A colourful meal at Macok, Eger, Hungary

If you ever find yourself in Eger, Hungary (and you should: it's only two and a half hours north of Budapest by train) you should make your way straight to Macok Bisztro.

It's located just outside the old town walls, and looks completely unassuming. When we arrived at around 7pm, it was almost empty, but by 8pm every table was taken, and with good reason. Our tasting menu at Macok remains one of the best we've ever had - in both taste and value!

The first thing we noticed about the food was how colourful it is. We started with a duck liver brûlée complete with caramelised top, milk loaf and plum jam. Then, a creamy citrus kohlrabi soup with a pop of colour from the paprika mousse in the middle.

From there it only got more colourful, with roasted pike-perch with a salad of purples, reds and bright greens, followed by duck breast with red cabbage cream, apple and fried potato dumplings.

The main course was decadent beef cheek braised in red wine with smoked celery, porcini mushroom and shallot.

And just when we thought it couldn't get any more colourful, even the chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream was a riot of yellow, red and green.

The selling point here is fresh ingredients with big flavour, but it's the colour that made this a meal we couldn't help but eat with a light heart and a smile.

Or perhaps we were smiling at the price...an incredible 7,900 Hungarian ft, or 24 euros, for 6 courses!!