolog, foleg azert, hogy ne egy szaraz, odaegett husdarabot adjunk a vendeg ele. A toltelek pedig a paradicsomtol a hummus-ig barmi lehet, szoval gondoltam ezt ki is probalom.

Tudni kell meg a Manga Cowboyrol, hogy egesz napos reggelit kinal, ami kozott szerepel a bagel-is. Ez mar kis hazankban eleg ritka, tobb ceg probalkozott mar a bagel-ek arusitasaval, de valahogy senkinek se jott ossze. Elo angol vagy magyar stand-up comedy esteket tartanak, illetve ebedkor menujuk is van (inkabb ezekben jelenik meg jobban a magyaros, es az azsiai vonal), illetve ebedjegyeket is elfogadnak fizetes gyanant.

Az ebedunk:

Nem egy jo pontal inditott szamomra a hely. Mig a baratnomre vartam, nem lattam se etlapot vagy itallapot, senki nem kerdezte meg,, hogy szeretnek e valamit. Igazabol ha nem lett volna ilyen meleg, vagy nem lettem volna ennyire szomjas talan meg nem zavart volna. A pincerek picit elfoglaltak, de igazabol korulottem mar mindenki megkapta az ebedjet, es nem mondanam, hogy nagy tomeget kellett volna kiszolgalniuk. Addig a menu ajanlatot bongeszem. Egesz korrekt, naponta valtozo, arban teljesen megfelelo. A leves-foetel-desszert triot lehet parisotani, napi ket fajta foetel kozul. Amin a palacsinta, vagy brownie, vagy a fozelek, es a brassoi ugyanugy helyet kap a Tom Yum leves mellett.

Miutan mar ketten vagyunk szerencsere felgyorsulnak az esemenyek, baratnom menut valaszt, a levest szinte azonnal megkapja. Szeretnem hozza tenni, hogyha kint foglalunk helyet, az asztalok nem a legidealisabbak a designos tanyerhoz es konnyen az olunkbe borulhat az egesz. A leves amugy finom. En hamburgert valasztottam, ami 1700 Ft, sultkrumpli es coleslaw salata jar hozza. Igazabol, semmi kulonos, de finom. Szerencsere sok zoldseg van benne, amugy a pogacsa, kivulrol picit egett, belulrol egy picit rozsaszin, de meg az “eheto-nyers” kategoriaba tartozik. A tokfozelek, egesz nagy adag, es az is es a hozza jaro 2 fasirt is nagyon finom! A menu araban szerepel meg egy pohar udito vagy kave, amit en egesz korrekt ajanlatnak tartok, keves helyen kinalnak ilyet. A pincernonk, aranyos, kedves, a kezdeti nehezsegek ellenere, kellemeset csalodtam a kiszolgalasban

A manga Cowboy jol vizsgazott, bar van min fejlodniuk, de igazabol az alacsony araik mellett nem nagyon szamitottam masra. Ha ismetelten a Raday utcaban jarok, valoszinu, hogy oket fogom valasztani ebedre!

Panzerotto heaven-Di Cosimo pizzeria

A few weeks ago i visited Bari, which is located South of Italy. I have to admit i had amazing food there, also I learned a lot, and was very much impressed about the city and its surrounding. So far Apulia/Puglia was very much unfamiliar, and was very surprised about the lack of tourism in the area. I’m very sure im going to refer to Bari in my upcoming posts, but first of all I would like to introduce you to the Panzerotto!

Many of you know Calzone, which is a pizza folded in half-baked in an oven. Theres not much difference with the panzerotto, but instead of the oven, its deep-fried in oil. Its dough is also a bit different, it’s somehow a bit lighter-but correct me if im wrong! Not only in Puglia, but all around in the country you can meet with the dish in different panetterias and forno-s (which means the oven itself). Most of the time they offer small panzerottos, 3-4 of those in the heath and you have a nice filling meal, also if you don’t pay attention, you can have some of the filling on your nice clean shirt-and im speaking from experience!

