Bartók Béla út is made for browsing and lounging. Cafés, restaurants, bars and art galleries line this tree-shaded thoroughfare, beginning at riverside Szent Gellért tér. Recently opened fusion locale BÉLA adds to this charm and helps make the Buda side of town a popular destination by day or come nightfall. While the place is still operating in its start-up phase, you can pop in here for a refreshing lemonade in the summer heat or for light bites and creative cocktail concoctions any time when you fancy hanging out with a cool crowd.
Found steps away from laid-back Kelet Café and literary haven Hadik, recently opened BÉLA should further enhance Buda’s offering of culture and nightlife. While the name could very well refer to its location on Bartók Béla út, the founders of this new locale explain that BÉLA is actually an abbreviation deriving from its manifold functions: bár, étterem, lakás, arborétum (bar, restaurant, apartment, botanical garden). To house all this under one roof, a thorough renovation was required on a former all-purpose store where the venue now stands.
And the result speaks for itself. While those who enter immediately sense an unmatched Budapest vibe, BÉLA also evokes the mystic milieu of Macondo, a fictional town described by Gabriel García Márquez in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Pictures of a fascinating flora and fauna unfold in the decoration, blending with an old-school wallpaper design. Lamps in geometric shapes, olive-hued tiles and abstract artworks all embellish the eclectic environment.
On the menu, you’ll see lemonade with peach and thyme (760 HUF), but there’s also syrup made of cucumber (580 HUF for half litre). For cocktails, BÉLA leaves generic concoctions aside to serve a glassful of Kolkata with a fine blend of anise-infused brandy, fig, cardamom, fresh lime and basil (1,860 HUF).
But you are at the right place even if you want to add a twist to your classic afternoon cuppa – Tea 40 comes with agave-flavoured reposado tequila, fresh and crispy green cachaça (a Brazilian white rum made from sugar cane), assam tea liqueur, fresh lemon, pineapple, basil, cucumber and cold-pressed olive oil (1,780 HUF).
When it comes to inebriating treats, BÉLA leaves nothing to chance. Over a dozen rum and pálinka (Hungarian brandy) varieties complete the extensive list of drinks. As for the food, the kitchen is still in the making, but it doesn’t mean that you have to leave the place hungry.
Grilled flatbreads come with a mix of beetroot and goats’ cheese or fried veggies and olive cream. There are also Hungarian debreceni sausages served with fresh bread, mustard and ajvar sauce, a pepper-based condiment.
When the underground concert hall opens to the public, 50 people will be able to shake it to varied music from acoustic to electronica beats. Movie-screening nights are also in the pipeline. A secluded kids’ corner is just the cherry on the cake to make this cool community space a potential haunt for multiple generations.
