Zoltan & Ferenc at Hungry Tummy

When the temperature plummets and the arctic blast roars up Commercial St, make hasty steps to Hungry Tummy in Wentworth St where you can enjoy a pot of steaming goulash as a remedy against the chill for less than five pounds.

On this particular day I had no breakfast, so I was more than delighted to rendezvous with Contributing Photographer Lucinda Douglas Menzies at this cosy kitchen to savour their freshly-cooked hot delights from Hungary.

I was delighted to discover that the meat and vegetables were not overcooked, retaining their texture in a goulash sauce that was pleasantly spicy without overwhelming the flavours of the ingredients. This would have been an adequate lunch in itself, but I followed it with Langos, a kind of fried pancake laden with deliciously sharp sour cream and tangy grated cheese. Next came walnut dumplings in vanilla sauce, a tasty European relative of our English sponge pudding with custard.

Finally, Ferenc demonstrated his expertise in bakery by rolling up Körtőskalács or ‘chimney cake’ onto a wooden pole and baking it on a rotating grill before my eyes. Once it slid off the pole, the cylindrical cake stood unaided with steam rising from the top of the chimney. This is Ferenc’s tour-de-force. Crispy on the outside and soft and feathery on the inside, it has an aromatic, perfumed quality that hints at origins further east than Hungary.

By now, I realised that the tempting array of freshly-baked strudels, biscuits, cakes and patisserie would have to wait for another day, but I was more than happy to sit quietly and enjoy a cup of Rooibosh tea while Zoltan explained to me how it all came about.

‘We have always loved cooking. We both learnt to cook a home, taught by our families, our mothers and grandmothers. In Hungary, most people can cook and everyone eats at home because they cannot afford to eat out every day.

We met fifteen years ago in Budapest. In those days we were both working in shops, like Aldi, we had no opportunity to cook. After that we worked in bakeries and we realised we had the possibility to do something for ourselves. I specialise in meat dishes and Ferenc is a baker. We grew up in Hungary, so we know how to make all the traditional recipes properly.

I have lived in London for almost three years now and Ferenc for two. At the time of the first lockdown, I went back to Hungary but then we came back together. We believed we could open a place here in Wentworth St because the neighbourhood has nothing like it, Hungarian or Eastern European.

We rented a flat above and it was luck to find these premises on our doorstep. We opened on the 14th December and, although the street is empty because hardly anyone is going in to work, our business is growing. Most of our customers return to try something different after their first visit.

If you love to do something, it is not hard work and it is a lot better than working in a shop.’

Zoltan & Ferenc have already drawn an enthusiastic local following for their keenly-priced authentic dishes, all honestly prepared every day. As chefs and co-owners, living up over the shop and putting heart and soul into their first restaurant, they deserve to succeed. So please walk over to Wentworth St to savour their heartening cuisine which is guaranteed to lift your spirits in these frosty days.

Zoltan & Ferenc at work

Zoltan ladles out the goulash

Freshly-made goulash, the antidote to chills

Langos, crispy pancake with sour cream, garlic and cheese

Hot walnut dumplings with vanilla sauce

Ferenc makes a chimney cake

Zoltan serves the chimney cake, still steaming

Photographs copyright © Lucinda Douglas Menzies

HUNGRY TUMMY, 24a Wentworth St, London, E1 7TF