The well-packed sandwiches of New York Bagel make it obvious why this bakery product is so popular overseas. When biting into our sesame-covered bagel filled with cream cheese, dried tomatoes and arugula, the only question that arises is how it didn’t gain the same popularity in Budapest already. And this is just the beginning; starting from the 11 bagel varieties, we can assemble many variations of sandwiches in savory or sweet flavors, with ingredients ranging from salmon to peanut butter. We recently explored the city’s newest New York Bagel location.
After a workout, it’s important to eat some carbs as soon as possible. Fortunately for us, we stumbled into New York Bagel after a sweaty weightlifting session at John Reed. The brand isn’t new, but the store recently moved to the bottom of the fitness club’s building, thus securing a dependable audience. We fell into the trap as well and stepped into the bagel place bearing the colors of the American flag to order some stuffed bread rings. Meanwhile, we learned that the owners lived in the United States for two years, where they took a liking to the popular bread specialty, which they started missing once they moved back to Hungary. As a sort of remedy, they opened their own bagel shop.
Bagels are great because we can put virtually anything in them – here, popular fillers include eggs, Nutella, or even the classic combination of peanut butter and jam. No matter how we choose to put together our sandwich, they don’t skimp on the ingredients, and the cream cheese always ends up oozing out of the side. The greatest challenge, however, is choosing the type of bagel from the nine salty varieties and two sweet options, with ingredients such as dried tomatoes, poppy seeds, and whole-wheat grains. These have one thing in common: all are baked fresh in the morning.
As early as five in the morning, the baker starts rolling the dough, which is then baked in a steam oven. Thanks to the large glass window, we can follow the process anytime we want, although the sandwiches are put together behind the counter. Once we choose a base (we went with a sesame seed, a whole-wheat, and a cinnamon-raisin bagel), the bread is put into a bagel guillotine that cuts it into perfect halves.
The next step is the filling. While we can choose our own toppings, there are some pre-determined sandwich options to consider, as well. We chose among the latter, and filled our sesame bagel with plain cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, and red onion (990 HUF), while enhancing our whole-wheat bagel with – again – cream cheese, Edam cheese, dried tomato, and arugula (890 HUF), and topping the cinnamon-raisin bagel with peanut butter and jelly (650 HUF) for dessert.
Bagels can also be bought plain (230 HUF each) – we imagine that a chocolate-flavored one would go great with a cup of hot coffee. But this isn’t the only type of dessert we can munch on our cheat day here: this new shop is large enough to fit a refrigerated counter full of American-style desserts, including carrot cake, cookies, cinnamon rolls, pies, and cheesecake (790 HUF).
We recommend taking the metro to Dózsa György Street or Árpád Bridge to taste these American delights – before, after, or instead of a workout!
