American creator Ray of Magyar Minute travelled from Budapest to Debrecen with Hungarian food journalists on a hosted press trip arranged with help from Daily News Hungary’s Alpár Kató. At Next Bistro, a waiter’s goulash recommendation, owner Albert István’s “fine bistro” approach and conversations across a language gap became a personal introduction to the city. His short video captures the visit, while the accompanying article explores the history behind Debrecen’s trade, independence-era role and university.
For an American living in Budapest, a trip to Debrecen can feel like a small journey into another side of Hungary. The language may be the same, but the city has its own character, history and traditions — and sometimes the easiest way to discover them is through a plate of food and a conversation with a stranger.
Ray, the American creator behind Magyar Minute, recently travelled from Budapest to Debrecen with Hungarian food journalists on a hosted press trip arranged with the help of Daily News Hungary’s Alpár Kató. At Next Bistro, a waiter’s recommendation of goulash, conversations that moved between Hungarian and English, and the warm welcome of owner Albert István offered a personal introduction to the city.
The restaurant visit became more than a meal. It showed how hospitality can bridge a language gap, and how food can open the door to discovering a place.
When the language barrier becomes part of the experience
At Next Bistro, communication did not always happen in one language. Staff members switched to English when necessary, while conversations continued with the help of translations and gestures.
For a foreign visitor, these small moments can make a significant difference. Rather than feeling like an outsider struggling to navigate an unfamiliar environment, Ray found himself drawn into the atmosphere around the table.
The waiter’s recommendation was suitably Hungarian: goulash. The dish offered a straightforward introduction to the country’s culinary traditions, while the conversation around it revealed something less tangible about Debrecen — the people who live and work there.
That welcoming atmosphere is also central to Albert István’s approach to Next Bistro. He describes the restaurant as a “fine bistro”, combining a relaxed dining experience with attention to quality and presentation.
The restaurant also offers a more hands-on experience for guests interested in steak. Next has a steak-selection concept involving dry-aged meat, while its separate yakiniku experience features bite-size Wagyu and Angus cooked on a tabletop charcoal grill. The two experiences should not be understood as interchangeable, however, as the cuts and preparation options depend on the particular offering available.
(The following 5 subtitles may be selected above: English, Hungarian, Italian, German and Chinese.)
A city shaped by trade
The story of Debrecen cannot be separated from trade. For centuries, the city developed as an important commercial centre on the Great Plain. Its location helped connect agricultural production and livestock farming with markets farther afield.
One particularly important part of this history was the cattle trade. Long-distance cattle drovers were known as gulyás in Hungarian, a word that has since become famous around the world through the dish goulash. Historical accounts also associate the long-distance cattle-driving network with the hajdúk.
Cattle from the Great Plain were driven toward major markets, including Vienna, Nuremberg and Venice. Debrecen was one important trading centre within this wider network, rather than the single point from which all cattle left for Western European markets.
It is a fitting historical connection for a city where a visitor can still encounter Hungarian food traditions centuries after livestock trading helped shape the region’s economy.
More than a trading town
Debrecen’s significance goes well beyond commerce. The city occupies an important place in Hungary’s political history. During the 1848–49 revolution and War of Independence, Debrecen became a centre of the Hungarian national movement. In 1849, after the Hungarian government left Pest-Buda, the city briefly served as the country’s political centre.
The Great Reformed Church became one of the defining locations of this period. It was here that the Hungarian National Assembly declared the dethronement of the Habsburg dynasty and the independence of Hungary in April 1849.
Education is another part of Debrecen’s long-standing identity. The city’s Reformed educational tradition stretches back centuries, and the institution that developed into today’s University of Debrecen has helped establish the city as one of Hungary’s major university centres.
For visitors arriving from Budapest, this provides another perspective on Debrecen. It is not simply Hungary’s second-largest city or a destination on the other side of the country. It is a place whose identity has been shaped by commerce, religion, education and the country’s turbulent political history.
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Is Budapest really that far away?
For Albert, one of the challenges is getting people from the capital to make the journey. In the video, he estimates that 90 percent of people in Budapest will not make the drive to Debrecen. That figure is his personal estimate rather than the result of a verified survey, but it points to a genuine challenge for destinations outside the capital: convincing visitors to spend time exploring another part of the country.
Ray’s own journey illustrates the point. The trip from Budapest to Debrecen took roughly two and a half hours each way during the press visit, while comparisons made in the video describe the journey as approximately two hours. Exact travel times naturally vary depending on the route and traffic.
Yet the distance is also part of what makes the experience worthwhile. Leaving Budapest behind offers the chance to see a different Hungarian city, encounter a different rhythm of life and discover stories that cannot be reduced to the country’s capital.
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Discovering Debrecen, one conversation at a time
Ray’s visit to Next Bistro ultimately provides a simple entry point into a much larger story. There is the food: goulash, steak and the restaurant’s contemporary interpretation of Hungarian hospitality. There is the language barrier, softened when people switch to English or help translate. And there is the city itself, with a history stretching from cattle trading and the Great Plain to the events of 1849 and a centuries-old educational tradition.
For an American visitor, perhaps the most memorable part is not a particular historical date or dish, but the experience of being welcomed despite not speaking Hungarian fluently. That is one of the pleasures of travelling beyond the familiar tourist route. Sometimes discovering a city begins not with a landmark, but with someone recommending what you should eat.
Editorial disclosure: Ray of Magyar Minute’s visit to Debrecen was part of a hosted press trip on 1 October 2026, arranged with the help of Daily News Hungary’s Alpár Kató.
Featured image: Ray Brown – Magyar Minute
