This website is about the real Budapest, and gives very interesting background details about the history, culture and architecture of this beautiful capital which is slowly losing some of its unique features (old presszo bars, neon signs, dingy borozos) as it changes into a modern European metropolis. Written by a Hungarian speaker, the articles featured go behind the facade and into much more detail than a guide book could manage.
It has a wealth of information for people who really love Budapest and want to know the city better.
Check out the recent story on the Trabants - really interesting!

disappearingbudapest.blogspot.com

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Great restaurant in a good location, not far from Octagon. Food is fantastic, atmosphere great. Two people, two courses, best bottle of wine on the menu; £45 - bargain. It's full of locals too - a good indication.

6th district, Liszt Ferenc ter 2

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This is an excellent Italian restaurant on Dohany Utca near the main road Rakoczi Ut. The food is of good quality and the portions impressive. Try one of their pizzas, almost impossible to finish. The staff are friendly and the atmosphere good. It's also reasonably priced.

1077 Budapest, Dohany Utca 40. Tel 354-07-88

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Became my "cantine" as the French say, a regular, easy place to eat. Very friendly, delicious food - Hungarian and also pizza/pasta, and very reasonable. Open all day, every day 10 - midnight.

Kiraly ut 59b
www.magdalenamerlo.hu
tel 36 1 322 3278
Just off Erszebet near the "Pizza H(ugh)t" on the corner. Opposite side entrance of Ferenc Liszt Academy
trolley 70,78, tram 4,6

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Asian fusion restaurant, attracts the in crowd, and a little more expensive than the average local. The food is very good indeed, and is welcome if you want a lighter meal than the usual rib-sticking Hungarian fare. On Andrassy, in the centre of things. Service a little lax, but all in all a very good experience. Booking advisable.

Andrassy ut 8
tel: 302 2570
near the Opera House

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Italian pizza/pasta of very high standard and very low price. Busy, friendly. Red checked table cloths, a shot of Limoncello with the bill. Pizzas outstanding, as are the pastas. I went several times, but didn't try their other dishes. Popular place.
Open daily 12 - 12.

Lazar u 1 1065 Budapest
tel: 312 - 0080
Just around the corner from the sports bar "Box Utca", on Bajcsy-Zsilinsky behind the Basilica.

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A delightful restaurant with a daily changing special menu and an excellent wine list. Super service in the belle epoque surroundings. Well worth paying a little (not much by London standards) more than average. Very popular, so booking is advisable. Closed Sundays.

Zichy Jeno u. 33
tel: 00 36 1353 4094
Off Nagymezo u trolley 78, 70, metro Opera, tram 4,6

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They have an extensive selection of Hungarian, French, Italian, Far-Eastern dishes and wide range of Hungarian and international wines, drinks and cocktails.

Budapest, Nyári Pál u. 9.
+36 1 266 3277
www.avocadorestaurant.hu

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To be honest, we weren't expecting that much from Hungarian cuisine, and sadly on the whole we weren't disappointed. During a 6-day stay we were often left with a heavy, ponderous and slightly queasy feeling as if we'd just been given some bad news, having consumed what we took to be typical dishes (stews, side orders of pasta, lots of meat and few vegetables). Tellingly, this also sums up the facial expressions of many of our fellow diners at a number of eateries.

Lucky breaks came at two main venues: one being the grill houses set up at the open-air wine festival between Deak Ter and Astoria (duck leg, crispy red cabbage, mixed veg), but most significantly (and reliably, as the wine fest isn't an ongoing feature) the fine restaurant Cafe Kor on Sas Utca. We found the place on our penultimate day and had lunch and dinner in there - two meals at one place in a day is something of a first for us.

The restaurant is billed as offering “quintessential Hungarian dishes with an international twist” and this seems to sum it up nicely. The food we had was uniformly excellent, well-presented but not fussy, substantial where necessary but not overbearing - various salads, freshly- and lightly-cooked vegetables, creamy sauces that weren't cloying and drowning the meat or fish. Service was great too - friendly, attentive and relaxed. (We were juggling space on our table at lunch and they offered us somewhere else to sit before it had even crossed our minds to suggest it).

