Pioneering breakfast place Szimply set high standards long before similar venues popped up around town. Now it has been reconfigured, with an expanded space and wider culinary remit.
Szimply in Röser Udvar, diagonally opposite the Great Synagogue, grew out of one of the first specialty cafés, Kontakt. With a healthy line of oatmeal and avocado toasts, their beautiful presentations made them stand out.
In the three years since opening, Szimply grew out of its 12-seater space and decided to move in across the way, turning the original venue into a kitchen. The new Szimply is much bigger, but instead of now making twice as many breakfast dishes, they have expanded the menu with one or two lighter lunches.
According to owner Péter Bajkó, Szimply will never be a lunch venue, but he wants to give more scope to the chefs to play with their creativity and come up with new lunch menus for every season. “With the new kitchen, the sky is the limit. We can now make anything we want here, and although we will, the focus will forever stay on breakfast. Actually, why could we not become Budapest’s first Michelin-starred breakfast place?”.
They have also turned their serious health consciousness down a notch. “We removed acai bowls from the menu as they either came frozen from Singapore or in a purée full of additives, so it wasn’t worth it. Our ingredients no longer need to be all vegan, but definitely top-notch quality.”
The menu changes every two months. Now, at least for another month, you can try garlic-avocado toasts (3,400 HUF), a slice of sourdough bread topped with a garlicky cream and a five-minute egg. For more autumnal flavours, cherry tomatoes, bell-pepper cream, beetroot and vinegar pear also feature on the plate.
Upon our visit, we also tried a lighter lunch: roast goose-liver slices with a foamy, thick but light ratatouille cream, beetroot, bell pepper, celery and tomatoes (4,700 HUF).
A great dessert choice is nudli with caramelised crumbs, plum ice cream, mango purée, plum foam and pear (1,400 HUF).
Szimply still serves exciting, eclectic, light and beautifully presented dishes, and even though they have more tables now, this tiny breakfast place is always crammed – with good reason.
Szimply District V. Károly körút 22
Open: Mon-Sat 8am-4pm
