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. 

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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.