PHOTOS: We tried authentic Hungarian lángos in Athens

One thing you probably don’t expect to bump into while wandering around in the quirky and chaotic urban jungle of downtown Athens is an authentic Hungarian lángos spot. However, the beauty of life is that it’s unpredictable and brings you the best surprises when you least anticipate them. As a Hungarian expat who has lived in the Greek capital for almost 10 years, seeing our beloved comfort food on the front facade of that tiny store, a thousand miles away from home, obviously brought a huge grin to my face. We had no time to hesitate, the alluring smell of lángos, this deep-fried national delicacy, instantly lured us in. 

The Lángos Project 

The idea of opening a lángos place first sprung into Fanni Csabankó’s mind when working as a stewardess in Dubai and the first wave of the pandemic hit the world. Despite tough times and being away from her loved ones, she didn’t let her spirit down nor allowed boredom to take over. She fired up her oven, grabbed her apron and threw herself into her favourite pastime: getting busy in the kitchen.

The avid hobby cook who has been to 40 countries always advocated her motherland’s unique dishes and made people try Hungarian food whichever far-flung corner of the world life took her. She already garnered quite a fan base for her delicious homecooked creations living in the Middle East, however, the actual plan of turning her passion into a profession began to crystalise when a love story brought her to Greece. The Lángos Project opened its doors 6 months ago, offering authentic Hungarian lángos in a wide variety of flavours as well as other mouthwatering traditional dishes. Fanni takes pride in both running the store and preparing all the dishes on offer by herself, without skipping a beat or compromising on quality. No quintessential ingredient, such as Erős Pista, tejföl (local sour cream) or Hungarians’ favourite cake filling poppyseed is ever missing from her repertoire. The Lángos Project is like a true Hungarian oasis in the heart of Athens for those who crave authentic home-cooked dishes, whether sweet or savoury. 

Fanni, the super-friendly and ever-smiling owner of The Lángos Project

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A taste of Hungary in Hellas

It was a tough choice to pick among the many dishes and flavours, but eventually, we opted for a traditional lángos with sour cream, fried sausage and leek and a countryside lángos topped with all the goodness of our rich and heavy local cuisine: cottage cheese, sour cream, dill, fried bacon and a sunny-side-up egg to put the crown on top. The first bites already gave us instant flashbacks of scrumptious home-cooked meals shared at our grandmas’ home and it only got better as we worked ourselves through the delicious dough, fried to perfection.

Although we barely had any space left in our belly, we thought to push the boat out and order some authentic Hungarian dessert as well. The Nutella-filled pancakes garnished with fresh strawberries were a real feast both for our eyes and tastebuds. However, Fanni the owner has plenty of other tricks up in her sleeves when it comes to sweet delights. You can try a variety of sweet lángos with ice cream, fruit jam, Filadelfia cream cheese and the all-time favourite cottage cheese, chocolate swirl bun, prosza (milk pie with jam), aranygaluska (dumplings soaked in vanilla custard), grízes tészta (sweet semolina pasta with apricot jam) and many more. At Christmas time, bejgli lovers are also taken care of. Besides, Fanni prepares entire menus on order, consisting of the biggest culinary highlights of Hungary such as stuffed cabbage, goulash soup, layered potatoes, chicken paprikash and the list goes on. 

How does our national delicacy fare among Greeks? 

Of course, Fanni thought a bit of adaptation to local palates can go a long way to break down the initial inhibitions. So she came up with the genius souvlangos (incorporating Greek’s popular street food, souvlaki) for those who need a bit of extra push when it comes to international flavours. The wraps quickly became a big hit among Greek customers. However, according to Fanni, there are many local foodies visiting the store who have already been to Hungary and are, therefore, familiar with our rich and tasty cuisine. Fanni’s general impression is that Greek people are absolutely open to Hungarian flavours. The only bit some of them find tricky is the right way to eat lángos without dropping half the toppings on themselves. There have been customers who even asked the owner to cut the lángos into 8 pieces to make it easier to go around it (to translate it into a common language, that’s like asking for ananas to top your pizza in Italy). Fear not though if you are on the clumsier side too, Fanni is always ready with her biggest smile to cater to all different tastes and preferences. Apart from souvlangos, the creative Hungarian cook also thought up another original invention, the stuffed lángos, called Lángosz Vángosz inspired by one of her dear friends to make lángos eating less messy for him.

If you happen to be in Athens, do yourself a favour and don’t miss out on these delicious homemade wonders! You can check out the ever-increasing menu HERE!

You can find the store at this address: Tzortz 3, Athens 106 82, Greece

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