Lala’s Hungarian Pastry

Randomly stopped in at a walk through downtown for something sweet. I went with the Cheesecake Cup and it was SO DELICIOUS! One of the best cheesecake’s I’ve ever had. The owner was so nice and personable. They had a minimum $ 10 purchase to use a credit card but he let me use it for my $ 5 purchase (including a bottled water). He came outside and chatted with my fiancé and was very nice. Will definitely return and have to try lunch or dinner!

Meatloaf, was seasoned so well and juicy. It was complimented by the tomatoe soup. It is just fresh good food.

Eastern European atmosphere right down to the old wooden paneling in the walls and smell of cigarette smoke in the bathroom. Clearly the emphasis here is on the service and the quality of the food. We had the ham and bean soup to start. Having grown up in Pennsylvania Dutch country, I had envisioned something different from the highly seasoned, almost spicy broth placed on front of me with a dollop of sour cream. It was delicious! And the chicken and beef goulash were both elicits as well, as always. Highly recommend, not only for the food, but for the singular cultural experience as well.

Manchester NH is a city of immigrants. This has lead to a terrific increase in ethnic restaurants downtown. One of these restaurants is a family business, started by Ladislau Lala. A Hungarian, who risked it all to escape communism in Eastern Europe, and fought to come to America. Now Lala is an American success story. My wife and I went to Lala’s last night. Like usual the dinner was great, and the service was very friendly. Lala’s is a culinary jewel, but is often over looked by the new fancy eateries that have sprung up on Elm Street. Lala and his wife make the best soup in the state, and the meals are of home cooking quality, and the prices are most reasonable. The décor is not fancy, but the place is always clean. You can also buy food to go, or buy top notch pastries, always fresh.
Go to
Downtown Manchester has Hungarian, Italian, French, Irish, Thai, Greek, English and Indian restaurants, all within walking distance of the Verizon Wireless Arena, and the Palace.

They have excellent crepes and their goulash is fantastic.

Just finished dinner at Lala’s! I saw some pastries at the Bedford farmers market and they were great. I noticed that the actual location of the bakery was near my home so thought I’d give it a try for dinner as they had one of their menus on the table at the market.
Dinner was excellent! I tried the szekley goulash (I def spelled that wrong) and it was phenomenal, I’ve never had anything like it– if you like sauerkraut, you will LOVE this. My mom got the Vienna schnitzel and it was also superb. The prices are very reasonable. Eat here!

Friend we’re visiting brought us to this place for dessert after dinner. We ordered 3 different pastries, names I can’t pronounce, but one of the pastries was tiramisu. We tried the tiramisu and the other pastry that is sliced like pizza I think has toffee, both were super stale/​dry. So disappointed because everything looked so pretty. Seriously, I’ve never had dry tiramisu in my life!

This is one of my favorite places to go when looking for a nice and cheap lunch. They normally do a lunch special for about $ 5 which is reasonable. For that amount it’s worth it!
Most of the time I go I get a Chicken Goulash which is on that list of specials. I got mine to-​go so you can see how it will look if you tend to eat out. Comes with carrots, rice, and the chicken on pasta. I would try to wait and eat it till I got back to my work or home, but I can’t resist and end up eating it in my car.
I have had there other specials as well but this is probably my favorite. If you like Hungarian food or have never tried it I’d recommend trying out this place. Also check out there pasties. I have had some cake slices which are good but I mostly go for the lunch.

Homemade pastries. Old fashioned setup. Fresh foods. Coming back to try the stuffed cabbage. A dinner plate on the wall of Vlad the Impaler. Fascinating. Transilvanian eggplant. Not sure.

Lala’s is a great local bakery with authentic pastry. The tortes with pralines are a favorite, as well as the cookies and blonde brownies with walnuts. The have a large selection and are quite cheap compared to their rivals, but not lacking in quality. Give it a try.

Another relaxing stop at Lala’s. If you want a great pastry (or actual breakfast or anything Hungarian) and coffee and a little laptop time, stop here! Dunkins has crap wi-​fi and to heck is a Starbucks you can find a seat at and there is just not a lot of quiet places to grab a little bite and answer some emails. I love this gem in the morning. Quiet, very nice owners, wifi, steadt stream of nice regulars.

