Little Legend!

Now, before hideous images of a giant boat heaving with snap-happy tourists, cabaret and melon and parma ham starters, flash into your brain, stop and read on, for Legenda isn’t that kind of cruise boat. With the capacity to hold around 120 passengers (or 150 when the top deck is opened up in the summer), an intimate atmosphere is offered on the panorama ‘bubble boat’. The deck is also completely covered by glass giving a 360 degree panorama, which needless to say, by night is stunning. The dinner cruise runs every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, leaving Vigadó tér at 7:45 p.m. and sails past Parliament, up as far as Margaret Island before making it’s way back down past the Palace and

Gellért Hill before turning back when it gets to the National Theater; the whole trip lasts two hours and thirty minutes.

And of course, the best way to enjoy the view is against the backdrop of good music and fine food. Legenda fortunately offers both. The music consisted of a trio on bass, keyboard and guitar, singing a mélange of fairly well-known songs. And the food; well where do I start? The full menu is on their website but better to highlight the standouts, I think.

After being poured a glass of champagne, we were given a bottle of wine (each…) and a gorgeous selection of rich canapés, including a particularly tasty concoction of creamed feta cheese served with sun dried tomatoes and Mediterranean ham slices. A clear soup with spinach vermicelli followed which was light, although I have to admit, perhaps a little dull.

For my main course, I opted for the, I thought, unusual combination of smoked trout roasted with olive and vegetable flavored cream cheese, served with cream and pesto gnocchi. The portion was generous and bursting with flavor and looked just as good as the other main courses we opted for, including a juicy sirloin steak and a colorful vegetable strudel.

For pudding there was a choice of Somlói cake with Belgian chocolate or semolina cream with cinnamon topped with a berry sauce. I opted for the latter, which was probably a mistake, as I think it’s difficult to envision yourself enjoying something the dinner ladies at school used to serve in slop-form, but have to say that the other semolina-eaters loved theirs and that the cake was divine. To round off the meal, we each had a glass of Tokaji Aszú just as the band reached a crescendo with Hotel California. We were offered Pálinka too, but wanted our parents to be able to remember the event so warned them off it: “It’ll annihilate your oesaphagus,” we urged. They believed us and went home with a lovely memory, satisfied tummies and a lot of ‘chat’ for their colleagues back home. However T and I were left wondering how on earth we were going to match this gift next Christmas…..?