The filling itself can be very simple, a tomato sauce-mozarella duo, and as conservatives the italians ca be with their food, if we do a home made addition, we can be creative with inside.

So one night my boyfriend took me to this place called Di Cosimo pizzeria, in Bari. When i first saw the place i knew we are not talking about a romantic candle-light dinner. The place itself located on the bottom of a big concrete building, the only way you could actually spot it, was the crowd infront of it. Inside its even worse, there are people everywhere and the shop itself is pretty small, ofcourse you need to pick a number. The chefs shout out the number who is next, there are about 20 orders infront of us..ok at least i can take a better look on, what makes this place so popular. Theres not much choice on the menu, You either order the deep fried panzerotto or its oven baked partner, or some pizzas, theres about 6 different kind on the menu. Later on an other night i tryed the gorgonzola pizza…. if you like the cheese, its a must try! Its so many of us in there, some people already taking some place in the kitchen right behind the deep frier. Most of the orders are for take-away, but theres a small room behind the kitchen, you can have your meal there if you want. Its steaming hot, some people scream for beer or water while they wait. It sure has its atmosphere. To be honest i wasnt really hungry before we got there, but looking at all those amazing pizzas in and out of the owen for hal an hour, sure brings my apetite! Also they are increadibly fast, a pizza is ready within 3-4 minutes in the steaming hot forno, and You can see, the people who work there have experience.

My boyfriend tells me his been coming here since he was a boy, and always the same people ran the place, everybody having their own section and duty. One of them is making the pizzas, other two gets the panzerotto dough ready, somebody fries them, an other guy is responsible for the goods inside the oven, and there’s one person talking with the public and collecting the money. I’m being shy with taking photos, of course nobody speaks english and they are making fun of me in italian. “If you live in Bari, You know this place” explains my boyfriend to me, the popularity also comes because of the “big-size” panzerotto they make, eating one of those is almost like a complete meal.

After all of this i wasnt even surprised to find even Youtube videos about the place!

Mult heten Del-Olaszorszagban, Bariban jartam. Nagyon jokat ettem, es rengeteget tanultam, illetve teljesen lenyugozott a varos es megyeje.Szamomra idaig teljesen ismeretlen volt Apulia/Puglia kornyeke, es meglepoen keves turistat lattam ezalatt a 10 nap alatt mig ott voltam. Bari-ra meg biztosan vissza fogok terni mas posztokban de most elsosorban a Panzerotto(i)-rol szeretnek irni

Sokan ismerik a Calzone-t ami igazabol egy felbe hajtott toltott pizza. Ez a Panzerotto eseteben sincs maskent, de a kulonbseg az, hogy olajban sutik ki. A tesztaja is egy kicsit mas, konyebben emesztheto. Nem csak Pugliaban hanem orszag szerte is lehet vele talalkozni panetteriakban vagy fornokban (a forno maga a kemencet jelenti, igy is szoktak nevezni a peksegeket). De legtobb esetben a kicsi panzerottikat talalhatjuk ott, 3-4 darab belole mar eleg is. A toltelek nagyon egyszeru szokott lenni, paradicsomszosz es mozarella parosra eskusznek de egy kreativ szakacs tehet hozza barmit. Amugy az olasz peksegek nagy rajongoja vagyok, imadom a focacciakat, a supplikat, imadom a crocchetta di patate es a mindenfele rantott dolgokat .Receptek hamarosan

