All About Street Food – it's a strong name that promises lots, but just what can we eat here? Can we eat just about any kind of quality fast food? Well, it turns out that the collective name covers burgers, pastrami sandwiches, fish and chips, and salad for now. We went along to have dinner at All About Street Food and we were left with no questions: these guys know what they're doing.
This new place has been operating in one of the semi-basements on Múzeum Street, just near Kálvin Square, for 3 months now. There are no flashy signs or sandwich-board promoters on the street – they indicate that there is something down there ever-so discreetly. As we entered, we were struck by an unusual sight: a proud Greek column “supporting” the counter. We learned that the frescoes and this column belong to the main tenant who ran a Greek restaurant there in the past, but did not want to part with the antique relics. We weren't overly fussed about the interior design, we were just glad to be able to eat "sreet food” not outside in the cold.
The menu is just ideal: there are neither too many nor too few dishes to choose from. The pricing of the classic burgers (eg cheeseburger and BLT) starts at 1 450 forints, and this includes a side dish (fries/fried onion rings/coleslaw). We skipped the traditional choices and tried some of the “seven deadly sins.” Their names are descriptive of the flavour combinations (1 850-2 250 Ft with a side). “Gluttony” is the most filling, while “envy” is the greenest burger. The parallel might seem bold at first, but we tried “lust” and the thing is, the experience was sexy and surprising.
They piled Edam cheese and romaine lettuce into a sesame seed bun along with the char-grilled, and therefore rather flavourful and juicy, meat patty, plus the sauces. On top of this, we get some condensed milk boiled with elderberry tea (dulce de leche) and spicy banana ketchup. Lush? Very much so! Banana ketchup? Yes – as we learned from the head of All About Street Food, this sauce, which rather resembles chutney, came into general use in the Philippines. It has a strong banana flavour with a hint of tomato. Since it is nearly impossible to produce tomato in the Philippines, a creative local patriot chef substituted it with banana. What we get is a flavour that we have never experienced before, which was a rather pleasant surprise. The sweet flavours complemented the smoky, slightly Balkan burger meat beautifully (and deliciously).
From their pastrami, we tasted the more classic “Reuben style” sandwich (1 650 Ft). The eating experience was divine. The Reubenpastrami came with gravy, English mustard, juicy cheese and grilled sauerkraut – all crowned with at least 10dg tender beef, marinated for 2 days and cooked sous-vide. Moreover, we received a cup of pickled cucumbers, which is a practical solution for pickles falling out of the sandwich. Exciting textures and sleek flavours meet in this pastrami dish.
We did not try the “if-you-want-to-eat-something-boring” Caesar salad, but we still have to mention the first cooked, then fried French fries and superb onion rings, which are in no way connected to the usual frozen “rubber rings”. We will probably return later for another pastrami, or for the other six “deadly sins.”
All About Streetfood1088 Budapest, Múzeum utca 5.FacebookWebpage
