Authentic Italian deli Delissimo opens by burgeoning Margit Quarter

Giulia Ligabue welcomes guests with a wide smile and a fantastic ristretto, while her father Lorenzo rustles up a tasting platter. Often attracting curious customers – uninitiated locals walk in thinking it’s the photo studio next door – this homely little store at the junction of Irén Varsányi utca, Kapás utca and Horvát utca feels busy even with just three customers inside.

The selection platter (around HUF 2,500) arrives, comprising Neapolitan buffalo mozzarella, pepperoni stuffed with Puglia olives and tuna, Montagna mountain parmesan, Tuscan steak salad (originally from Trento, slow- marinated with spices and salt, then pressed), complemented with fantastically crispy Altamura bread with a little rocket and tomatoes. 

They usually don’t stay on the plate for long. The Tuscan sandwich (Tuscan salami, Tuscan fresh pecorino cheese, rocket, butter, lightly-spiced sun-dried tomato paste and Tuscan bread, HUF 1,400) has many ingredients purely because Hungarians like it that way – Italians wouldn’t mix flavours to that extent.

It would be a sin to miss out on the Italian cakes, particularly the Sicilian ones. The restrained sweetness of the pistachio cornetto (HUF 400), the macaron-style Mantova torta Elvezia (HUF 900) with its layers of zabaione cream, and the rich fiammetta (HUF 450) are all great, but the jewel in the crown is the Palermo cannolo stuffed with ricotta and decorated with candied fruit (HUF 1,300). All come directly from Italy to Horvát utca.

Delissimo’s website, currently under development, is basically a web store. For fresh Campania burrata, wild boar salami, porchetta (rolled, stuffed, crispy pork roast from around Rome), pestos, jams and Italian coffee served with a smile, head to this little corner of Italy in an ever busier Buda hub.