Looking for an incredible Budapest food tour, or a Hungarian wine tasting that features one of my absolute favorite flavor combinations of all time?
You’ve come to the right place!
Several years (and several referrals to friends who similarly raved about this food tour in Budapest) later, and we still consider this Budapest wine-tasting class and this food tour among two of the best culinary tours we have experienced in Europe.
Planning to book a Budapest food tour on your next trip?
Here’s what we suggest!
Table of Contents
- Why We Chose These Budapest Food Tours
- About Taste Hungary Food + Wine Tours
- Budapest Wine Tasting Review: Wine Essentials, Cheese & Charcuterie
- Budapest Food Tour Review: Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk
- Our Review on Food + Wine Tasting in Budapest With Taste Hungary
- Read More About Visiting Budapest (and Beyond)
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Why We Chose These Budapest Food Tours
Before we started traveling full-time, we didn’t think it was possible to enjoy eating more than we already did–who doesn’t like devouring tasty foods, right?
With every destination, though, it seems that we adore exploring food more and more.
The sheer variety of different tastes in the world is incredible, and trying out delicious foods, particularly those specific to the region we’re visiting, has brought us more joy with every new place that we visit.
Hungary is no different.
We knew when we planned to return to Budapest that we wanted to make a point of enjoying some of the foods and wines that this area is known for and that we wanted to get beyond goulash and paprika (both of which are delicious).
From munching on langos to enjoying all kinds of Hungarian soups to sipping froccs, we were successful–thanks in large part to Taste Hungary.
About Taste Hungary Food + Wine Tours
Taste Hungary offers small-group food and drinks tours centered around any number of subjects, from wine to dessert to dinner.
They offer walking tours, and also tastings and dinners at their location near Budapest’s National Museum, The Tasting Table.
Looking at their website, we immediately started getting hungry, and we were thrilled when Taste Hungary invited us to come and experience both their Wine Essentials Class with Cheese and Charcuterie Tasting and their Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk during our time in Budapest.
We left both food tours completely stuffed–and in the case of the Wine Essentials Class with Cheese Charcuterie Tasting, quite tipsy.
2023 Update: Sadly, the Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk has been discontinued since we experienced it, though the Wine Essentials Class is going stronger than ever!
Taste Hungary’s flagship Budapest food tour, featuring a wide array of traditional Hungarian foods, would be our pick to replace it on a return visit to Budapest today.
Budapest Wine Tasting Review: Wine Essentials, Cheese & Charcuterie
We arrived at The Tasting Table to find full glasses of delicious sparkling wine already laid out for us–a fantastic start.
We sat with one other couple as our sommelier, Gergely walked us through details of not only the sparkling wine but also one other white and two reds.
Gergely was an expert, and he used a map of Hungary laid out in front of each of us to show us the regions that each wine came from (he was also the one who taught us that Hungary has 22 distinct wine regions!), and taught us different facts about the taste and history of each wine.
While every wine in front of us was varying degrees of tasty, the best was yet to come: the charcuterie boards.
This is the part where I should confess that I’m a bit of a toddler at heart: deconstructed plates with bite sides pieces of delicious food are absolutely my jam, so when I get the chance to eat a board of upscale, amazing ingredients and pretend that it’s acceptable adult cuisine, I am completely on board.
Charcuterie boards, in other words, are essentially my dream food.
These boards came arranged with four different types of cheese and four different types of meat, in addition to pickles, jam, fruit, nuts, and duck cracklings (duck fat fried until it’s crispy as a potato chip–the only food in either tour that Jeremy and I didn’t like).
They were beautiful, they were delicious, and they came with amazing advice about which wines to pair with which food, turning great wine and great food into phenomenal combined tastes.
The boards also came with strict instructions: leave one bite of the (amazing, creamy) blue cheese to eat with the dessert wine.
With that, Gergely set us loose, leaving each person to devour an entire board and four full glasses of wine.
Once we were all sufficiently tipsy (okay, maybe just drunk) and had eaten almost everything put in front of us, Gergely returned with a glass of Tokaj wine.
Of all the wines in Hungary, wine from the Tokaj region is best known.
The region is known for its sweet, white wines, the youngest of which are drunk at 3 years old and the oldest of which date back to 1700!
For the first sip, it was like drinking honey: too thick, too sweet.
But then… the blue cheese. Oh. My. God.
I could eat my body weight in blue cheese paired with sweet Tokaj wine.
Years later, it remains one of my absolute favorite bites of food that I have ever eaten, anywhere in the world.
Suffice it to say, we left our Budapest wine tasting very full, very tipsy, and with a bottle of the (amazing) sparkling wine that we tasted tucked into our bag–a spontaneous purchase that was well worth the price.
Book your Budapest Wine Essentials Class with Taste Hungary today!
The outline of this class has changed slightly since we went, but is similar and still supposed to be incredible, as my friend Allison reported when she visited recently.
Budapest Food Tour Review: Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk
Who could say no to an entire 3-hour walking tour filled with desserts?
Not us, that’s for sure.
Our Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk with Taste Hungary was led by George, who was as passionate about sugar-filled desserts as one could hope for in a dessert tour guide–in other words, extremely.
We made five separate stops during our tour (not counting a glass of Tokaj wine at The Tasting Room before getting started, where we met up with George and the other couple joining the tour), starting with a stop at Fragola Gelato, where we each ordered a full scoop in a cone.
We devoured them, of course, and then quickly realized that we should have skipped breakfast as well as lunch to leave room for the onslaught of sweets about the hit our system.
