We love souvenirs that go beyond ordinary refrigerator magnets and bottle openers, which instead provide visitors with a genuine piece of Budapest to take home with them. So, when we popped into the new store of Cinq Filles on Paulay Ede Street on its recent opening day, we were pleased to see a huge assortment of chic candy boxes that are distinctively from Budapest. The Hungarian brand’s special and beautifully designed candy boxes filled with tasty treats are now not only available at the airport and at souvenir shops, but also at this sweet and lovely candy store in the heart of Budapest.
The name Cinq Filles – meaning “Five Girls” – honors the daughters of a renowned Magyar confectioner, Emil Gerbeaud. Similarly to other Hungarian brands, the modern concept of products now sold by the world-famous confectionery on Vörösmarty Square, Gerbeaud, were designed by Zsolt Unger and his team. After beautifying several brands, Zsolt and his work partner, Szilárd Demján, wished to have their own project, and thus launched Cinq Filles in 2011, focusing on beautiful gift boxes filled with tasty candy – all of which depict a love and passion for Budapest. If you would like to keep a piece of Budapest forever, these beautifully designed boxes are a great alternative to regular fridge magnets.
The products can also be tailored to another city upon request, and besides the webshop, these boxes that hold candies in various flavors can also be found at bigger hotels, as well as at the airports of Vienna and Budapest. Now the designers can meet their customers in person, as well as present the boxes on the shelves in the exact way that they imagined, thus they recently launched their own store on Paulay Ede Street, enhanced with the ideas of Zsolt Unger’s wife, the interior designer and DIY blogger Kata Szentgyörgyi.
Rose patterns enhancing the walls, a black-and-white checkered floor, and tasteful presentations welcome visitors here; the workshop where the candies are gingerly placed into the boxes by hand is found at the back. As the boxes are sealed, customers can try the candies before they buy a whole box. Besides colorful and popping candies, pastel-colored chocolate balls, heart-shaped chocolate dragées, dark-chocolate-coated coffee beans, French dragées, champagne-flavored candies, and orange-dark chocolate dragées, the boxes also hide walnut biscuits, as well as roasted salty and sweet almond selections. The salmon-colored fruit-juice-gelatin candy, and the dragée filled with Limoncello are both parts of the seasonal selection.
The butter caramel evokes flavors of our childhood, while the pink-and-white-striped mint-flavored candies are all-time favorites at the store; so is the candied violet that was a preferred treat of Sissi, Hungary’s beloved Queen Elizabeth.
Whatever you end up choosing from Cinque Filles’s vast selection of sweet treats is going to be a perfect present, because after the candy is gone, the boxes can still be used for various purposes. You can keep anything inside from jewelry to a sewing kit, to all kinds of knickknacks – and anyone who is only interested in using the pretty Budapest-themed boxes for decorations can also buy them empty at the store... but we definitely recommend buying them full.Cinq Filles Budapest showroom
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Budapest 1061, Paulay Ede utca 44Facebook
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