Cucumber salad dumped into stew: Hungarian restaurant opens 10,000 km from Budapest!

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Deep in Malaysian Borneo, in a coastal port town that once served as the seat of local rulers, a Reni and Gábor has launched a stunning Hungarian restaurant after moving there with their child to embrace life on this exotic equatorial island. At this spot for Hungarian delights, you can savour authentic home flavours – and even lend a hand or get help yourself if you’re in a bind.

Hungarian restaurant in Borneo
Photo: FB/Paprika Paradise

Python on the roadside

Reni and Gábor’s jaw-dropping adventure was spotlighted by Szeretlek Magyarország. In 2022, after criss-crossing the island, the couple decided to settle in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, through the “Sarawak My Second Home” programme. However, their child’s student visa was delayed, pushing their move back to 2023.

They reckon they’re the only Europeans for miles around, so locals greet them warmly everywhere. Open-hearted themselves, they were welcomed with open arms. Nature threw curveballs, though – giant forest cockroaches darting across the floor is par for the course, and the local WhatsApp group buzzes with warnings about roadside pythons that school kids need to dodge.

Luckily, no mishaps struck, and they soon made mates. One friend’s rave reviews of their home-cooked Hungarian grub sparked the idea: open a local Hungarian eatery.

Hungarian restaurant in Borneo
Hungarian restaurant in the heart of Kuching. Joyful dinners together. Photo: FB/Paprika Paradise

Hungarian paprika? Impossible to source

Neither had restaurant experience – Reni’s a drug researcher, Gábor spent 20 years at Hungary’s National Investigative Bureau. Undeterred, they teamed up with that friend to birth Paprika Paradise. Ironically, everyday TV peppers from home are nowhere to be found, so California peppers step in as the base. They even bake sourdough bread and whip up sour cream themselves – local versions just don’t cut it for flavour or quality.

Hungarian restaurant in Borneo
Photo: FB/Paprika Paradise

Do they eat or drink the dumplings?

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