During our tour, we ended up sampling not only gelato, but three types of sweet pastries, two types of chimney cake (similar to a funnel cake, but made in a round, hollow shape), a delicious specialty coffee, and six types of traditional Hungarian cakes.
Our favorite stop?
Central Cafe, an absolutely gorgeous coffeehouse that was once the haunt of famous Hungarian writers and poets (and which immediately became a staple of any trip to Budapest for us: we’ve returned to Central Cafe more times than we can count!).
Not only was the coffee there amazing, but the four cakes we tasted made up a timeline of traditional Hungarian desserts.
We tried cakes that were most popular in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and while all were delicious, the 18th-century Esterhazy cake ended up being my favorite–even though it was made with no flour.
Several years and several more trips to Budapest later, I still don’t consider a trip to the city complete until I devour a slice of Esterhazy cake at Central Cafe–and it all started with our food tour in Budapest with Taste Hungary!
Jeremy’s favorite was the 20th-century style lemon cheesecake, topped with one of the best meringues we’ve ever tasted.
If you need proof of how much we loved this cafe, well, look no further than the fact that we returned two more times during our stay in Budapest–it was that tasty!
2023 Update: Sadly, the Sweet and Coffeehouse Walk has been discontinued since we experienced it, though the Wine Essentials Class is going stronger than ever!
Taste Hungary’s flagship Budapest food tour, featuring a wide array of traditional Hungarian foods, would be our pick to replace it on a return visit to Budapest today.
Our Review on Food + Wine Tasting in Budapest With Taste Hungary
We had an amazing time during both of our experiences with Taste Hungary.
The guides were knowledgeable and kind, the food and drinks were delicious, and the portions were enormous!
We expected to leave both tours contently full but still planning on eating our next meal–we definitely didn’t plan on leaving completely stuffed both times!
Similarly, we expected the wine tasting to include small, partial glasses of wine: five full glasses served to each person was a welcome surprise!
We now know far more about Hungarian cuisine and its history than we did before, and we had a great time eating and drinking our way through the learning experience along the way!
Read More About Visiting Budapest (and Beyond)
Ready to keep planning your trip to Central Europe?
We’d love to help!
You can browse all of our Hungary blog posts here, or check out these guides:
- Best Food in Budapest: 25+ Things to Eat + Experience!
- 25 Wonderful Destinations for Winter in Europe (Snow, Sun, or Christmas!)
- Budapest or Vienna: Which City is Right for You?
- 50+ Best Things to Do in Budapest (+ Tips for Visiting!)
- How to Spend One Magical Day in Munich (Itinerary + Travel Tips!)
Many thanks to Taste Hungary for hosting us on both of these tours. All opinions are, as always, our own.
The mere mention of food is sure to capture my attention. I love trying out local cuisines when I travel to a new city. Hence, a foodie tour is right up my alley. Love the ones you sampled – would love to try them soon!
Right?! Tasty food is such an easy sell lol. I’m sure you’d love these!
Culinary tours are the best kind of tours! Not only do we get to taste delicious local dishes, but you get another taste of the culture. Both Hungary and Budapest have a remarkable cuisine. That lemon cheesecake topped with meringues looks irreesistible! It makes my mouth water by seeing the picture only haha I couldn’t agree more, culinary tours are indeed a great leaening experience while drinking and savoring delicious recipes throughout the tour! Great post. All best, – Mariella
Belive me, it was as good as it looks! We ate every crumb.
Food and Culinary tour is the best way to explore a place and to know its culture. Hungary and Budapest have delicious traditional cuisine. Central Cafe also looks so lively with nice decor. Wine and Cheese tasting must be also fun.
It was all a blast! Central Cafe was definitely beautiful inside–one of the only places we stopped that we preferred a table inside instead of on the sidewalk!
You’ve hit the jackpot with this one as I love food tours! Duck crackling sounds delicious, as does this Tokaj wine. I would so love to do the sweet and coffeehouse walk; this should be obligatory in every city! Those desserts look heavenly.
Obligatory dessert tours–I think I can get behind that! 😀
Hmm…maybe I should have read this post AFTER lunch…because yum! I’m a sucker for a good charcuterie plate. I love making my own and visiting the butcher for some “different” things to put on it that you wouldn’t find at a local grocer. And cheese? Stick a fork in me. I’m done. 🙂
We love making our own too! It was a weekly traditional this summer on Game of Thrones nights lol.
Wine cheese and charcuterie oh my! Definitely my favorite thing to try and eat all over the world! I never even thought about taking a food tour while in Hungary, although it does make sense haha. Looks like you had a blast!
I agree, it’s so easy to forget about food tours in less obviously food driven places, but we love Hungarian cuisine! So many tasty options.
Sounds like you didn’t go hungry in Hungary! LOL! The food looks absolutely amazing. I love food tours, and think they’re such a great way to get to know a new place.
Ha! No, but I DID double-check that I didn’t type “Hungary” for “hungry or visa versa about 10 times before publishing this post! 😉
I found that a lot of street stalls and food markets in Budapest overcharged tourists so a food tour with Taste Hungary sounds worthwhile. Being able to enjoy the local food whilst paying what you should pay makes the experience genuine. Sampling the sweet pastries would be my favorite part of the tour.
That’s interesting, we didn’t notice that! We didn’t eat at a lot of food stalls in Budapest though, with the exception of langos–and they can really charge me whatever they want for that, it’s so freaking good.
Sounds like an incredible tour, with plenty of good food to enjoy!! So glad I stumbled across your blog x
Abby
Glad to have you around, Abby!