I blame my interest and cravings for cakes to the cafes and restaurants in Seoul. Although we Koreans don’t have a traditional concept of “dessert,” it’s become a new tradition and even a trend to enjoy sweets after dinner.
Sometimes, the sweets become an entire meal. This may include cakes, candied goodies, ice cream and other soft, sweets. As for my case, and also most of my dear friends, we tend to go all out when it comes to sweets. And old habits die hard.
어딜가나 케익에 대한 사랑은 멈추지 않는다. 서울에서도 그렇게 케익케익거리며 다녔는데 이건 유럽에서도 마찬가지.
Teázó az erdő mélyén located in Lake Balaton literally means “teahouse deep in the forest” and indeed it was. It’s a bit hidden away up in the forest, and so it has a lovely view but also it’s a bit of a hassle to find and locate. It’s run by a lovely lady and her two sons. I gave out a sigh of relief when I first entered the cottage, for some reason. The owner was mesmerized by tea, and so she traveled all around the world in search of unique and exotic teas. Hence, the very long list of teas (in Hungarian, I’m afraid). If you pick a flavor you like, for instance citrus, vanilla, the sons or even the owner can help you decide.
헝가리의 발라톤에서 유명하다는 Teázó az erdő mélyén은 숲속에 숨어 있어서 찾기가 약간 힘들다. 이름 자체가 “깊은 숲속의 찻집”이라는 뜻. 나와 G는 개인적으로 자연을 많이 즐기는 타입은 아니었지만 나무에 둘러쌓여 공기가 좋은 곳에서 차와 케익을 먹는다고 해서 기자이면서 우리의 투어가이드를 맡아준 아담을 기꺼이 따라갔다.
The cakes and pies are made by one of her sons, who works closely with her. I would recommend any cake. We took the almond prune cake, which was not so sweet, warm and very nutty. We also took the citrus chocolate cake, which was wonderful.
주인은 마음 좋아보이는 아줌마였는데, 차를 좋아해서 젊은 시절에 전세계를 돌며 특이한 찻잎을 찾아다니셨다고 한다. 안타깝게도 메뉴는 모두 헝가리어. 다행히도 좋아하는 향이나 맛을 알려주면, 바닐라, 시트러스 등, 주인 아주머니나 건장한 아주머니 아들들이 추천해준다. 이 두 아들들 한명이 패스츄리 셰프라 엄마가 차를, 아들들이 케익과 파이를 만든다. 100% 홈메이드.
I had to add some photos from Budapest as well. Although we stayed for only six to seven hours, we managed to squeeze in some cakes and sweet Tokaji wine. Obviously. We walked along the Andrássy Avenue, which is one of the most famous and cultural streets in Budapest, and found the Callas Cafe. We told ourselves, let’s see if there’s anything else. We eventually came back. It was fancy as hell and the waiter insisted that we just had to take the Tokaji wine, which was around 6-7 euros per glass.
부다페스트에 있을때 갔던 Callas Cafe. 파리의 샹제리제와 굉장히 비슷했던 언드라시 거리. 거기서 제일 화려해보였던 카페였는데 역시나 분위기가 너무 엘레강스해서 부담스러울 정도. 케익과 카푸치노만 마실 셈이었는데 웨이터가 미소를 띄며 아니, 케익을 드실거면 토카지 와인을 꼭 곁들여야한다는 말에 두 잔을 시켰는데 무려 한잔에 6유로. 토카지는 헝가리의 전통 디저트 와인으로 굉장히 달다. 그래서 다행인지 불행인지 많이는 못 마신다.
Oh, the cakes were amazing too. They have a window that show you all the cakes they have and I have to say it was pretty tough to choose only two. There was also one called Rachel’s cake. (I didn’t choose that one, though).
Tokaji is the traditional type of wine from the Tokaj wine region in Hungary. It has a very long history and very, VERY sweet. It was so good, Louis XIV of France described it as the “Wine of Kings, the King of Wine.” I don’t quite know what to say about it being the wine of kings and the king of wines, but it was very nice (and sweet) indeed. You would think sweet desserts would go better with something less sweet, like espresso or tea, but the wine had a special tang to it that fit very well with the cakes. In fact, Tokaji is measured by its sweetness. The scale is determined by the number of “puttonyos,” which was originally measured by the number of hods of sweet grapes, but now it’s determined depending on the number of grams of residual sugar. The measurement goes from three to six. (I used the word “sweet” six times in this paragraph.)
The Tokaji wine was mentioned as early as 1635 and is mentioned in books such as “Sherlock Holmes” (Arthur Conan Doyle), “Dracula” (Bram Stoker), “Mrs Dalloway” (Virginia Woolf), “The Golden Compass” (Philip Pullman, both film and movie) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (Gaston Leroux). I thought this was really interesting. I had no idea.
토카지는 유럽에서도 유명하고 비싼 와인으로 알려져 있다. 그래서인지 우리가 많이 알고 있는 유명한 책들에도 등장한다. 예를 들면 셜록 홈즈, 드라큘라, 댈러웨이 부인, 황금 나침반 그리고 오페라의 유령 등등.
All photos by rachelsanghee