On average, Hungarians don’t eat fish too often. They are reluctant about freshwater fish for fear of it tasting “muddy”, and fresh sea fish is a rare treat around here, except for at top-notch restaurants. In Buda, everyone knows The Fishmonger, but on the Pest side, fresh crab, branzino (sea bass), mussels, and lobster are in short supply, to say the least. La Pescheria is located at the end of Alkotmány Street closer to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Avenue, and receives fresh Mediterranean fish at least twice a week.

Frankly, land-locked Hungary doesn’t have great access to seafood in general – the squid and salmon usually reaches us after lengthy delivery processes. Due to the logistics, prices are high and information is scarce; unfortunately, our Saturday markets are nothing like what locals enjoy in Sicily. We have to make a whole lot of plans in order to receive non-glazed fish.

In addition to the market of Budaörs, wholesalers sell scallops and flounder, too, but we finally got to La Pescheria, where the Italian owners supply the area with excellent, fresh seafood. The delicacies are put into shopping bags straight from the ice; they don’t deep-freeze here. They try to offer each item from the Italian shipments as fresh as possible, providing them for regulars, restaurants, and new customers alike.The design of the shop is simple, with the fish counter in focus, alongside the huge aquarium in the store window that provides a temporary home for live lobsters, crabs, and oysters. An additional deli counter lines up Italian specialties such as salamis, sausages, mortadella, and capers. Moreover, Edit, the manager and heart of La Pescheria, also sells semi-finished, vacuum-packaged seafood dishes, made after her own recipes: stuffed mussels, salmon, and lobster, which only have to be put in the oven. We are better off ordering these in advance, as they are fairly popular products.La Pescheria
Address:
Budapest 1054, Alkotmány Street 19
Opening Hours:
Monday-Thursday, 10am - 6pm; Friday, 10am - 7pm; Saturday, 9am - 3pm La Pescheria Facebook