Travel Editor David Landsel is on an extended jaunt through Central Europe, ending up with a few nights in cosmop. Berlin in early March. Today, the blog comes to you live from Budapest.

It was worth struggling through our guidebook phrasesheet -speak to get lunch at Kisharang, a modest lunch counter located on trendy Oct. 6 Street in downtown Budapest. (Magyar is one tough nut to crack, man.) It’s one of those places where I was told that “you just order what’s on special – forget the menu.” I hate it when people say things like that. Particularly when they’re telling me this stuff in a country where the menu boards are full of a language that is impossible to relate to if you weren’t raised a) here or b) next door where you could hear it now and then.

I knew csirke paprikas (paprika chicken). But the other dish, which my friend Joel ordered, was just a basic point job: i.e. point at the menu and hope you’re not ordering pickled fishheads. Unfortunately, we had to go through the process three times, as the first two dishes were no longer available. (Ahh, Europe.) Talk about luck – while my plate ($2.50!) was really good, the sour cherry sauce and tender new potatoes served with a decent slab of beef took the prize, for sure. (Note the image at right – not much left by the time we remembered to take a picture).