Try tasty Transylvanian-style pretzels at Budapest’s Kerek Perec

The new spot called Kerek Perec is at the Kálvin Square end of this popular downtown-Pest street lined with welcoming eateries and galleries. The owner, Előd Papp – who happens to be a political scientist – offers an extraordinary type of treat based on an exotic-seeming recipe from a nearby land.

The sign of Kerek Perec tells us what their product is: here you can buy snacks that were made based on an original recipe from Csík County of Transylvania. Surely, there’s nothing quite like this in Budapest, as they are making something one-of-a-kind – namely Transylvanian-style pretzels, that are based on a completely different recipe than the usual kind. The main distinguishing mark of these snacks is that they are crispy on the outside, but they’re soft inside.

Of course we asked them about their secret: these are boiled pretzels; the flavors are mixed into the base dough, and then they twist it around either sausages or frankfurters before putting them on the grill.

Besides the aforementioned vanilla, poppy seed, sausage, and frankfurters, they offer other flavors like beer, caraway seeds, sesame, jam, chocolate, sausage and cheese, ham and cheese, and, naturally, the must-have – and as we learned, the number-one hit – the classic cheese-topped pretzel. We tried the traditional and the chocolate one: both were savory, and we concluded that the “crispy on the outside, but soft inside” claim is true. Another important aspect is the price: the cheapest is only 150 forints, while the most expensive one barely crosses the 300-forint line.

Other delicious delights that can be found here include the traditional potato stew from Csík, and a milk-based drink that’s neither curd, nor kefir, and not even yogurt; it is the so called “szána” which is a typical Transylvanian drink, and it’s definitely worth a try.

Address: Budapest 1092, Ráday utca 1-3