Natural selection is affecting the burger places of Budapest; the low-quality locales are being replaced by better ones, the beloved spots keep making the quality higher (which is reflected in higher prices), and they all aim at bringing something new into the burger scene of Budapest: colorful buns, dietary options, allergen-free sandwiches, Wagyu, or an Asian touch. However, a new kid on the burger block is making a big impression with a simple idea – első Burg’n’Soup offers unique creations for truly friendly prices, providing a variety of both miniature and full-sized handheld meals.
Első, meaning “the first” in Hungarian, is not called első for being the first burger bar in Budapest, as the city’s street-food selection has always featured burgers. However, this is the first business of its proud owners, and this undertaking was previously totally unknown to one of them – until April of 2016. Their alma mater was the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, but they decided to face new challenges: they paired burgers with soups in cups and craft beer, found a central-but-still-a-bit-secluded spot just steps away from Kálvin Square, put a starter menu together, and kicked off business during this past summer.
The main concept of első Burg’n’Soup is to prepare imaginative, characteristic and memorable meals and flavors from quality ingredients, in a way that anyone who is curious about their novelties can afford. Első’s chef, Ádám, returned to Budapest from abroad to show his creativity at első Burg’n’Soup. They have two kinds of soup on offer each day; either sweet or savoury, hot or cold, creamy or classic. We tried one of the six burgers featured on the menu. The normal versions are made with 18 dkg of meat, but we can always order mini burgers that only cost between 550-690 HUF. This is ideal for those, who don’t like to eat big portions at once, or for those who can’t decide which burger to have.
Among the full-size burgers, our absolute favorite is the classic cheeseburger (1,380 HUF), which features similar flavors to fast-food cheeseburgers – in a good sense! Imagine such a standard flavor, but made of fresh, quality ingredients, so you definitely don’t have to be guessing what’s in your bun. It is a flavorful burger that we would have any time of the day. Leaving behind the tasty bajor burger made with Bavarian sausage, cabbage, and goat cheese (1,480 HUF), we savored the place’s specialty, a sandwich made with bacon and marinated apple (1,480 HUF); it is an interesting pairing, but it works very well. It is also worthwhile to try the gourmet burger (1,720 HUF), in which aioli, arugula, tomatoes, camembert, and cranberry mingle with the meat. As a garnish, we can choose steak potatoes or fried onions (300 HUF), which are not onion rings, but bigger bits of onion fried in beer batter. We can wash these delicious dishes down with the artisanal suds of Rothbeer.
A welcoming sidewalk seating area also belongs to első, overlooking the garden of the National Museum. Whether inside or outside, it is lovely to devour their burgers anywhere, and certainly the students of nearby universities will also love it.
első Burg’n’Soup
Address: 1088 Budapest, Múzeum utca 5
Opening hours: Monday-Friday 11am - 10pm