It's quite pricey by local standards, at least compared with the 1000-2000 HUF prices we'd been paying for mains elsewhere, but still very good value. (The wine ramped up the cost of dinner quite a bit, but it still came to about £45 for two - a shared starter, two mains, desert, wine and coffee. Lunch - two salads and asparagus, plus a couple of glasses of wine - was about £18).

It was very busy at lunch and dinner midweek, and they recommend booking. I'm sure there must be many other sources for great Hungarian food, but do check this place out.

Pest V, Sas utca 17;
tel: 311 0053

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The name is - fortunately - nothing to do with János Kádár, Hungary's last Communist leader, the surname Kádár is quite common (and means 'cooper'). Kádár Étkezde (bistro) is a fabulous little lunch venue in the heart of the historic Jewish district in central Pest. It's packed with locals enjoying the non-kosher Jewish home cooking; great matzo ball soup, crisp duck leg with spicy red cabbage or boiled beef with a range of fruit sauces (gooseberry, sour cherry, horseradish) served on a ceramic all-in-one airplane style plates. Uncle Tibi personally greets regulars from the neighbourhood as they pile in and tots up the bill at the end. The walls of the crowded room are crammed with photos (many autographed) of Hungarian actors and athletes as well as other fans of the bistro including Marcello Mastroiani. Sip málna szörp (raspberry cordial) at this non-alcoholic eaterie or help yourself from the old-fashioned soda water bottles on every table. The waitresses are the kindest and most efficient in Budapest, the menu is only in Hungarian, and you'll have to share a table but that's part of the atmosphere. The last time I ate there, the elderly lady sipping soup at my table had numbers tattooed on her arm. This was a sudden, brutal, unexpected reminder of Hungary's shocking history.

Kádár Étkezde
Klauzál tér 9
District VII
Budapest
Open Tues-Sat 11.30-15.30
Tel: (+36 1) 321 3622
To get there: Take tram 4 & 6 to Király utca stop.
Prices: Soup 300 forints, main dishes 500-800 forints, cash only, no CC.

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Think you have a big appetite? I challenge you to finish a full meal at this place. I went with a group of about 10 people and none of us could finish. Situated down a side street near Vaci Utca, this restaurant serves huge (and I mean, huge) portions of traditional, Hungarian country food. Meals are based around vast quantities of meat, so not really suitable for vegetarians (though I think one of our group was vegetarian). Most of the food is served on wooden boards and often with nothing but a great big knife for cutlery.

The food itself is tasty and gives a new meaning to the words 'hearty cuisine' - you can almost hear your arteries harden as you tuck in. The service is somewhat brusque at times, but this just adds to the fun. Prices are reasonable and it has a really cosy atmosphere.

It does get ridiculously busy, so try and book ahead at weekends. And if you can't finish your meal they'll pack it up for you to eat in the morning (good for hangovers!).

Off Vaci Utca 67 in the city centre. It is down a side street, but the sign is quite visible from Vaci Utca; nearest metro: M1 Vörösmarty tér; tel: 1 266 2607

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Located in the Huvösvölgy area, among the rolling western hills of Buda, Náncsi Néni vendéglője (Auntie Náncsi) has a reputation as being one of the most down-to-earth restaurants in Budapest. Yet it is an extremely popular restaurant with a formidable reputation among Budapest’s traditional food aficionados. It is reputed to be a favourite of Tony Curtis when he is in town and the place where politicians bring their foreign guests.

Somewhat out of the way it’s worth the effort getting there and is a wonderful place to eat when the courtyard garden is open for the long hot evenings of a Budapest summer and with food that’s ‘a hogy nagy mama főzött’ (just like granny cooked).

Ördögárok Ut 80, Budapest, H-1029
Open daily noon till late
Telephone: 398-7127
E-mail: asztalfoglalas@nancsineni.hu
www.nancsineni.hu/eng/index2.html
Unless you are familiar with Budapest access is easiest by taxi from Moskva tér or the No 157 bus from Hűvösvölgyi végállomás

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