As we said back in September, some of our more favorite sentences contain the two words “shellfish” and “soup.” It is therefore no surprise that one of our long-time local Asian standbys is the Ráktáska leves (prawn/shrimp dumpling soup) at Taiwan Kínai Étterem, the Forbidden City-sized Chinese restaurant in Budapest’s District IX that has long been a member of our “Top 33″ list of top local restaurants. Even if we’re not sure what exactly is in it.
Okay, for sure, one thing that’s in it is shrimp. (And a good thing, too, because at Ft 930 for a smallish bowl, it costs as much as an entire lunch at many local étkezdek.) Generally, you get three or four plump dumplings, each filled with what seems to be the equivalent of one good-sized rák. But what’s really interesting about this soup is what surrounds the táskák. The broth is so light it sometimes seems like it’s not even broth (though in a good way). And floating on top is a handful of the most delicate and delicious Asian greenery imaginable.
Strangely, every time we ask what the greens are, we get a different answer, even though they always seem to be the same, and not like any of the other greens on the menu. When we slurped down the above bowl yesterday afternoon, we were told that there was no word for them in Hungarian, which would seem to rule out mustárlevél and some of the other more common kínai zöldség. Instead, our waiter came back to the kitchen saying “jat-sai!,” which suggests it may be tatsoi – Brassica narinosa, or something that is also called “Spinach Mustard” or “Spoon Mustard.” No problem, though – we’ll just keep ordering it until we find out for sure.
