4+1 casual Budapest restaurants for great seafood and fish dishes

The Nemo unit on the Buda side unfortunately has an adventurous life due to its location, as this basement on Lövőház Street frequently falls victim to floods. Luckily it is very popular, and the guests always give feedback of love and trust. Because of this, they wanted to open a unit in Pest for a while, which has finally arrived to a spacious, sunlit, terraced venue on Október 6 Street. The design in the front has street-food vibes, while the interior of the back area suits better for more intimate dinners. Besides the fish and chips, crab skewers, and calamari, they also serve more serious, elegant, and complicated courses – this makes them an alternative option among the many restaurants of the area, especially for those who want to have fish for dinner. They have an open kitchen, but thanks to the professional ventilation system, there’s no fish odor inside. For soup, we can order tomato cod soup (1,290 HUF), and they also have Russian-style beetroot-salad with herring (1,790 HUF), which can be a great opening act for the grilled catfish that arrives with rustic blue cheese and vegetables (2,490 HUF). The calamari (1,690 HUF) with cocktail sauce could be a great choice for those who like fried seafood. And although we are talking about fish, the super-sweet lava cake (990 HUF) of Nemo Pest is really tempting.

Stég fish-fryer at the Dob Street end of Gozsdu Udvar is all about fish from the Tisza River. The wallpaper of the stylish shop is one of our favorites – we love the design, and the service is still very nice and well-thought out, despite being a street-food place. The owner talks about the Tisza passionately, as he’s been living there for 20 years; what’s more, he lives on it, since his home is a floating house... so there’s no doubt that he has quite some expertise when it comes to making fish dishes. We especially liked the catfish soup (2,290 HUF for a small portion, 2,990 HUF for a large portion) at Stég, which is a thick, spicy variation, served with a snow-white fillet. Honestly, it’s a little pricey, but that’s due to the location. Their catfish greaves (2,290 HUF) are the crunchier kind, which is why we loved it; they serve it with purple onion, pickles, and lemons. They make fish and chips from various fish (starting from 2,290 HUF), and there’s even a fish taco on the menu. They have a lunch special for 1,490 forints that includes two courses, and one of them is always fish.

Stég Facebook

3/3

+ HelloHal Fishbar

Hello Hal is not only a restaurant, but basically a campaign to popularize the gastronomical value of Hungarian freshwater fishes. Their units in Tiszaörvény and Kecskemét are high-quality players in the countryside gastronomy scene, especially when it comes to fish dishes. They will open a new bistro on Ráday Street soon, and since we are a fan of their other units, we can’t wait to see this one.