Eat in Budapest

Now it’s official. There can be no doubt that Costes is de facto the best restaurant in Budapest and in the whole country.

Unfortunately Costes will close soon, or at least I’d bet heavily on this if I could. Much to my sadness, I must say, since Costes is by far the best restaurant in Hungary. Why? Let me see:

-         It runs a creative, trend-setting cuisine that has no peer in Hungary

-         It uses excellent materials, including a carefully made selection of Hungarian wines

-         It has a stylish, modern, although too smart atmosphere, good interior design

Anyone thinking about trying out Costes should consider the business lunch which is a more affordable option to Á la carte. The tasting menus are excellent and the food pairing’s almost perfect. 2 complaints I had: i) Chateau Kajmád Cabernet Sauvignon paired with a fish course was very strange. Ii) I’m not a local patriot or anything but offering Port Tawney for dessert…

I have no idea how Costes managed to bring here a Portuguese chef, indeed such a good one. Head Chef Miguel Rocha Vieira had previously worked in Maison Pic and prior to that, in El Bulli. It’s not that I know any of these but some of you may. The empresarios behind Costes are making the utmost to call the attention of Michelin Guide and GaultMillau’s, and Mr. Rocha Vieira’s keeping Costes on the right track if you ask me.

Here’s one of the Tasting Menus (my favorite, by wine pairing too), click to see them all:

Announcement: from now on I’m using scale of 20 for scoring restaurants of Budapest based on a more standardised approach. The reason is threefold: i) to allow more differentiation between restaurants ii) for better international orientation and iii) for better domestic comparison. What does this mean? Now my system is more in line with Gault Millau’s system and consequently, more in line with “Étterem és Bor Kalauz”, possibly the only reliable printed restaurant guide to Hungary. However, I must emphasize that there are similarities as well as differences too so equal points do not necessarily mean identical judgment.

The new system will result in 3 scores:

1. Food score

2. Restaurant score

3. Price weighted restaurant score

1. Food score

The total of 20 points can add up as follows.

Material: the quality and freshness of ingredients has the second highest weight.

Technical skills:another important factor is how the materials are used in the preparation process. It’s easier to point out mistakes here than to appreciate outstanding performance.

Harmony and the big picture: It speaks for itself. This end result has slightly higher importance even than the materials.

Style: this relates to the exploration of a certain style of cooking or its reinterpretation. This part also incorporates the creativity factor. This has a relatively moderate contribution to the total points.

Reliability: although an important factor, it’s underweighted in the overall score.

2. Restaurant score

The overall restaurant score takes into consideration, besides the Food Score, the following aspects: service, wine list and ambience, the first two having equal weight, slightly more than the latter.

3. Price weighted restaurant score

You’d be surprised by this one. Although this factor will have a total effect of up to only 10% of the total final score, many value restaurants will outperform much more expensive restaurants when this factor is taken into account.

Please note that I’ll continue to visit and review restaurants recommended by reliable sources, so don’t expect reviews with scores less than 9, these will be the exceptions. And watch out because coming up soon: Gold Bistro and Costes! And Normafa Grill, but you’d better forget that.

Every restaurant that achieves 10 points in Price weighted restaurant points, is recommended for visit. However, I still suggest that you check out the price/value indicator of each restaurant!

No way I would have found this underground restaurant if it wasn’t for the blog sphere media hype when it opened. It’s still a must-go place for food enthusiasts although no more than a dozen people were occupying about 50% of the seats of this small family bistro during my stay there. The proximity of the busy Keleti Pályaudvar (Estern Train Station) and the nearby attractions of Dósza György út (still within a walking distance from Andrássy and Heros’ Square) wouldn’t help: the entrance stays unnoticed by most passers by and neither the exterior, nor the interior design will improve this.

The service is quick and casually simple and to my biggest surprise, instead of overpriced mineral water the serving of sparkling water is automatic and free. Believe me, in Hungary that’s something to be mentioned.

The guests  usually can chose between 2 starters, 3 main courses and 2 desserts. The 2 and 3 course menus are a bargain.

The chef uses good, fresh ingredients for all the food which vary between simplistic, home-made basic meals and elegantly dressed, complicated items, sometimes found on the very same plate in the same time.

Good quality material and reliability are the key strengths of this restaurant in this corner of Budapdest.

The price of food here is very funny. My lunch plus the parking fine I had to pay combined were still cheaper than most restaurants of similar quality, and the regular menu’s just above a Big Mac menu’s price.