Around the time of the autumn shutdown, the 101Bistro set up on a home-delivery basis, offering Taiwanese cuisine door to door. It seemed like a bold move at the time – this is an unfamiliar cuisine, after all – but it all worked out. Many sampled their dishes and told their friends. Now, the 101Bistro has opened its doors on Buda’s main transport hub, Széll Kálmán tér, between Nemdebár and Pingrumba.
The initial period of a few months was definitely good practice for the three founding owners – chef Márton Keve, Lu Boyin and Máté Muha – to assess how local residents took to Taiwanese cuisine.
Although the trio has known each other for some time, they came together from different directions. After learning to cook at home, chef Martin went first to study in England, then to Denmark, at the world-famous Noma restaurant, then to Mexico and the world-famous Pujol, and finally to Spain, from where he returned home.
Boyin is of Chinese descent, but born and raised in Hungary. He opened Ramenka on Kazinczy utca, then spent a few years in China, where he made friends with a couple of Taiwanese, through whom he also got to know the local cuisine. Máté worked for a multinational, then ran an escape room business in New York for five years, before coming home. And when the three met up again, 101Bistro was born.
Here, two menus now operate. Once the place opens at 11.30am, you can choose from the Lunch selections until 3pm: beef steak (such as Hungarian spotted sirloin in , HUF 3,990), salads (lotus-shoot salad, HUF 1,290) and burgers (bao burger, HUF 1,290), as well as desserts (taiyaki, HUF 790).
The Dinner menu operates from 4pm until closing at 10pm, 11pm at weekends. This is, for the most part, different to the dishes presented during the day, allowing the bistro character to emerge. More dishes, smaller portions and varying flavours encourage conversation.
Oysters in XO sauce (HUF 1,790), squid (HUF 1,490), grilled spring cabbage with Tianjin sauce (HUF 1,290), sweet-and-sour aubergine (HUF 1,490) and the Sichuan spinach (1,490 Ft) all feature. The less adventurous needn’t go hungry, either, with beef and chicken dishes also on the menu.
Drinks veer more towards Japan, with sake, whiskey, beer and cocktails from the Land of the Rising Sun, plus non-alcoholic softies such as hawthorn.
It may be wise, now that Immunity Certificates are no longer required, to book at table, as interior space is quite limited.
101 Bistro
District II. Széll Kálmán tér 5
Current opening hours: Mon-Wed noon-10pm, Thur-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-9pm
