Mad Scientist team open craft-beer garden at the Óbuda Silk-Reel Factory

Local craft brewers Mad Scientist, also responsible for the Madhouse bar in downtown Pest, have just opened Mad Garden Buda at the historic Silk-Reel Factory in Óbuda. On offer, according to the team at Mad, are ‘elusive moods, jazz trios, alternative DJs and movie screenings’, not to mention 11 craft beers on tap and top tacos.

Set somewhere in approach between the Mad Kert Beer Garden at the Mad Scientist brewery in Kőbánya and the Madhouse bar in the city centre, Mad Garden Buda has opened its doors at the former Silk-Reel Factory in Óbuda. Dating back to the late 1700s, this ivy-clad building has been a tavern for nearby sailors, and a film set for legendary director Károly Makk.

In 2021, craft-beer specialists Neked Csak Dezső and street-food vendors TöLTő moved in, taking advantage of its leafy, sun-catching courtyard.

Now it’s the turn of Mad Scientist, whose beer-making expertise has been captured by our video team.

With Neked Csak Dezső sadly no longer with us, Mad will undoubtedly set their own pace, showing the unique attitude has led them to success in small-batch beer, and also in hospitality. Meanwhile, the once alternative subculture of craft brewing is becoming ever more mainstream.

Rather than just transpose the Madhouse bar to Buda, the crew have given the new place its own shape, with gluten-free tacos, a range of beers and events with a certain discerning crowd in mind. There's also Casino Mocca coffee, organic wines, cocktails and a hefty spirit section.

“Business developer Márton Sefcsik laughed when I said this was the end of our hospitality expansion because he thinks we’ll figure out some more stupid thing anyway," says Mad Scientist founding owner Tamás Szilágyi. “But for now I feel like we’re fine. I don’t even know how we managed to create all these places, but I’m glad we’ve reached where we have. It’s been an amazing trip so far.”