Had the beef goulash. Meat was tender and flavorful. I enjoyed it. Also, got the gluten-​free date pastry. I look forward to trying other menu items.

After a lovely visit to the Currier, we headed downtown for lunch and decided on Lala’s. Good decision! Upon entering we were instructed to order at the front counter. Hmmm… not an easy decision. It all looked interesting (especially the pastries behind the glass!). Two of us went with the eggplant and the other two with the stuffed cabbage. We sat at a table near the back — not fancy but efforts were made to personalize the space. Glasses of ice water with lemon were delivered to our table. I had a wee little preview taste of the pastry we snagged out of the case while we waited for our main dishes. Life is short — eat dessert first!
Eventually the food came out (yes, it did take a bit longer than your average fast food lunch spot). But it was clear that my eggplant was freshly cooked to order. I was not sure exactly what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised! For just under ten dollars I had a big plate of egg batter dipped eggplant, buttery rice, seasoned potatoes, and a pile of sliced mushrooms in a homemade brown gravy. I usually don“t have such a large lunch but since I did not have breakfast I ended up eating it all! My friends seemed to like their stuffed cabbage which arrived in a tomato sauce. Two large pieces along with a homemade knotted yeast roll.
The owner seems to take pride in his establishment and the food offerings. He explained that they used family recipes. For a small place, the selection is amazingly varied. My one complaint? Lala’s is not closer to Boston!

Man the Hungarian Goulash to the pastries YUM
I had this recommended to me by two people so good

I rarely give a 5-​star review, but the sausage egg and cheese on a croissant I had at LaLa’s was simply one of the best breakfast sandwiches I have ever had. The desserts looked delicious, but it was a little early for that. Next time I am in town, I’ll definitely be doing some damage here!

My husband and I visited Lala’s yesterday for lunch and were not disappointed. Upon arrival the interior was dated but clean and inviting. Having never eaten much Hungarian food in the past we were a little intimidated in what to order. The owner seeing our dilemma said he would order for us. Beef goulash for Dave and chicken schnitzel for me. Both dishes were over the top good. While the sides of rice, potatoes, wax beans, peas and rice seemed a bit much it all worked wonderfully. We ended the meal with a cream cheese cream horn which was a little piece of heaven. If you ever need a tray of confections to bring to a gathering, this is your place at only $ 40 go to this place. It is Awesome!

We have been craving poppyseed bread and decided to take a chance on seeing if they had it at Lala’s — victory! For $ 7.50, we’re enjoying it with tea right now. There are so few classic European food sources left in Manchester, especially for Polish and Hungarian food — so we’ll definitely be heading back here to see what other long-​missed treats they can supply.

A very unexpected find! Still hungry after our failed poutine attempt, my friend and I were wandering around downtown Manchester when Lala’s caught our attention. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hungarian themed bakery so we went in and were very pleasantly surprised to see it was also a sit down restaurant. We went with goulash and stuffed cabbage. Absolutely delicious. The prices were very reasonable and service friendly. I loved the Hungarian décor throughout the restaurant. We ordered some desserts to go and they were pretty good. Warning– the lemon is very tart and not like a sugary American lemon (not a bad thing but surprising!). I’d love to go back and try out more items.

I finally made it out here when Mom came to visit. The owner IS Hungarian, but he runs the shop with his wife, son, and daughter-​in-​law. I believe he and his wife are the only two who actually speak Hungarian of the bunch. I suppose technically they ARE Romanian, but I won’t get into Hungarian history here…
We came for the pastries and they did NOT disappoint. Dobos Torta (layer cake, but not like any layer cake YOU have ever seen) was AMAZING as was the Cherry Retes (sort of like a turnover but maybe 1000 times better). They also had some European style home made ice cream. Not sure if the American taste buds would appreciate this what with the gallons of corn syrup we consume out here, but it was a lovely reminder of Hungary when i tried it.
We did not have time to sit down for a meal, but I am intrigued and will definitely be back. The décor was also very nice with many framed photos of various regions and sites throughout Hungary.

It’s not very authentic Hungarian food to be honest. Their «chicken goulash» is closer to a paprikash or a porkolt. They serve it with egg noodles and carrots. Again, not terrible, just not very authentic. But, the next best thing is 4 hours away in NYC.
I will say that their desserts, especially the dobos torte are excellent. Go for the sweets, not the plates.