FALU, the vintage village grocery in the heart of Budapest

You can never have enough small-scale groceries – especially in the heart of Budapest. We filled up our shopping basket at FALU, an old-school delicatessen two minutes from Nyugati station.

Ádám Kovács has worked in hospitality and merchandise for a good decade, especially in and around the Balaton Uplands. He had long wanted to stand on his own two feet – the only question was whether hospitality or trade would be the solution. Then, in 2019, a premises became available at a former perfumery on the Szent István körút section of the Grand Boulevard. Seizing the opportunity, he decided to abandon neither hospitality nor merchandise.

Thus, after a few months of renovation, drilling and carving, FALU was born. The interior alterations and decor were carried out by Ádám, his family and friends. With capital limited and thanks to painstaking research, they put together an entire, authentic, tasteful interior piece by piece from a furniture warehouse at Káptalantóti market near Balaton.

The spacious shop houses everything that echoes nostalgia and everyday village life, from the trough provided by a neighbour to the carved kitchen cabinet chucked out unwanted, to Ádám’s great-grandmother’s wall protector imbued with homespun wisdom. Ádám shows a good sense of proportion, the result is atmospheric without falling into the trap of nostalgic kitsch – no garlands of peppers on the wall nor noticeably remanufactured replicas.

Adding to all this is the fact that the original, brick-vaulted roof has been freed from the suspended ceiling and the layer of plaster that covered it for decades. A little authentic folk music plays in the background. As you enter, in addition to the sacks of flour and jars of jams, if there was homemade soap and salt in large blocks, you would certainly feel like you’d walked into a store in the 1920s.

The stock is, of course, much more modern, although they make great efforts to line the shelves with solely domestic small-batch products wherever possible. Alongside the selection of olives and the salmon paste at the delicatessen counter, you also French foie gras and Spanish ham.

Ádám reckons that a key aspect in terms of ordering is whether the item can be easily found in larger supermarket chains. Another goal was to bring the produce of the Balaton Uplands to Budapest – but, of course, you can also find goods from other parts of Hungary here. Wherever the product comes from, however, it can only enter the store if it passes through Ádám and colleague Tünde’s careful selection process.

As for hospitality, there are two or three tables for customers to sit down, have a coffee and a plate of samples to try. The pastes, cheeses and smoked goods available at the counter can be ordered on-site of 790 forints a small portion, but you can also choose from pastries, and on request they can make sandwiches from the product of your choice – breads and other baked goods come from the Tenero Bakery nearby.

And if you’re planning to take something home with you, by all means bring your own little container as they have a green approach to packaging. In addition to delicacies, you can find high-grade flours, small-batch jams, cordials, compotes, ketchup, pastes, dry pasta, plus a large selection of beer and wine. These also come from smaller breweries and family wineries. Ádám does not source these bottles through a beverage wholesaler – winemakers and brewers bring the selected items to the store themselves.

FALU is worth a visit for its lovely atmosphere and well-chosen selection, even for a coffee and a sandwich. You couldn’t do the whole weekend’s shop here, but it’s good to know that there’s a store right in town where they care about quality, small-batch produce as well as their ecological footprint.