Travel guide Budapest

Hungary is not known today for its soccer, but in bars and other clubs, despite the decibels and the undulating crowd, Hungarians never stop playing table soccer. Whether it's a playful warm-up at the beginning of the evening or an unexpected encounter at 3 a.m., you can't resist the call of csocsó (pronounced "tcho-tcho")!

Halfway between a tea room and a café, people come to the cukrászda (pronounced "tsoukrasda") to enjoy some sweet treats like rétes (thin-crust strudels with poppy seed or cottage cheese filling), sűtemények and torták (cakes and pies). Hungarians like to go there with family or friends in the late afternoon or during the week.

It is the national drink of the summer even if it is drunk all year round. Fröccs ( "freutch") is white wine (white, rosé, red) mixed with sparkling water(szodá). The fröccs has a different name depending on the proportion of wine it contains(kis or nagy for example). It sounds like a heresy but it is worth trying!

This name(gulyás, "gouyach" in Hungarian) refers to a soup of meat (beef) with onions, carrots, paprika and potato pieces, simmered for a long time (if possible in a cauldron on an open fire in good weather). Make no mistake, this is not a stew: in this case, it is a pörkölt.

Hungarian foie gras(hízott libamáj, pronounced "izot libamaïe") does not enjoy the same prestige as its French equivalent, but it is a Hungarian specialty. Second largest producer in the world after France, Hungary produces good quality foies gras at a lower cost. They are exported to France and often repackaged.

The seven Magyar (pronounced madjar) tribes migrated from the Urals to the Pannonian plain around 890 under the leadership of Árpád, the Grand Prince. Since Trianon, most Hungarians are Magyars, but not all Magyars from neighbouring countries have Hungarian citizenship. Since 2011, they can be naturalized (and vote) easily.

It is a generic term for both the bell pepper and the famous powdered spice. Paprika is the basis of many culinary specialties(paprikás is the name given to all dishes prepared with paprika, accompanied by a fresh cream sauce). This red pepper is grown and dried in the southern part of the Great Plain, such as in Szeged or Kalocsa.

As the cerebral counterpart of csocsó, Hungarians play chess (chak jaték) in schools, parks, cafés and even in the baths. An international chess tournament, First Saturday, unique in the world, is held once a month in Budapest. Among the great Hungarian champions are Péter Lékó and the Polgár sisters (Judit and Zsuzsa).

Szomorú vasárnap was composed in the 1930s by Rezső Seress, on the occasion of a break-up. A melancholy ritornello, it was to become a legend: it is said to have caused a wave of suicides in Hungary, to the point of being banned there, as it was later on the BBC. It has been covered by many artists, including Gainsbourg and Holliday.

Partly initiated by Clemenceau and signed by the Allies in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon caused Hungary to lose two thirds of its historical territory, one third of its population, and nearly 70% of its industries... More than a hundred years later, this large amputation is still far from being healed. French people passing through, you have been warned!

This small bar of "cottage cheese" (túró), covered with a thin layer of chocolate, is undoubtedly the favourite sweet of Hungarians. You don't go a day without eating one, two or more. Can be bought in supermarkets and grocery stores: you can recognize its packaging by its red peas, like the French cycling jersey.

A bitter liquor that Hungarians drink both as an aperitif and as a digestive. Made from forty different herbs, the Zwack family has kept the recipe secret for over two hundred years (1790). A Time Out editor wrote of it, "Looks like an old anarchist bomb and smells like a hospital corridor..."