Hungarian cuisine and customers

There are plenty of restaurants in Budapest. There are probably less than in many other cities, but eating out is not as common as in other places of Western Europe. People usually go to restaurants in order to have a good dinner and cooking at home does not work very well for some reasons.

Since Budapest is a quite big city, there are many choices of eating-places. Some open and some close weekly, because in many cases, the professional background is not enough for a great business. Everybody knows that public catering is a rough road, but it can still be very attractive for some to make their dreams come true.

Gastronomy of today’s Budapest is quite like a transition. The socialist era did not made it possible for catering to catch up with the rest of the western world and during the years of the system change, it was not so obvious either. Of course, you cannot stop development and because of the happenings in the past couple of years, many vivid places appeared in town. The process is now on its way. Hungarian cuisine is flooded by thousands of new information, techniques, receipts and trends many of them have already show, or will soon show the result.

We would not like to analyze the negative effects of the financial crisis in 2008, this is not important for us now. However, it is necessary to know that obtaining some basic high quality ingredients may be a real struggle for a restaurant owner in Budapest. Those ingredients, which are not native in Hungary, could be a hard job to get. Everything is available, but not continuously and sometimes not in the best quality.

That is why we suggest avoiding seafood in Hungary, though it is possible. Certain fishes, clams or other sea creatures are too expensive to get, but thanks to globalization, it can be a problem in some countries having an ocean coast as well. It is important to tell, that if you wish for a sushi or a grilled angler, you can have, but do not expect big proportions or a wide range of choices in preparation. Central Europe is not about seafood.

Now you can ask with a good reason, what to eat then? There are a number of places in Budapest where we can have excellent and exciting dishes, or some others where simple but delicious and reliable quality food is served. There are many perfect restaurants and a lot of less perfect ones. You are able to read up-to-date information about all of these places on our web pages.

We can have a really great time if we find the right value for the right price. There are only a few restaurants in Buda, and they are not the best ones, but we still do not stay hungry. It could be pleasant to sit in the beer garden of Remiz or Náncsi néni restaurants. You can taste excellent hamburgers on Móricz Zsigmond circle during your night discovery walk. These hamburgers are not similar to any of other burgers of the world. Whether they are good or bad, people at 2 o’clock at night do not usually ask a question about the quality.

We can choose from many restaurants while walking in the Castle. Arcade Bistro, Csalogány 26 and Fuji are quite good diners in the district, but for eating out, you should go to Pest side.

Costes and Onyx restaurants are the two awarded by Michelin stars in Pest. Nobu has opened recently and there are more restaurants having good reports from Gault Millau guide. According to the guide, Fausto’sis the best Italian restaurant and Babel Delicate, which opens only for dinner, is another good place. Bock Bistro on Erzsébet Boulevard may be a little overwhelming, but their soups and other courses are incredible and you can learn a lot from the past, the present and the future of Hungarian cuisine here. Café Kör restaurant awaits you with a very friendly, intimately crowded atmosphere and home-taste dishes. No doubt, you are able to taste the real Budapest housewives’ meals, in case those housewives of the city cook excellently.

You experience an unbelievably calm moment if you sit in the terrace of Gerlóczy restaurant in the middle of a whirling city. Having breakfast in the Gresham Palace Café in the Four Seasons Hotel could be a magnificent feeling. Hax’n Király Beer-house provides Bavarian dishes in Király Street, and a few corners away you are able to discover a great tapas in Két Szerecsen restaurant. Klassz Bisztro, which is a wine shop as well, is not far away. You can try simple but very delicious meals here and combine the food with experiencing Hungarian wines.

We are very proud of having Momotaro Ramen in Budapest, because they are experts of making ramens and Chinese dumplings. After a short walk towards Szabadság Square, there is Iguana restaurant with its fine tequila selection and big proportions of meals. You can eat huge pieces of steaks in Pampas and delicious Indian dishes in Salaam Bombay.
‘M’ restaurant is probably the most extraordinary one in the capital. This little place has French cuisine mainly, but it will definitely fascinate all of its customers. The recently opened Borkonyha provides terrific dishes and it is not expensive at all.

We could make a much longer list, but we do recommend that you go and discover these places on your own.