We just got back from a 5-days trip to Budapest, and guess what we staffed our suitcase with? You got that right, lots and lots of snacks and goodies.
Let’s get to tasting with the first 8 items. The other 21 will follow in the next couple of weeks, so keep some room in your belly 😉
(Disclaimer: Not all items are 100% Hungarian, but all were collected from stores in Budapest and some are indeed made in Hungary)
1. Szamba
Szamba is a dark chocolate bar filled with marzipan flavored rum and sour cherry. I read online it’s considered a nostalgic candy, the kind 90’s kids really liked.
I was preparing myself for disappointment because of its cheap looking packaging but was really surprised by how tasty this candy bar actually was. The marzipan was soft and exploded with cherry and rum flavors. It reminded me of rum bonbons I used to love as a child. I would definitely grab one of these again in my next visit to Budapest.
2. Tibi Classic Milk Chocolate
Tibi is an Hungarian brand that’s been around for more than 70 years. Fun fact: their original slogan was: Tibi – not just mom’s favorite! Since then the Tibi product line had expanded and today includes pralines, chocolate bars and tablets in many different flavors and fillings, including seasonal variants.
The tablet is divided into medium size blocks (6*2). The chocolate flavor is not bad at all, but for pure milk chocolate I’d take Cadbury over this any given day.
3. Lángos Chips
If you’ve visited Hungary, you must be familiar with Lángos, a popular street food. It’s basically a deep fried dough that is usually topped with sour cream, grated cheese and other toppings.
Budapest supermarket shelves were packed with different flavors of Chio chips, which is actually a German company. When I spotted these Lángos flavored ones I was really intrigued. Last time I tried a snack that is trying to imitate a real food item (Churros!), it turned out to be a real success.
The chips are very thin and the dominant flavor is garlic. Not sure why they are opted to label it as Lángos flavor though – I would just call it “garlic chips”.
4.Alaska Corn Tube Filled with Cocoa Cream
These corn tubes are extremely weird for me. I’m usually a big fan of salty-sweet combination, but in this case it just doesn’t seem to work. There are 2 tubes in the package, each filled with cocoa cream. The corn tube is a bit salty, very puffy and not very crispy, almost as if the snack is spoiled. The cocoa cream inside tastes of the cheap kind. It also leaves this strange after-taste and sticks to your teeth. Pass.
5. Biosaurus Cheese
This package is everything! Look how adorable it is. Igor the dinosaur stores baked organic corn snake in cheese flavor. There are two other dinosaur kinds: Babe – ketchup flavored snacks and Junior – sea salt flavored snacks. They are actually manufactures by McLloyd’s in Slovakia which produces many other organic salty snacks.
The cuteness doesn’t end in the package. Each bit is shaped like a cute little dinosaur, which invites playful eating – let’s bite the dino’s head and then pull out a leg or two (Or maybe that’s just me?). Silly fact – while the snacks are shaped to look like Igor himself, a Theropod-looking dinosaur, if you rotate them 90 degrees they kinda resemble a Sauropod, with the arms becoming legs and the tail becoming the neck.
The dinos have great crunch, however their flavor are very faint. They are lightly salted, which is nice, but I found it hard to spot any cheese flavors. I guess this is part of the cost of trying to make an healthy and organic snack.
6. Knoppers Crispy Wafer
Knoppers is another German brand that can be found on Budapest supermarket shelves. Knoppers is made of hazelnut spread, cocoa, crunchy roasted hazelnuts and milk cream – you can easily see the different five layers.
It has this hazel-nutty aroma which hits you as soon as you open the package. Biting into it, the layers hold tightly together. There are different textures and each tastes amazing. It’s great!
7. Oreo filled Milka Balls
Two of my favorite chocolate candies merged into one. It just can’t go wrong here. The adorable package features a transparent snowman, holding a candy cane, with milk balls forming its buttons. From what I saw, during easter they change the shape of the balls to eggs and the snow man transforms into a bunny.
The package contains (not enough) individually packaged balls. These small chocolates are filled with milk cream and Oreo cookie bites. Fabulous!
8. Banana Foam Jelly in Dark Chocolate
This candy is another one by a Slovak producer of confectionery. As a huge fan of anything chocolate-banana I couldn’t leave this on the shelf. The chocolate bar arches and tapers to resemble a banana shape. The chocolate layer is extra thin and the filling has a strong banana flavor. The balance between the two is great, and it tasted just like any other banana jelly chocolate candy I know.
9. Smile pancake
Closing this post with pastry by a traditional Hungarian bakery established in 1969. Their pancake is available in different tastes: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, apricot and more. The pastry I got is individually packaged and seems very old-fashioned.
There are 2 slices of pancake “glued” by cherry jam. The taste and texture are not bad as I thought they would be, but I really don’t see any reason to eat this instead of a fresh pancake.
