Will Tradition and Five-star Luxury Go Hand in Hand this Easter?

One reason for visiting a new destination is to discover its peculiar local features, in fact we might find ourselves searching for an authentic local experience. You might assume such an experiences would be tucked away in the countryside, but other scenarios are possible: such as having a city central residence that provides the best of both worlds. Hotel Anantara Budapest is taking on the challenge of presenting guests with a genuine Hungarian Easter feel, both in and outside of its walls.

Classic Easter ham, boiled eggs and kalács

Theme days are regular at the hotel, on Christmas, Valentine’s, and Easter is just coming up now, from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Guests are offered a taste of festival specialties: Hungarian Easter treats have their own table at the breakfast buffet, featuring an assortment of vegetables, cheese, various hams, kalács and other assorted breads. Rigorous quality control is observed, meaning that breakfast cuts are selected fresh each morning from the butcher’s best. Festive eggs are hand-painted at the kitchen, some 1200 pieces each day – it isn’t maidens doing the painting though, but young men, who are quite happy to oblige. The decorated eggs are a traditional Easter novelty, of the “rustic” kind.

says Zsolt Abrudán, head chef at New York Café. He also tells us that cheese is sourced to their kitchen from a small manufacturer in the Balaton region.

Specialties and special attention

Easter breakfast includes a range of special and particularly Hungarian foods, which really amount to a feast. From horseradish condiment through traditional körözött cottage cheese, to wild garlic and aubergine spreads, they really bring a little taste of everything.

Central to our Easter foods are the meats, and the selection is noteworthy: smoked boiled mangalica loins and rustic ham are among the markedly Hungarian features. Breakfast at Hotel Anantara hosts about 300 guests, and dishes are prepared accordingly. There is far more egg on offer than usual, and hams are sliced and displayed individually, as are the vegetables. For those who opt for vegetable only, or cheese for dietary preference their needs are also catered for. All these delicacies are availavble not only throughout breakfast, but also as a small taster in every room.

Easter traditions

At Hotel Anantara, traditions aren’t confined to the cafeteria or hotel rooms. A wildly successful countryside folklore program has been running for years, in partnership with Matyódesign. Guests are guided to the Northern Hungarian village of Tard, and gain on-site experience of ethnic Matyó culture and the Hungarian country lifestyle.

These field trips will introduce visitors to Marika Miklósné Vajda and the women of Tard, offering an enthusiastic introduction to the art of Matyó embroidery, and a revival of authentic Easter traditions.

“We girls would sit together, and wait for the boys to come around to the house. They would bring perfume to sprinkle on us, and we gave them our painted eggs. All day we would talk about who will come, and how many. Back then, boys would team up, three or four, decked out in their Sunday best white shirt and tie, and go call on family and classmates.”

“It wasn’t red, more like terracotta, a rusty color. My mother always told us to save the dry outer peels. She would boil those with the eggs, then treat the shells with bacon rind, to give the egg a polished look, and the boys would get these for their sprinkling.”

Easter delicacies were of course part of the festivities. Körözött spread, cheese, smoked ham, boiled ham, eggs, horseradish and meat jelly were all on the table.

Matyódesign Tours are memorable for locals are well as their visitors. Last year, a group of 50 American tourists made an Easter visit to the village. They attended a church service, where the old temple organ was played at mass. No language barriers could stand in the way of mutual understanding with the locals– and it words may turn out less important for experiences like this.

Chef Zsolt Abrudán tells us that Easter breakfasts are no less popular with staff as with hotel guests, and festive seasons are always an opportunity to offer and receive something different from the usual. “Every place has its local custom, but I reckon Hungary is massive in both its tradition and folklore.”