As we continue our epic burger tasting tour – you can find a collection of the best places here – Budapest Music Center’s Opus Jazz Club is our next stop. Opus is labeled as Hungary’s first fine burger restaurant, boasting sophisticated dishes and jazzy tunes. However, the restaurant pulls off the feat of avoiding snobbery. We serve our experiences with a duck burger and quinoa.
Characterized by a one-of-a-kind concert hall, a wondrous music library, and an extensive collection of equipments straight out of musicians’ dreams, Budapest Music Center’s mile-high quality wholly determined the expectations that Opus had to meet.
Let’s start our introduction with the most important thing that draws a one’s attention upon entering Opus: the interior. To cut the long story short: a delicately elegant vibe lingers in the air.. When it comes to materials, ebonized wood, plain wood, and glass are preferred, the latter conjuring an airy effect.
As for serving, the same materials are used, and gourmet masterpieces come in glasses and on antique, refurbished wooden boards, sprinkling your meal with a dose of homely feal. The stage – crowned with a piano as black as the ace of spades – is located downstairs, and is visible for all guests regardless of where they sit. Moreover, on account of the outstanding acoustics, the same sound quality can be enjoyed all over Opus.A quinoa and a duck meet at the jazz clubThe gist of our visit to Opus was, the least bit surprisingly, to get our hands on a burger. But before accomplishing said mission, we warmed up our gastro-adventure with a glass of quinoa and a hint of foie gras creme brulee. After several minutes of indecision, we opted for Budapest Hamburger Day’s award-winning Duck Burger, which is a combination of a buttered bun softened with milk, a tasty duck steak, coleslaw, and cheddar, with pan-fried gnocchi and a splatter of tomato relish on the side.
Duck tends to be a bit dry, but in the case of our A-plus burger, the juicy vegetables, the gnocchi dipped into tomato relish, and the homemade sauces wholly compensated the steak’s slight dryness, giving life to a perfect harmony of flavors. To sum it all up, the burger, on one hand, instantly turned us into Opus-enthusiasts, and on the other hand, served as a delicious proof for the justifiability of the fine burger-epithet.
Fine tuned perfectionConsidering the location and the quality of the dishes, Opus’ prices are more than fair. Burgers start at 2000 HUF, main dishes at 1500 HUF - at 2500 HUF if served on a plate instead of in a glass -, and the sizable portions would certainly satisfy even the likes of Garfield and Futurama’s all-devouring Nibbler. As for concerts, the stage comes to life with various genres of jazz from Thursday to Saturday. Thursdays are saved for popular jazz, while Fridays and Saturdays are the courtesy of artists playing either traditional or experimental tunes.
As a finishing stroke, here’s a tip for the guys at
Opus: it wouldn’t be a bad idea to substitute fine with perfect, because everything about Opus - especially the burgers - are, in our humble opinion, as flawless as a Miles Davis-solo.
