Humble hübrisbeer&pizza, home of small-batch brews, shandy and canotto

Along with their many followers, the team at the hübris small-batch brewery in Székesfehérvár have long been hankering after an outlet in the capital. Hübris like to think of their beers as craft-quality but not trendily artisanal – as we’ll find out. Also on offer is a different take on Neapolitan pizza, canotto, all fluffy edges and interesting varieties. The location couldn’t be more central, slap by focal Deák Ferenc tér.

Hübris is a Hungarian-owned, small-scale brewery, still run by its founders. The 2,000-litre facility in Székesfehérvár produces craft-quality but regular beer. The non-use of the term ‘craft beer’ is deliberate, as hübris doesn’t want to be drowned in its own hubris, and deal with empty-sounding, trendy clichés. It simply isn’t their way:

“Our goal is to change people's concepts of good beer and awaken the mass demand for quality. Good beer for everyone! The core values of our beers are clarity, simplicity, humour and style. Regular beer of craft quality. We think of beer as we do about life. We don’t like to overdo it or get bored. That’s why we only brew straightforward beers. You don’t have to put green marzipan into beer to make it interesting,” goes the creed by which hübris brews.

So beers there are, served in a winning location at prominent Anker köz, along with canotto-style pizza. This variant of the Neapolitan style features a thicker, airier and smoother crust reminiscent, to Italians at least, of a dinghy, or canotto. Delicious and filling, it’s the ideal accompaniment to decent beer.

As well as shandy and beer cocktails, in fact. As mixing beer and lemonade has heretofore been alien to Hungarian tastes, the panaché is introduced on the drinks menu. As well as shandy (HUF 2,290), you can order different beers mixed with prosecco, even with small fruit. Among the beer cocktails, the trio of Unicum Barista, stout and tonic (HUF 2,590) hits the spot.

The prices of the eight canotto-style pizzas range from 1,990 to 3,290 forints, fair for the location. We sampled two examples at each end of the spectrum, margherita and prosciutto e rucola, and each was as great as it was made to be. As an appetiser, the antipasti platter with homemade focaccia (HUF 2,490) is recommended, while the strawberry cheesecake (HUF 990) provides an absolutely unmissable finale.

At hübrisbeer&pizza – although all of their ingredients are Italian – they don’t want to wave their Neapolitan credentials in your face, as they think the essence is decent pizza and good beer.

They do not stick to the script, just exude casual way of life, so a little malt flour is added to the pizza dough. If you stumble across the place by chance – it’s right in town, after all – you might make a habit of it, as the interior space is as welcoming as the range of sustenance on offer.