Eat in Budapest

According to their full-page advertisement in Budapest Time Out magazine, you’re supposed to fall in love with Budapest or with someone here.

But will you?

The place can be best described briefly as a caricature of Hungary’s trendy places, being one of them itself. After the success of the neighbor Déryné (a rather funny but peasant place with unmemorable food and full of hipsters) the owner decided to open a place just around the corner combining tapas bars’ portions, running sushi’s’ service methods and so called new European cuisine. The result? as I said before.

The service is funny: young boys and girls, one of them acting with gestures like in an ancient Greek theater playing for people up to 100 meters away to stay visible. Others are simply ignorant, but they’re polite if you manage to talk to them. They’re very badly organised as well.

Most scary about Mini (even more than some of its guests) is its wine list, with 300-400% uplift against retail prices.

Let’s start with the facts: Csalogány 26 restaurant is ugly. Now, keep reading.

Ideally hidden from the tourist trails and businesses in one of the ugliest areas of the 1st district, Csalogány 26 mostly attracts people who would like to eat well. The slightly pretentious service is in contrast with the honestly ugly, although new interior. You wouldn’t guess from that that Csalogány 26 was recently chosen one of Hungary’s top 10 restaurants.

Their wine list suggests good taste and I’d say that you can pair relatively well with most items on the short and frequently changing menu. I scored at first: Ráspi’s Sauvignon Blanc from 2007 is truly amazing. About the wine, please see the full review and other here.

The shrimp carpaccio with wasabi and mango sauce was fresh and tiny. The service guys new exactly when was appropriate to offer more wine (we only ordered one glass each of us (2) but ended finishing off a whole bottle).

It was sort if interesting to see on a plasma screen how the chef was preparing my fish, which was btw wonderfully cooked, spiced and served.

The goat cheese cream was very tasty and lightweight but the plum ice cream didn’t taste plum at all.

The bread which is served abundantly during and in between courses was fresh and excellent.

I paid HUF 5 500 for the 3 courses and it was well worth it.

Advance booking is recommended.

It’s a top pick for everyone, but only because of the food. Location is poor, interior is ugly and service staff is mixed.

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.

I know a lot of people would think it’s pathetic to eat in a shopping mall and I can only agree. But before you judge me, you should know that LeRoy used to be a landmark in the XIIIth district’s gastronomy almost 10 years ago. Now that the original LeRoy no longer exists, they still have some of their classic meals on their menu. As long as their consistency is concerned, these iconic items are like a junk food franchise chain’s flagship products. Their hot chicken wings for instance is the best I’ve ever had in Budapest.

LeRoy is not easy to emotionally connect with (especially since their expansion in the shopping mall world) but they really have a constantly good quality and a funny, though sometimes quite annoying customer base. And it’s accessible, they’re in Buda as well as in Pest in different places but always well located from accessibility point of view. Plus, this particular LeRoy is almost always half-empty.

Review
It was far from love at first sight; I learned liking it though by now. I’m at the peak of my learning curve, to be more precise but I’m not sure about the angle of the next dots. It was triggered initially by a second-hand authentic source’s recommendation. First, the interior did not meet my expectations. Yes, I’m such a shallow person. Then all those rubbishy plastic boxes and plates…Their food must be really exciting, I thought.
I was warned that the service is horrible, which I found very funny instead. I am very sensitive about service quality but I actually enjoy the low-tone speaking of the two waiters and they’re very responsive, polite and sufficiently attentive. Any shy. First you could find this style annoying but you really start enjoying it when you realize that they are not just pretending it.
But their sushi wasn’t really that exceptional. I was always on a budget though, so probably I could have put together a fantastic menu if I wasn’t. Instead, I still tend to go for the bentos. The tempura are usually colder than they should be, but everything else compensate for this. The sashimi is always perfectly fresh, and so are the fishes. The salad is perfectly seasoned and crisp, the mizo soup, well it’s only mizo soup but very tasty. The only degradation is the small piece of fried sausage, served along with the tempura. Or maybe this is just the result of a sophisticated sense of humor?
The funniest thing though is the couple with their child at the table besides us. They’re Asians, dressed smart casual and the lady does not stop chatting on the phone, while the husband does not lose its temper. Suddenly I realize she speaks Hungarian, with a typical eastern accent, trilling. I only notice after her 5th call that she introduces herself “Piroska”. I wish I could bring an British equivalent of this funny name, very rarely used and I haven’t met anyone under 40 named like that. How she became Piroska, I have no clue.
Part of the cuisine staff is Japanese, as proved by the sight of the kitchen separated from the eating hall only by a counter filled with excellent fresh raw material. All other members look equally devoted.

Review

First of all, Heller’s Pub, as well as the other “Pubs” in Budapest, is not Pub. Not just because John Bull’s Pub, Beckett’s and others’ foods exceed most Londoner gastro pubs’ offering, but to me Pub must fulfill 80% of the following requirements:

- A selection of at least 3 ales, including at least 1 bitter
- 80% of the guests are British
- Easy-going atmosphere
- People tend to get drunk
- Majority of guests drinks bier
- Most guests are standing during the evening
- No drink table service
- Guests represent all types of society members in the same place
- Immigrant staff

Today even a flat-screen television is almost obligatory on match days.

According to this classification, Heller’s could be anything but a Pub since it meet none of these requirements.
On the other hand, they offer surprisingly good food and quality has been stable over the last 2 years.
They have wine tasting dinners, very well compiled, at reasonable price.

Review

In brief: confusingly stable quality. And if you scroll down a bit you’ll see that this is a good thing. But Arcade is more than a reliable business lunch place. Although it’s predictable to the point of boredom, somehow it’s always nice to be there. The place is well-known in the expat community’s business section and due to its location and profile it will never attract beck-packers and university students, so let’s just say that Arcade Bistro is a good choice for a risk-free business lunch provided that your guest does not insist eating goulash or paprikáscsirke.

I also like the hosting socialist-realist building as well as the similar style neighbor buildings.

Their wine selection is OK for foreign visitor (i.e. not too many, but relatively good selection served at good temperature), somewhat even experimental (Lisicza).