Óbuda’s Kolosy Square and its surrounding area changed a lot in recent years: since many companies relocated their headquarters to this neighborhood, restaurants are also opening here one after another. Recently, one of downtown Budapest’s most popular local Vietnamese restaurants, Dang Muoi, opened a new location in this area, too – much to the delight of local residents and workers. The dishes are the same as what we’re used to, say, in the Nagymező Street location; however, the concept differs greatly from the previous serving style.

Much to the delight of nearby office workers, Dang Muoi opened a restaurant near Kolosy Square, on Bécsi Road after a long wait. But while the selection is exactly the same as what is found on the low-cost menu at their Nagymező Street or Attila út units, instead of table service, the eatery that moved into a one-story house in Óbuda works with a self-service buffet system.

The all-you-can-eat system here requires the diners to watch the clock, as the price applies to certain amounts of time, during which guests can eat whatever and however much they want.

This isn’t a bad idea, considering that Dang Muoi is infamous for having too few tables and slow service at lunchtime, but these kinds of problems are remedied by the self-service system. However, we have to reach deeper into our wallets to enjoy a hearty meal here: on weekdays, 40 minutes cost 2,390 forints, while 150 minutes cost 3,900 forints. On weekends, these prices increase to 2,900 forints and 4,900 forints.

The selection varies on a daily basis: on certain days, such as Mondays, there is no squid with pineapple and fried banana available, while the favorite of many, the tofu with tomato, is available on Thursdays only.So, while this isn’t an ideal place for slowly savoring the varied Vietnamese specialties, a big advantage of the new Dang Muoi is that it will probably never be uncomfortably packed.