Long praised for bringing decent bagels to Budapest, and long established near downtown Kálvin tér, Budapest Bägel has just opened a branch on the Buda side of the river, between Margaret Bridge and the Mammut mall. We paid it a little visit.

Specialty coffee, fine teas and top doughnuts have long been part of any decent breakfast in Budapest. But bagels? That was why, back in 2013, Budapest Bägel saw a gap in the market and set up its quality spot on Baross utca.

And now it has a branch at Mechwart Liget, right on the city’s busiest 4/6 tram route. One of the great innovations of the Buda outlet is that it caters more to vegans. Since most bagel combinations have a cream-cheese base, this was first hard to figure out. Thanks to a new supplier, great vegan cheeses have been made available to the kitchen, so dairy-and meat-free bagels have been added to the range.

The bagel selection is otherwise the same as at the original outlet on Kalvin tér, with classics such as smoked salmon (1,400 HUF), Jewish-egg (1,050 HUF) and peanut-butter-and-banana (850 HUF). Newer varieties include mortadella with cream cheese, tomato and salad (1,200 HUF), the roasted-paprika-and-gorgonzola with lamb’s lettuce and walnut (1,200 HUF), and our favourite: a hot, melting, stringy three-cheese bagel, with cheddar, gorgonzola and emmental (1,200 HUF), only served at the Buda branch.

And if you’re looking for the sweet, cinnamon-raisin variety familiar outside Hungary, you won’t have to wait too long: BB is bringing in sweet pastries, including raisin bagels and brioches, from September.

Currently, the creams and spreads are prepared at Kalvin tér, while the meat and vegetables come from the same suppliers, thus guaranteeing the same quality in Buda. Since BB’s Fábián Gergő has been supplying bagels to all kinds of venues across the city, it has its own bakery on Barcsay utca, where 1,200 are produced every day.

The concept of Budapest Bägel has not only expanded in the Hungarian capital – recently a Dutch guy bought the licence and opened an outlet in The Hague.

Budapest Bägel District II. Margit körút 62

Open: Mon-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat 9am-3pm