As warmer days are now coming to Budapest, you can trade in hot cocoa for ice cream. So, with spring season upon us, We Love Budapest embarked on a mission to find the best ice-cream parlours, and this is how we ended up at Hisztéria Cremeria to chat to one of the owners, Balázs Ipacs, about the current selection. There are altogether 26 kinds of artisanal ice creams, from classic through milk-based to special spices and fruity sorbets. And yes, you can have the whole thing in a cone coated with tasty Belgian chocolate.

You might think that Hisztéria is a brand-new place in Budapest, but it actually opened in the summer of 2016 on ever-bustling, prestigious Andrássy út. But the story of the Ipacs family’s ice-cream business starts much further back in time. They first started selling ice cream from a small wooden hut every season from around 1989 in the small Hungarian village of Tápiószecső. Then they dreamed big, attended ice-cream courses in Italy, experimented a lot and opened three more stores – one in a town called Gyömrő, one in the WestEnd Shopping Center and one on Andrássy út. This is how a small countryside parlour blossomed into an extremely popular sweet store in Budapest.

We Love Budapest visited Hisztéria to do a timely quality check and to take a sneak peak behind the scenes. Well, actually, here almost everything happens right in front of the eyes of customers, and whatever you cannot see is inside machines. A glass wall separates the serving area from the workshop, but peeping and coveting are allowed.

Balázs Ipacs took us behind the glass wall to show us how the ice creams are made. Definitely the best part of this quick crash course was trying the freshly made lemon variety.

After such fantastic citrus flavours, there was absolutely no stopping us, so we tried about eight from the 26 types available in total. We sampled Belgian chocolate, salty caramel, mango, lychee-apple and pistachio. Here, the fruity sorbets contain 40% real fruit, while the pistachio cream is a true gastronomic treasure.

Something unusual about Hisztéria is that the ice-creams are not on display, but are kept in covered spherical containers. We learned that this way, the cool treats can be kept about 4-5 degrees ‘warmer’ and this exact temperature – about 8 °C – best brings out flavours. We are no chemists, but we truly loved everything we tried here.

Another advantage is that they measure ice-creams by the dekagramme, so you do not have to stick to scoops. Well, there aren’t really scoops here anyway, as they use a spatula to put a generous amount of ice-cream in your cone. If you wish, you can order your cone with melted Belgian chocolate inside – dark or white chocolate – and top the whole sweet with a signature wafer.

To quench your craving for ice cream, Hisztéria is always a good choice and can certainly make your Instagram page a bit more popular as well.