These are the best places to find the iconic Hungarian fish soup

Although restaurants are not welcoming guests at Christmas this year, their kitchens are still open: many places offer Christmas dishes or a complete Christmas menu with takeaway or home delivery options. In this article, we look at how much it would cost to order a portion of fish soup from the best restaurants in the country and what alternatives are available. Probably, this year, there were also top restaurants that put fish soup on the menu, make jelly or bejgli which, if it was not for the pandemic, they would not have done. So here is your chance to sample the fish soups of the country’s best chefs, and it does not have to cost a fortune everywhere.

Due to the mandatory closure and curfew, we will hardly be able to go to the restaurants this year, but we do not have to give up gastronomic experiences. This year, plenty of restaurants have decided to take the burden of Christmas cooking off the shoulders of the population, and home-made Christmas menus and gourmet packages have been put together specifically for the holiday. Other places began to pick up pre-orders for fish soup or went into takeaway bejgli production. In many ways, they try to save what can be saved, which also means an opportunity for guests to enjoy the top performances of Hungarian gastronomy in their home now, writes Pénzcentrum.

In the best restaurants, if you want not only fish but also other meat and pasta in the soup, the lower limit is almost HUF 2,000 (€5.5). In most places, 500 ml makes a portion. This pricing may seem like an exaggeration, but if we also look at how much a portion of fish soup costs in other places, it is not so bad anymore.

If you look through the Hungarian food delivery pages, you can find plenty of places in the capital where you can also get fish soup. In the Trabant Retro, HUF 1,590 (€4.5) is a portion of fish soup, as in the case of Keszegsütő (however, this is 300 ml, for the larger portion you have to pay HUF 2,290 – €6.4). A portion is available in the Paprika restaurant for HUF 1,850, in the Károlyi restaurant and in the Aranyhal restaurant for HUF 1,890, but it is also offered by Vakvarjú and Nánási restaurant, for less than HUF 2,000 (€5.5).

The fish soup with catfish fillet and sourdough bread in Mad House is already HUF 2,100 (€5.9), while the carp fish soup with carp horseshoe is HUF 2,350 (€6.6). From the Trófea restaurant, a soup with catfish fillet is HUF 2,530 (€7). The mixed fish soup of catfish, carp, and bream from the Kispiac Bisztró is HUF 2,900 (€8.1), as well as the scallop fillet with pasta in the Big Fish. The Szeged Halászcsárda (in Budapest) sells carp, catfish, and mixed fish soups for HUF 3,100-3,800 forints (€8.7-10.6).

It may occur to you that when ordered directly from restaurants to take away and not through a delivery company, the festive fish soup can come out cheaper.

We can really save on delivery, but it does not cost that much less.

In Náncsi néni’s restaurant, for example, Christmas catfish fish soup (from fresh catfish, carp, and bream, slightly spicy, they write on the website) is 3,980 forints (€11.1), and it is only 500 ml. In the Vörös Postakocsi (Red Mail Car), soup from carp and catfish (600 ml) is HUF 2,290 (€6.4). The takeaway carp fish soup of the Lajos Király restaurant (fish soup made from bream, catfish, carp, with carp fillet) is HUF 1,880 (€5.3), where a portion is 500 ml.

The traditional Christmas dish is prepared in several ways in the Ezüstponty restaurant: mixed fish soup is HUF 2,550 (€7.1), Szeged carp fish soup costs HUF 2,450 (€6.9), Tisza catfish soup is HUF 2,350 (€6.6), and sour cream carp fish soup costs HUF 2,400 (€6.7). Of course, we can also find cheaper solutions: the Topogó restaurant also has a fish soup pre-order: here, 1 litre of filleted catfish is only 1,990 forints (€5.6). In general, however, this year,

it does not take much more for a serving of fish soup in the best domestic restaurants than elsewhere.

Pre-ordering the fish soup could be difficult. After all, when it comes to taking away and pre-ordering, you do not want to drive through half the city on 23 or 24 December, it is also a good idea to inquire at nearby places. Now, however, that we spend much less time on the streets due to epidemiological measures, it is easy to miss out on great deals.

According to the experience of Pénzcentrum, it may be worth researching on food delivery sites, but if you are interested in the offer of restaurants close to you, it is best to find information through social media, like Facebook.

Source: Pénzcentrum