With a wide selection of gastronomic delights ranging from steamed finger food to lush pork bites and Angus burgers, Budapest’s Downtown Market is slowly but surely turning into an international gastronomy center. The most recent contestant conquers with a classic Spanish food, paella, and although the kitchen might be tiny, they use huge pans to make this meal that’s rich in seafood, rice, saffron, and vegetables. We haven’t encountered really great paella in the city so far, or we were deterred by its high prices, so we decided to check out the casual new place that specializes in this meal.
It’s very fashionable nowadays for restaurants to specialize in a certain dish, whether that’s bagels, salad, or pasta. Often they start experimenting, and after a while they find the right ingredients, suppliers, and techniques, and suddenly they become the masters of that certain food – which makes hungry guests confident in their choice when looking for really good soup, pottage, or dumplings.
LaPaella has this kind of approach, plus it’s located in the thriving international culinary center of Downtown Market. It was already getting busy when we arrived at 11 in the morning: Chef Attila pulled up the blinds, started to get ready, and began to arrange the wooden cutting boards that serve as placemats (they need those because paella is served in a hot pan). Soon we learned that he’s been here for hours, as he always cooks the house meal fresh in the morning – and he does so in a giant pan that holds 20-25 portions. He will distribute it from there, heating it up and adding spice on the stove – in case our answer to the question “Smoked red pepper and green onion?” is “yes”.
This is how the tastefully served lunch, garnished with prawns, mussels, and lemon, landed in front of us, which we consumed with seashore stories exchanged while sitting on bar stools. But what’s in this specialty? Well, for example, saffron and rice imported from Spain, black mussels, and shrimp from France. And of course there’s the fish, which is sourced locally. The version we tried had African catfish in it, and it was deliciously authentic.
As they only serve one type of food, they consider the role of the ingredients as a crucial one, and it shows. These ingredients must be tasty on their own, but we were happy to have them all together on our plates. The flavors lived up to the Spanish standard; what’s more, we found the food especially original and luscious.
The only real difference that’s easy to spot is the size of the portions. Those who have ordered paella around the Iberian Peninsula know that the servings there are huge, often enough for at least two people, and so it’s not an easy task to devour it all. Here, for 2,450 forints, we get a light lunch. But for that, it’s perfect: it’s healthy, savory, nice, and quick. Open from 11am through the afternoon every day, the restaurant is located at the far end of the ground floor.
LaPaella
Address: Budapest 1054 , Hold utca 13 (Downtown Market, ground floor stall 28)
Opening hours: Monday 11am - 4pm, Tuesday-Friday 11am - 5pm, Saturday 11am - 3pm
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