Eat in Budapest

Ráday utca used to be a rather bohemian street with bars and pubs filled with university students and recent graduates.

The landscape has changed since real estate prices soared because of the near universities, being in a relatively safe neighborhood and having affordable real estate prices. So did the nightlife and the day life: may new bars opened and lately restaurants too as the number of office buildings and consequently the number of yuppies started to increase in the area few years ago. Just recently LeRoy shut down only few months after its opening. Soul Café, its major direct competitor which open first, is still in place and remains the only relatively sophisticated and chick restaurant of the street (I must emphasize the word relatively here). During my last visit however, it was almost totally empty in plain lunch-time (Ok, it’s July, but still).

Based on three visits in 2 years I’m now able to tell that Soul Café suffers from the illness of most Budapest restaurants: after a good start and uprising beginning in popularity they (assumingly) change ownership or simply lose their momentum and fall into a mud of boredom and ordinariness. I thinkit’s at least partly due to the schizophrenia caused by their will to satisfy both low-budget tourists and yuppies in the same time. Soul Café is searching for its personality. The service people are a bit too formal for a casual place like this, the food is inconsistent and prices tend to be too high for the target market segment (better-paid office workers).

It’s very interesting how competition cannot increase quality in this part of Budapest, near the city center. This by the way is a typical Hungarian phenomenon which can be perfectly studied in Ráday Street.

So if you’re in a rush and you’re in the neighborhood Soul Café is a preferred choice if you want to eat in a fusion restaurant. If you have a few minutes more and open for something just a little bit less ordinary, then you’d better visit the Pata Negra tapas bar at Kálvin tér, which is the closest place of interest as long as eating is concerned.

In spite of the flags hanging above the entrance, Pomo d’Oro does not call any attention in the busy street of the Budapest banking district. From inside it has more character with lot of wood decoration, although it’s very dark at least during the day. But this is not something negative.

They’re proud to be the first to receive the plaque of patronage from the Italian Chef Association.

Review

Durint my sole visit to Pomo D’Oro the service crew was not bad: timing of foods was good although they did not pass my ice cube test (I like drinks with lot of ice so I always have to ask for it or for some extra and usually waiters simply forget about it). But this seems to be normal in Budapest because waiters in Budapest restaurants hardly ever do.

As usual in Italian restaurants in Budapest, starters are relatively expensive but the seafood carpaccio for instance is worth it: their octopus is really an exception in this price category.

Their tomato soup is incomparable to any other tomato soup I’ve ever had.

The main courses on the other hand are very good but not so outstanding. Their strive for good quality is visible, their materials are of good quality and after a single visit I can’t say anything negative about Pomo D’Oro. In my opinion it’s one of the 3 best Italian restaurants in Budapest.

Review

I spent many years in clubs, pubs and rock festivals but I’ve never met such polite punks as I did once and again on A38. Yes, on, because A38 is a boat. Let’s just quote their website about it:

“A38 is the reincarnation of a Ukranian stone-carrier ship. With its inauguration on 30 April 2003, it started a new life on the Danube in Budapest as a cultural venue. Since its opening it has become one of Budapest’s most important venues, and according to artists’ feedback, one of Europe’s coolest clubs.”

It’s cool indeed. And you would not expect such a nice restaurant on this boat which hosts (mostly underground) shows almost 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

The restaurant is very bright due to tis huge windows which provides 70% of the walls and a great view to southern Pest and Buda. These days arworks are hanging on these enormous windows. It’s well decorated in a minimalist style with lot of wood and not just the ceiling is very high but there’s also lot of space between the tables.

The waiters used to be the most polite and aloof in the city. That changes but A38 still has one of the best services in town.

The food is made of fresh material but they’re not too original or unique, they wary from medium boring to good. But the whole ambience compensates for it, believe me. The best is going there for a lunch when 80% of the tables are empty, based on my sample of half a dozen visits.