If you decide to have breakfast at New York Café you should be able to think outside the box and break out of your shell, especially if you’re not staying at Boscolo Hotel and especially if you usually have your humble breakfast toast and your early morning coffee at home in your PJs. You should also be prepared if you don’t have any particular reason to celebrate, you would just like to start off your day with a fancy treat. The experience will be exclusive; the chandeliers, the white tablecloths, the garcons and cutleries will be surprisingly friendly so you can really enjoy yourself. And we’re only talking about the breakfast.
The atmosphere and the tastesWhere does the whole atmosphere come from? Age is not enough, the interior design could be fake and the tastes themselves are not necessarily enough to provide the experience we’re looking for. In New York Café however, there is something in the air, something that makes you feel the touch of luxury. It’s hard to tell what this something is and we would probably have to go back to the 1870s to find the answers. Those were the times when Max Aufricht arrived to Budapest with a silver forint in his pocket and with great ambitions in his heart. He got his first commission as Miksa Arányi, from the head of New York Insurance Company to establish the Hungarian network. The headquarters of the network can still be found on Körút.The Café had – and still has – an interior decorated with marble tiles, with brass elements, with silk and velvet and there are gorgeous galleries, staircases, chandeliers and murals as well. Writers, poets and artists were welcome at the time; nowadays they are waiting for guests who are hungry for special treats.Talking about special treats by the wayOn the menu there are pictures of the dishes, what you see is basically what you get, so there must be something else that is surprising about them when they are being served. Fortunately, we will be surprised whatever we happen to choose from a fresh omelette through baked goods to home-made jams. We cannot imagine a breakfast without a cup of hot coffee and orange juices, but if you can, then there are some other alternatives for you to choose from.The kitchen focuses on the traditional Hungarian cuisine in general, but they try to add something new to the classic tastes. This is even more so if we come to have lunch or dinner to New York Café. The revised, what’s more innovative tastes are the creations of Chef Andráss Wolf. The meals and the dishes were originally designed for the writers and artist who had a small budget but a great taste and an even greater prestige. The writers left their mark; their heritage is called ‘kis irodalmi tál’ which is a selection of small bites of the actual dishes.
The way Goulash is prepared for example tells a lot about New York: classic ingredients and traditional recipes are used and these combine with the latest gastronomic equipments and with the chef’s extravagance – that is how a modern alternative for Goulash is prepared. If we are not satisfied with these new-wave ideas, we can try lecsó with sausage, calf paprikás or cold goose-liver for example.Garcons, celebrations, coffee breaksAs we said earlier, a breakfast in New York Café can transform an average day to a great celebration. We can already feel that as soon as we spot the difference between a waiter and a garcon. We’re not going to tell you about these differences, you should find out yourself! Drop in in the afternoon if you have some free time; have a cup of coffee, a bite of patty, spicy cottage cheese (körözött) or aubergine crème.If we can afford and if we want to we can even celebrate our wedding in the Café that was chosen to be one of the most beautiful cafés in the world. Small bits and pieces of the atmosphere can however be just as satisfying.
