Budapest Gastronomy 2. The Gerlockzy Cafe and Balthazar

We continue our dedicated research into Budapest restaurants.

We had dinner at the Gerlockzy Cafe, a charming little white-table cloth restaurant with a French bistro feel.  We started sharing a (huge) plate of Parma ham with a celery remoulade salad.  Then I had a fantastic piece (actually 2 pieces) of Bronzino.  (See above.) The fish was daubed with bread crumbs that had a garlicky taste to them, then was lightly sautéed.  It was fresh and delicious.  The accompanying risotto had, I think, some tomato and seafood broth in it.  Tony had slices of pork tenderloin with home made gnocchi and pesto.  It was the best of the (much) pork we've eaten here.  We had a bottle of Andras Egri Bikaveer (the strong red wine called "bull's blood").  Alas we were too full for dessrt and had to leave the chocolate soufflé untried.

Tony's restaurant research later paid off big with a great place for lunch in Buda (near the Castle, which is quite touristed and hence hard to find somewhere good and inexpensive).  Balthazar (like the Gerlockzy) is the restaurant of a small hotel, and we had a wonderful lunch there. I had spaetzle with cheese: A huge plate of egg noodles in a cheesy sauce that was crisped on top.  It tasted like the best macaroni and cheese that ever existed.  Tony had a burger; the restaurant is known for its grill and locally-sourced meat.  The burger and fries were really good, but what was great was the ketchup (I kid you not): a homemade sweetish tomato sauce, almost like a chutney.

Here we knew going in that we were going to finish with the dessert special of the day.

 "Cottage" cheese dumplings with raspberry sorbet.  (The dumplings prepared "a minute.")  Or as they say in Hungarian