Eat in Budapest

I’d been complaining a lot about Budapest restaurants not having been keen to offer customers decent meals at affordable prices in these turbulent economic environment. I finally found a couple of good choices in different parts of the town which I now would like to share with you.

Csalogány 26 has probably been offering their daily lunch menu for some time but I never noticed (I paid full price in the evening). I recently tasted their pork medalion which was simply fantastic plus they have a house’s wine which was quite good as well (a  simple but acceptable cuvée  from Malatinszky’s of Villány) for only HUF 200/100 cl. Check out their weekly lunch menu here but note that it’s quite unreliable since items tend to change by when you get there.

In the east bank of river Danube, Borbíróság decided to give a 50% discount for those who download their voucher from their website. Borbíróság may not be the best restaurant in town but it has a cosy atmosphere and a decent wine cellar. It’s also ideally located for those visiting the Vásárcsarnok or work in the neighborhood but they’re tired of the usual suspects of Ráday utca.

Noir et L’Or has a business lunch menu for HUF 990 for 2 courses and that’s quite fair: food is simplistic but well made and fresh and the service is polite. The interior is a bit cheaper answer to Donatella’s Kitchen the opposite side of the road, but the golden putto heads are a little bit over the edge to my taste. But it’s not only the interior design: as Donatella’s getting more and more expensive, Noir et L’Or’s getting to be a more and more viable option to many. They also have some good, rare wines such as Ráspi Irsai Olivér and Máté cuvée for instance.

Their Sunday Gluttonous day with its 50% off offer is a good alternative to Sunday Brunches.

Being a highly ranked restaurant and located in the very center of the city, Onyx restaurant represents a more luxurious option. With their lunch menu however, Onyx targets those who would like to break their daily monotony by a 45 minutes lunch. If 2 courses+coffee wouldn’t be served within that time period, the lunch’s on the house!

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:

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.