While Pest has more and more pedestrian precincts – and during summer, all of downtown becomes a big festival location – most of us think of Buda as a place for relaxation with quiet, pleasant green areas. It is true that Buda is considerably calmer than Pest, but there is life in Buda, too: this time we will show you "Buda's Pozsonyi Street", also known as Lövőház Street, which was transformed into a pedestrian precinct just four years ago. Since then, much to the locals' delight, a great number of restaurants, cafés, and stores opened along this tree-lined lane.

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During our last installment of this series about neighborhoods that bustle with new life and attractions, we looked around Bartók Béla Avenue. Now we explored another street in Buda: just steps away from Millenáris Park, a section of Lövőház Street was transformed into a pedestrian zone four years ago, and as a result it grew into a rather lively, colorful, and interesting neighborhood. Cafés, restaurants, confectioneries and other small stores coexist harmoniously beside each other along this small street; families with children, artists, and seniors can all easily find new hangouts here. A community of locals is already gathering here regularly, including new parents pushing strollers, old ladies gossiping on benches, and intellectuals pontificating amongst each other over coffee or/and beer.

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Bocelli pizza Italia

We started our tour at the quieter end of Lövőház Street, closer to Marczibányi Square: the scent of fresh pizza invites us to a terrace where we can barely find an open table. Bocelli is the most popular spot here among locals, they have plenty of regulars, and their pizza is made from their own secret recipe. For their pizzas, they use the best and freshest ingredients from Budapest, as well as Italian toppings. In addition to the classics, their most popular dish is the salmon and ruccola pizza.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 26.
  • Opening hours: Monday - Sunday, 11:30-23:00
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3/15

Wok Bar

This Thai wok place is located around the middle of the pedestrian zone, with soups, saucy dishes, fried rice and noodles in focus. We can decide about how spicy we would like our food, from mild to brutally hot. We can also request our soup, fried rice, or noodles with different meaty toppings, and they prepare everything in front of our eyes. We tried chicken pad Thai noodles for 1,690 forints: we got a large serving with nice flavors, but we could not say that it was anything special. The vegetables were crunchy, but the few chicken pieces were rather chewy.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 25.
  • Telephone: +36 70 396 5227
  • Website

4/15

Papa gyros

A classic gyros place – if you like Arabic cuisine, you are going to like it. When we dropped by, all kinds of people sat on the terrace: politicians, celebrities, students, seniors... so we can say that the guests are quite diverse. Falafel, gyros, Turkish salads, hummus, tahini, freshly baked Turkish bread, and gooey sweets line up behind the glass counter. The employees speak a little broken Hungarian, and greet pretty girls with big smiles. At lunchtime, this place got the largest audience along the street. They also do home delivery in the surrounding area, and a gyros pita is only 600 forints.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 24/b.
  • Telephone: +36 1 785 1116
  • Opening hours: Monday - Friday, 10:00-21:00; Saturday, 10:00-20:00; Sunday, 11:00-19:00

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Pocakmaci Milk Bar

We stumbled into Pocakmaci a few steps away from Papa gyros. The small diner opened just recently and operates with a cute name (meaning 'Belly bear') and signboard, and they have all kinds of milky goods. However, we would say that they are a milk bar in name only, since they offer grilled foods, salads, and sandwiches as well. Thoughtfully, they have options for gluten- and lactose intolerant guests, too.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 29.
  • Telephone: +36 30 791 5022
  • Opening hours: Monday - Saturday, 8:00-22:00; Sunday, 9:00-22:00
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NEMO Buda

1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 16.

If we approach Lövőház Street from the Mammut shopping center, the first place we are going to see is Nemo. It is a fast-food fish restaurant, but during peak hours we sometimes have to wait around for half an hour for our food... however, if you have a free hour, we definitely recommend it, on one hand because it is at a nice location, and on the other because we get quality for a good price. One of the most popular dishes is the salad that we can put together ourselves at the counter and sprinkle it with dressings of our choice, along with the fish & chips with jalapeño-mayonnaise dressing and sweet chili dip. Unfortunately, there is a quite strong smell of food cooking inside, so you might want to eat on the terrace if the weather allows it.

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Art cafe

Opposite from Bocelli is a nice little café, the favorite hangout for local artists, writers, and directors. On Friday and Saturday there are DJs playing, and occasionally they have concerts as well. Here young musicians have a chance to introduce themselves – our favorite is the Five Salmons formation – but Gábor Hamvai and Barbi Stahl have performed here, too. If you get hungry, just order a fresh pizza from neighboring Bocelli.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 33.
  • Reservation: +36 70 238 4120

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SzalonSpicc

1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 17.

In one of our favorite wine bars in Buda, we can choose from about 60 kinds of wine which are mainly from Hungarian wineries, along with some international specialties ranging from Spain to Chile through New Zealand and beyond, while the selection of bubbly is quite alright, too. We can drink many wines by the glass, and if one of them becomes our exclusive favorite, we can expect to still find that there when we return later. The atmosphere is friendly – the staff speaks the language of guests. It is worth visiting even during the day to taste Gabi's hamburger or one of the fresh salads.

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Nemdepöti

Nemdebár's little brother is the nice Nemdepöti. They offer cold drinks and homemade syrups provided by the mother of one of the owner's friends: versions include elderberry, lavender, pineapple mint and chocolate mint; they also make smoothies made from fresh fruits from the neighboring Fény Street Market.

Nemdepöti (closed)
Address: 1024 Budapest, 24. Lövőház Street

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Neti Bakery

The scent of freshly baked bread lingers through the whole street, so it was not difficult to find our way here. Locals are regulars here for baked goods, but tourists also stop by Neti Bakery quite often as well. They make everything on the spot – from kneading the dough to baking – based on an original recipe. Their selection includes many classics like cocoa rolls and cream-cheese pockets, and as a bonus, they are open until ten in the evening! Among the savory products, the sausage crescent and the focaccia are the most popular, but if you are really hungry, try a giant pizza slice for just 250 forints.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 22.
  • Telephone: +36 30 236 0287

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Keleti Spice Store

Next to the bakery is a spice store which has everything oriental: it is a treasury of Thai, Arabic, Turkish, and Lebanese goods. They have oils, sauces, pastes, jams, dried fruits, seeds, and grains, along with at least eight kinds of olives in the cooler, fresh hummus, and one of our favourite sweets, halva (in pistachio and chocolate versions). Every day they get fresh pitas and tortillas; they also sell water pipes here.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 12.
  • Opening hours: Monday - Saturday, 09:00-20:00

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'Cuki' Confectionery

The Cuki (Pollák-Bödi confectionery) has been operating steadily for 30 years now. As one of the oldest shops on this street, entering it feels as if time had stopped. Homemade ice cream, scones, and cookies await us inside – it is no surprise that generations of locals have been buying cakes from here for important events. The chestnut puree is not our favorite, but the pistachio rolls are great. Unfortunately, they would not let us take photos, so use your imagination to picture their sweets.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 21.
  • Telephone: +36 1 212 5175

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Farfalla Ice Cream Parlor

The line of waiting customers blotted out this small shop in the middle of the street, where a small scoop is 100 forints and a big scoop is 200 forints – quite friendly prices compared to similar scoops downtown. In addition to the basic ice cream flavors, it is worth trying the white-chocolate pistachio, the green-tea jasmine, and the 'Farfalla' yogurt-cherry-chocolate wonder. From the chocolate line, the Kinder and Oreo ones are not bad either, but there are some weirdly colored variations in the cooler we do not care to know more about.

  • Address: Lövőház Street 31.

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Flora Kosch Flowers