Aztan egyik este a baratom elvitt a Di Cosimo nevu kis pizzeriaba. Amikor eloszor meglattam a helyet, tudtam hogy nem romantikus vacsorarol lesz szo. Az uzlet egy lakotelepi haz aljaban talalhato es mar elotte hatalmas tomeg gyult ossze, mikor el kezd esni az eso, ez a sok ember mind probal a kis pizzeriaba beferkozni. persze szamot kell huznunk. Nem sok valasztasi lehetosegunk van, vagy rantott panzerottot kerunk vagy kemenceben sultet, illetve van kb 4-5 fele pizza is. Minden szo szerint az orrunk elott keszul. Annyian vagyunk, hogy mar mi is a konyha reszei leszunk, egyesek mar csak az olajsuto mogott kapnak helyet. A legtobb ember elvitelre rendel, de hatul helyet is foglalhatunk ha gondoljuk. Rekord mennyisegu embert szolgalnak ki, kb 3-4 perc alatt kesz egy pizza a forro kemenceben. Hiaba a gyorsasag, fel orat biztos, hogy sorban allunk, kozben be-kiabalos modon lehet uditot vagy sort rendelni, mivel bent biztos van vagy 40 fok, szuksegunk is van ra.

A baratom kozben elmondta, hogy o mar gyerekkora ota jar ide. Es mindig ugyenezek az emberek vittek a helyet, es mindig mindenkinek meg volt a maga feladata. Az egyik kesziti elo a pizzat vagy a  sult panzerottot a masik ki-be helyezi a kemencebel, az egyik csak penzt szed, harman pedig rantanak es csomagolnak. A tomeg engem kozben olaszul szivat, hogy miert is fenykepezek, meg se fordul a fejukben hogy nem vagyok helyi. ”Ha Bariban elsz, ismered ezt a helyet” nepszeruseguket meg az fokozza, hogy ok nagy panzerottot keszitenek, ami egy kiados vacsoraval er fel.

Amikor  hazajottem, mar meg se lepodtem nagyon, hogy a helyrol mar youtube-on is talalunk videokat.

Related Articles

• Panaretto Pizzeria in Fort Lauderdale Offers $9.80 Any Pie – August 31 Only (worstpizza.com)
• Nick’s APizza Boca Raton – New Haven Style Pizza (worstpizza.com)
• A pizza revolution in Rome? (dobianchi.com)

I introduce You The Wondering Chef

The Wondering Chef is a new food, restaurant and travel blog from me- a  young hungarian chef.  At the moment its going tgo run in hungarian and english, later on i will see how the 2 languages going to work out next to each other. The blog is very much under development, hopefully, i will be able to build it step by step, so the readers could excess more pages and writings.

What is it al about?

Its about recipes-My own and what i learned, restaurant reviews rom all around the World, and some insight of the restaurant and hopsitality world, with some extra travel tips. So, if you like to eat, try new places and interested in travel i dount see why not it could be your next favourite blog. My base is Budapest at the moment, but luckily i travell enough to update the site with new tips frequently.

If theres anything you would like to share, or tryed a place you liked or didnt like just drop me a comment or a message and im going to look into it!

Sziasztok!

(Mos szeretnek szolni, hogy az irasaimbol hianyozni fognak az ekezetek, mivel a gepemen sajnos nem elerhetoek..elore is elnezest kerek)

A “Wondering chef” egy etterem-recept utazos blog, ami jelen pillanatban fejlesztes alatt all. Itt a sajat illetve tanult receptjeimet talalhatjatok majd, illetve etterem kritikakat hazankbol es a hataron tulrol. Szeretnek meg foglalkozni egy kicsit az utazas temaval is foglalkozni, megosztani erdekes helyeket, szallasokat amiket volt szeretnem latni-kiprobalni. Jelenleg angolul es magyarul fogok probalkozni az irassal, majd az ido eldonti, hogy a ket nyelv mennyire fer meg egymas mellett.

Kinek ajanlom a blogot? Azoknak akik szeretnek enni, es nem feltetlenul elegszenek meg az altalanos rantotthus es krumplisalata kombinacioval (ami egyebkent nagyon nagyon finom es egyik szemelyes kedvencem). Azoknak akik szeretnek utazni es ettermeket kiprobalni. Akik szeretnek aranyos bakloveseken nevetni, vagy interneten rendelni, vagy mar hazankban is egyre tobb helyen kaphato azsiai kiegeszitokkel kiserletezni. A lenyeg az, hogyha szeretsz enni es nem vagy finnyas neha nezz ra az oldalra, bajod nem lehet belole.