Fény utca Market

Light and radish

Food

Service

Atmosphere

The market used to be one of the many traditional open-air markets of Hungary, until 10 years ago it got a huge glass roof. So sunlight is still present, luckily, as the market is at the corner of Fény utca and Retek utca. Fény utca means Light street. The funky building it got during the renovation must have also come through the mind of an enlightened architect. The goods on sale resemble more to the other street-name the market lays on: Retek. It means radish. Everything here is fresh, delicious, juicy. 
Right at the entrance you see people standing at high tables and eating something flat-ish with white sauce on it and behind them a long queue at a window where the "lángos" is sold. It's a sort of savory fried bread-dough with sour cream, rasped cheese and lots of garlic. This is a kind of food which you must eat either at the beaches of Lake Balaton or in markets. It you are even a bigger die-hard, you can go for fried fish or sausages next door. Just a few steps ahead and you can rinse the food with beer, wine (hot wine in winter), pálinka (strong local snaps) or coffee. Now you can take your time to look around - lots of people, mainly old ones, are selling just a few type of products and not huge quantities. Believe it or not, they are growing the fruits and vegetables themselves and producing home-made cheese, sausage or honey. They are always ready to let you taste their products.
It's worth going a level higher, too, there is a stand with mangalica pork (sort of pata negra) and grey-cattle products. Both are very old, traditional Hungarian breeds and their meat is extremely tender, tasty and contains very low cholesterol! Don't miss the century-old pictures on display at the counter.
You can't finish your visit without some sweets. There is a very old cafe-house opposite of the side-entrance of the market (on Fény utca): Auguszt. It's still run by the same family who opened their first shop in 1870. And that is a bit the era you step into. Enjoy.