H is for ........HUNGARY!

An overnight stay in Richmond coincided with the Hungarian Restaurant, the eighth locale in our ‘Alphabet Eats’ journey and also conveniently located in Bridge Road. Fortunately we had booked earlier in the week, as the place was full when we entered but then we were surprisingly shown to our table which seated four. A very quirky menu introduced us to many Hungarian sayings, as did the walls which surrounded us. Apparently ‘name days’ are very important to Hungarians, and today happened to be a day when, if your name was Justin, your received a free dessert.

We decided to break the rule of no alcohol, as we didn’t have to drive and the ‘home-made’ red wine certainly enticed Ms X, as it not only came out of a wooden barrel in the corner of the restaurant, but her was also uncommonly filled to the brim. Mr X went with the Hungarian brew called Dreher, which he immediately sampled and approved of. After some debate, it was decided to share a Hungarian version of nachos, which tasted ok but we both felt it wasn’t really a traditional dish.

So for main course we shared chicken and pork crepes, and a plate of Hungarian goulash. The crepes were delicious, the goulash what we probably imagined a goulash to be.

Ms X then had a jam pancake for dessert, at the same time finishing off her very tasty and well-chosen wine.

The owner’s obvious sense of humour continued when Mr X visited the toilet, a solitary outhouse way down the back of the yard at the rear of the premises. The wall was festooned with heaps of amusing trivia and fun facts. I’m sure these would have come in handy for the woman who was waiting to enter when Mr X emerged from the only toilet available! The service was efficient but somewhat speedy, as we were done and dusted in 90 minutes. However, it was definitely value for money, friendly and an enjoyable place to have dinner, whilst at the same time an opportunity to learn a little more about another international culture.

 "THE HUNGARIAN"   362 Bridge Road Richmond.

Food                 He 7     She  7
Ambiance          He 8     She  7
Service             He 8     She  6
Value                He 8     She  7
Accessibility      He 7     She  7         Total: 72