Hungarian restaurants in Budapest
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A
Menza
This stylish Hungarian restaurant on Budapest’s most lively square takes its name from the Hungarian for a drab school canteen – something it is anything but. Book a table if you can; it’s always packed with diners who come for its simply but perfectly cooked Hungarian classics with a modern twist and chilled atmosphere. Weekday two-course set lunches are a mere 890Ft.
reviewed
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B
Kárpátia
A veritable palace of fin-de-siècle design dating back more than 130 years that has to be seen to be believed, the ‘Carpathia’ serves almost modern Hungarian and Transylvanian specialities in both a restaurant and less-expensive söröző (brasserie), and there is a lovely covered garden terrace. This is one place to hear authentic csárdás Gypsy music, played nightly from 6pm to 11pm.
reviewed
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C
Új Sípos Halászkert
This lovely, very traditional restaurant faces (and, in the warmer weather, has outside seating in) Óbuda’s most beautiful and historic square. Try the signature halászlé (fish soup; 1100Ft to 2200Ft), which comes in various guises. As the restaurant’s motto puts it so succinctly: Halászlében verhetetlen (You can’t beat fish soup).
reviewed
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D
Pozsonyi Kisvendéglő
Visit this neighbourhood restaurant on the corner of Pozsonyi út for the ultimate local Budapest experience: gargantuan portions of standard Hungarian favourites, rock-bottom prices and a cast of local characters. There's a bank of tables on the pavement in summer and simple set weekday menus for 650Ft
reviewed
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E
Kéhli
A self-consciously rustic but stylish place in Óbuda, Kéhli has some of the best traditional Hungarian food in town. In fact, one of Hungary’s best-loved writers, the novelist Gyula Krúdy (1878–1933), who lived in nearby Dugovits Titusz tér and whose statue greets you outside the restaurant, moonlighted as a restaurant critic and enjoyed Kéhli’s bone marrow on toast (990Ft as an entrée) so much that he included it in one of his novels.
reviewed
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F
Nagyi Palacsintázója
Granny’s Palacsinta Place serves Hungarian pancakes – both the savoury (240Ft to 620Ft) and sweet (130Ft to 640Ft) varieties – round the clock and is always packed. There are other 24-hour branches in Buda (I Batthyány tér 5), Óbuda (III Szentendrei út 131) and Pest (V Petőfi Sándor tér 17–19).
reviewed
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G
Múzeum
This is the place to come if you like to dine in old-world style, with a piano softly tinkling in the background. It’s a cafe-restaurant that is still going strong after 125 years at the same location near the Hungarian National Museum. The goose liver parfait (3900Ft) is to die for, and there’s a good selection of Hungarian wines.
reviewed
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H
Gundel
Gundel, next to the zoo and directly behind the Museum of Fine Arts, is the city’s fanciest (and most famous) restaurant, with a tradition dating back to 1894. Indeed, apparently it still feeds the Habsburgs (or what’s left of them) when they’re in town. But we’ve always found Gundel to be vastly overpriced, offering little value for money. Except, that is, for Sunday brunch, a multicourse themed gobble-fest of cold and warm dishes and desserts that change every week.
reviewed
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I
Pesti Lampás
The light leads the way (we’re being figurative here) to the ‘Pest Lantern’, a stunning new restaurant and coffee house in the university district. The place beckons not so much for the food (though it is very good) but for its location in a renovated mansion near ELTE university. It has a wonderful terrace in the palace courtyard open in the warmer months and the menu has lots of options for vegetarians (1450Ft to 1950Ft).
reviewed
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J
Firkász
Set up by former journalists, Firkász, a retro Hungarian restaurant with lovely old mementos on the walls, great home-style cooking and a good wine list, has been one of our favourite Hungarian eateries for years. But when we last visited we were sorely disappointed with our dishes and the cavalier service. Bad night? In solidarity, we’ll give the ‘Hack’ a second chance. Lunch is good value at 1250Ft and 1450Ft.
reviewed
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K
Vörös Postakocs
What was for more than three decades a more than forgettable eatery serving Hungarian stodge and overlooked by all but the bravest or most desperate of diners in Ferencváros has turned into a trendy retro-style Hungarian restaurant with a lively Gypsy band. If you want a take on how modern Hungarians think they used to eat when times were tougher (and less health-conscious), visit the ‘Red Postal Coach’.
reviewed
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L
Malomtó
The 'Mill Lake' is a welcome arrival, with up-to-date, fresh décor and an inspired menu of modern Hungarian and international - especially game and seafood - dishes, many with an Asian spin. But its major draw is its unique position on the edge of a tiny lake filled with water lilies and croaking green frogs; a seat on the terrace in the warmer months is not just recommended it's mandatory.
