Eat in Budapest

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.

M is a small cosy bistro in downtown Budapest overshadowed by the busy Liszt Ferenc square and Király utca, not to mention the establishments of Andrássy street. Located in the shadowy Kertész street on appr. 70 square meters and with a facade of 3 meters it’s completely undetectable and still visited by tourists. In spite of this it’s a quiet place run by food-enthusiast friends without any formal culinary education and visited by young students and artist as well as by French and Anglo-Saxonic tourists. With a capacity of around 35 people it’s often full but as opposed to Klassz on Andrássy street, here you can make a reservation. If you’re lucky you can experience one of their theme days like their Jewish weekend this fall.

The food is decent home-made style International and Hungarian made of perfectly fresh material. And this is one of the key aspects of M, the other one being the charming, friendly atmosphere created by the poor illumination and the handicraft wallpaper decoration covering the entire space. The prices are reasonable, even tourists on a budget will be satisfied with the bill.

They have a short wine selection of the lower-medium segment.

In spite of a snobbish name, Bábel is a modestly snobbish place. It’s interior reflects the current modern trend in Budapest gastronomy widely used in places like Donatella’s Kitchen, Tom George and many more.

I went there for a business lunch and stayed there until 18.30 without noticing that the usiness lunch place close at 16.00 for two hours until reopening as a chic trendy restaurant at 18.00. Part of the crew were very polite and attentive but still I’m afraid we were only allowed to stay because we were drinking non stop.

The food was delicious, although the fois gras mousse with baby beetroot salad (EUR 9.8) had such a small portion of mousse that is outrageous even by high-end gastronomy standards. But it was amazingly light and fresh, although not to be compared with Ráspi’s fois gras mousse (I’ll post about it soon).

The filet of trout with cauliflower and pearl barly risotto (EUR 9.6) was not just wonderfully good looking but also very tasty: thin slices of fish perfectly firm (or soft, from another angle) and very well spiced, although many may think it had too much spicy on it (I’m not one of them).

Their wine recommendation (Chateau Kajmád Cabernet Sauvignon 2006) wasn’t the best especially considering that we picked a far more sophisticated St. Andrea Áldás Cuvée (2006) before. But it was alright, we finished off the whole Áldás cuvée and then just ordered glasses of Cabernet wihch they opened in front of our eyes (a major achievement in Hungarian hospitality).

The restaurant is perfectly located ta the end of váci street just 100 meters from Fővámtér ’s touristic market.

More information: http://www.babeldelicate.hu/

It’s been so long (a year) since I read the first good review about Klassz that I was concerned that it already may have become  much worse as it usually happens with most restaurants in Budapest: after a lightspeed take-off you don’t have to wait long for a sharp downturn in quality.

Klassz is located on Andrássy street, the trendiest avenue of Pest with new designer stores popping up every month now. It’s so perfectly located that becoming a tourist trap was to be guaranteed. Moreover, Klassz started well and I was surprised that they still don’t take table reservations which indicates that they’re expecting tourist visitors mostly. On this sunny September weekday the restaurant was half empty and to my surprise it only got almost full due to some tourists who just run into the restaurant without any consciousness.

Review

The interior design is tastefully trendy, even funny and the space is surprisingly small. Although it has high ceiling, the  entrance-side wall is a huge window so it’s quite bright and the decoration is nice. The waitresses are polite, responsive and the menu is short enough (and it’s printed on paper) to take fast decisions.

Foie gras is a must on the menu in touristic areas and I happen to like it, and as a starter it was quite worth the HUF 1 800 or so (it came with cabbage with honey dressing), it’s sufficiently big to fill your stomach for even an hour. But the main course arrives relatively fast. I asked the duck breast medium done and my business partner the tuna „pink” and we got them like that. Apart from the lemon risotto which did not taste lemon at all the duck was very good but not reaching the excellence of the starter.

After a light breakfast and the 2 courses above I felt completely full so I couldn’t taste the desserts, but I’ll be back for sure. The coffee was beautifully served (they have nice machine and grinder on a central „stage”). This restaurant is a must for everyone: couples, friends, business partners and tourists alike. Excellent value for money.

Review

Once entering the restaurant you are chez lui indeed: the small 2-floor house is located in a downtown residencial district stuck between much larger buildings but the house reflects the character of the neighbouthood and the owners did not change mch of the spaces since transforming this residential building into a charming French restaurant. The courtyard is small but very pleasant to stay in when the weather’s nice but the interior, the former rooms of flats is less friendly: they’re dark, hardly decorated at all and the toilets occupy the central area.

You must not be extremely lucky to get a table during lunchtime: we were the only guests on this late August sunny day. Perhaps the evenings are different but then you’re less likely to be served by Daniel himself. Her wife and Daniel were both present during my two visits and they’re friendly, nice people who make you feel like you’re at their home, with their dog taking central attention within the family. The easy-going, family atmosphere is supported by nice, but not outstanding French food with Provence’s influence being dominant.

The seafood and fishes are daily adjusted to the market’s offering, but the rest of the menu has been more or less unchanged for the last 3 years the waiter tells me.

Businessmen discussing with serious look on their face behind the huge windows of the ground floor of this Bauhaus building overlooking the prestigious Szent István park is a typical scene during the week at Dunapark Kávéház.

The weekend is different: the place transforms into a family place offering great ice-creams, delicious cakes and refreshing cocktails to guests occupying mostly the open terrace.

For celebrity spotting, both weekend and working days are ideal.

First time visitors encounter large spaces, minimalist decoration and snobbish service.

As opposed to its look, as a restaurant the place carries the burdens of some of our worst heritage from the past 50 years: food without character, use of Vegeta  and other spices in excess and without any concept.

My overall conclusion is that during the weekend it’s a rather expensive café worth a visit but should be avoided even if you’d put it on your expenses account during the week.

Many believe that Hungarians are wannabe Mediterraneans. I really doubt it. Except for our passion for summer maybe, there’s little in common with any of the people around the Mediterranean– and this is particularly true as long as food is concerned (Pizza doesn’t count).

To start with, for me Mediterranean food requires fresh, good ingredients. If you’ve ever been to Hungary, you know what I’m talking about. Located 300 meters from the city’s largest market, Pata Negra definitely should have no handicap on this field. Indeed, even seafood is fresh.

After a short downfall following the hype a year after its launch, Pata Negra is back with good food, easy-going but attentive service and great atmosphere. There are few new courses on the menu and weekly/monthly specials on the board.

Nowadays you don’t need to book a table: the 4th underground line’s construction area is just 2 meters from its entrance the no way any tourist would find the place in the surrounding chaos.

After so many poorly run fake mediterranean places Budapest still has its authentic, charming tapas bar with good food, service and last but not least, wines. 

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.