reviewed
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M
Vadrózsa
Housed in a beautiful neo-Renaissance villa on Rózsadomb, the ‘Wild Rose’ remains one of the swishest (and most expensive) restaurants in Buda after four decades in operation. It’s filled with roses, antiques and soft piano music. You can order off the menu (fish and game dishes are especially good), or choose from the cart of raw ingredients and specify the style.
reviewed
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Kisbuda Gyöngye
A traditional and very elegant Hungarian restaurant in Óbuda, where the antiques-cluttered dining room and attentive service manage to create a fin-de-siècle atmosphere. Try the excellent goose liver speciality plate with a glass of Tokaj (3380Ft) or a much more pedestrian dish like csirke paprikás (chicken paprika; 2680Ft), which still manages to be out of this world.
reviewed
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O
Giero
We won’t say anything about the food beyond that it comes out of the kitchen on a plate, it’s stodgy and there’s lots of it. And the choice of wine depends on what wasn’t drunk by customers and musicians the night before. But you come here primarily to listen to Gypsy music as Roma musicians play it when they’re off duty from playing that saccharine junk at the top-end hotels.
reviewed
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Rozmaring
You probably wouldn’t want to come all the way up to this part of Óbuda just for the food (it’s mostly average Hungarian at best) but the flower-bedecked, covered terraces at this ‘garden restaurant’ that look out onto the Danube and the western side of Margaret Island, with the water tower just visible above the trees, are a delight in warm weather and well worth the schlep.
reviewed
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Q
Szent Jupát
This is the classic late-night choice for solid Hungarian fare – consider splitting a dish with a friend – though there’s half a dozen vegetarian choices as well. It’s just north of Moszkva tér and opposite the Fény utca market – enter from II Retek utca 16 – so within easy striking distance of both Buda and Pest.
reviewed
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R
Café Pierrot
This very stylish and long-established cafe-cum-bar-cum-restaurant is one of the very few places to be recommended on Castle Hill. The decor is, well – what else? – clownish and there’s live piano music nightly. The food is Hungo-hybrid and quite good, the staff are exceptionally friendly and the clientele overwhelmingly appreciative Japanese.
reviewed
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S
Maligán
This wine-cellar restaurant in Óbuda has become a firm favourite, and nothing is more enjoyable than eating course after course of extremely well-prepared modern Hungarian cuisine with 4cL of excellent wine recommended by the waiter-sommelier. Try the roast duck stuffed with foie gras (2800Ft) or the beef cheeks braised in red wine (3600Ft).
reviewed
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T
Kacsa
The ‘Duck’ is the place to go, well, ‘quackers’, though you need not restrict yourself to the eight dishes with a bill (4400Ft to 5100Ft). It’s a fairly elegant place dating back 100 years, with art on the walls and piano and violin music in the evening, so dress appropriately. Fresh ingredients but somewhat stuffy service and pricey wines.
reviewed
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U
Articsóka
Charming Articsóka is tastefully decorated and has an atrium, roof-top terrace and a theatre that can accommodate 100 people. There's live music every second week of the month, and the atmosphere should win a prize. The food is more Hungo-Med than Italian (but heading in that general direction). Pasta dishes are especially recommended.
reviewed
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V
Premier
In the hallowed Art Nouveau-influenced halls of the Hungarian Journalists' Association and just far enough from the House of Terror for our comfort, the Premier attracts a motley crew of media types and diplomats from nearby embassies and consulates with its Hungarian comfort food and international dishes. Check out the stained glass.
reviewed
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Borbíróság
Some people like the idea of the ‘Wine Court’ where more than 70 Hungarian wines are available by the glass, and the food, especially game, is taken pretty seriously. Others find the legal theme cutesy in the extreme and the dishes overpriced. We fall into the first camp, but only when we’re in the neighbourhood.
reviewed
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Bagolyvár
With reworked Hungarian classics that make it a winner, the ‘Owl’s Castle’ attracts the Budapest cognoscenti, who leave its sister restaurant, Gundel, next door, to the expense-account brigade. It’s staffed entirely by women – in the kitchen, at table, front of house. There’s a bargain-basement three-course set menu for 2800Ft.
reviewed
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Y
M Restaurant
What started life a few years back looking a lot more menza (drab school canteen) than it does now, M has evolved into a stylish place (love walls lined with brown wrapping paper and the graphics), with an ever-changing menu of Hungarian dishes with a French twist. The atmosphere is so chilled it’s almost comatose.
reviewed