Vista Restaurant

Paulay Ede utca 7
District V, Deak ter (M1,2,3)
Cuisine: International > Varied

Vista is a rare exception in a city that hasn't really discovered customer service, and offers a great selection of quality, international food at a good price. Live piano music is a nice idea, if a little schmaltzy.

When used together, the words 'travel' and 'restaurant', invoke in me a perverse nostalgia for the Little Chef phenomenon: a series of rubbish restaurants at the side of British motorways. Tarred with such a brush, I was somewhat sceptical of Vista but my expectations stand corrected.

Duck with asparagus wrapped in bacon; pike-perch stuffed with spinach; beef steak, Budapest-style: the menu is varied and mouth-watering, satisfying both the "I'd like to try something Hungarian" and the "I'm sick of Hungarian cuisine" camps. A main course can cost under 2000 Ft or over 4000 Ft, while an extensive wine-list also varies from the affordable to the ridiculous.

Notably, Vista seems to have imported an attitude alien to Budapest: the customer comes first. Waiters are polite, friendly and enthusiastic about the food and wine... and they smile! Paper place mats ask politely for your comments, so someone is taking customer service very seriously indeed.

Most importantly, Vista feels nothing like a travel restaurant. The main part is open, airy, with plenty of window-tables and a strange ‘evocative’ tableau above the bar: I leave you to judge. The smoking area is cosier and more intimate. Altogether, it's pretty sizeable, making it an ideal choice for large groups or last minute decisions.

Well-located, just off Bajcsy Zsilinsky utca, between Deak ter and the basilica, Vista is as convenient as it is unmissable, whether you're on a budget or not.

Archívum Étterem és Kávézó

Baross utca 10
Pest South, VIII, Kalvin ter (M3), 2min

Archívum occupies an enviable spot in the city, right in front of the Ervin Szabó library. The tables spread out across the square (more of a triangle, really), with a colourful view down Reviczky utca and none of the tourist overkill that comes with the city’s pedestrianised zones.

The restaurant itself is at basement level, cosy and informal, so just stopping in for a coffee wouldn’t be frowned upon. A hotch-potch collection of tables gives a natural, organic feel.

The menu, in English and Hungarian is not the lengthiest but is nevertheless, reasonably ambitious: my catfish in ginger-butter sauce, I can testify, was delicious and great value, at under two thousand forints with side included. Vegetarian options too, are numerous. There is also a daily lunchtime three-course menu at an astoundingly cheap 850Ft – but beware that quality is compromised accordingly.

Waiters and waitresses were friendly and polite, enjoying my feeble attempts at asking in Hungarian. I can add ‘honest’ to that, since I mixed up my sixes and sevens and would have left a ridiculous tip, if the waiter hadn’t stopped me.

Archívum is classier than a basic cafe or bar, but has held on to affordable prices: a sound option for food all year round and a nice spot to sit outside and enjoy a summer pint.

From Kalvin ter, walk down Baross utca. It’s on the left as the path widens into Szabó Ervin Tér.

Govinda's

Tasty, cheap and popular, Govinda’s is Budapest’s only Hare Krishna restaurant. It’s below street level, down a staircase with a hazardously low ceiling, and has a good and varied range of starters, mains, side dishes and desserts. Food is served canteen-style – typically, this includes a number of different types of curry, baked dishes (vegetable lasagne, for example), Indian puri, pakorak, salad and desserts. An average meal might come to just over one thousand forints.

Apart from the shop, which alongside fabric, tea and spices has a number of Hare Krishna pamphlets, Govinda’s doesn’t feel particularly different from any other vegetarian or Indian restaurant. It’s open from Monday through Sunday, and can get very busy at lunchtimes.

Green's

It’s not clear whether Green’s actually belongs to someone named Green, but the principal colour of this unpretentious basement restaurant is most certainly that; green. Soft lights bathe the seating area, giving it an otherworldly feel - it’s like eating in an underground dungeon on Mars. Nothing else here is quite so striking. It serves standard, no frills Hungarian dishes.

Like many restaurants here, the menu (available in English) can feel like a bit of a minefield, especially if you’re health conscious. Deep fried chicken stuffed with camembert and topped with thick, fatty bacon is fairly typical. Naturally, Green’s also serves perennial favourites – goulash, le’cso, brassoi – as well as hearty soups in bread.

While it might not be that impressive, Green’s offers good food at reasonable prices. With a convenient location, just around the corner from the synagogue, it’s worth dropping in. If only for the lights.

Kadar Etkezde

If you want an authentic Hungarian lunch there’s a good deal of choice – bustling canteens (or etkezdes) are scattered throughout the centre. The quality of these is wildly unpredictable. For every hot bowl of fozelek or goulash served, there are at least as many suspiciously bloody pieces of meat or lukewarm plates of pasta.

One of the more consistent canteens is the unassuming Kadar Etkezde on Klauzal ter. This is as ‘local’ as it gets – tables are covered with red and white checked cloths, elderly people sit hunched over steaming plates of mashed potato, and the walls are adorned with pictures of Hungarian heroes. The menu isn’t particularly extensive but it’s worth pointing out that the staff here are very friendly, and the service quick. Sometimes, it feels like your food arrives before you’ve even ordered it.

This restaurant might not stand out - in fact, with its permanently drawn curtains and limited opening hours (Tuesday to Saturday lunchtimes), Kadar is easy to miss. However, for a cheap, filling meal, it’s one of the better choices in the city.

Prága Kávéház és Teázó

Baross ut 8
Pest South, VIII, Kalvin ter (M3), 2min

Praga Kavehaz is effortlessly satisfying. It has a traditional feel, without laying it on too thick, coffee served in a myriad of ways, a decent selection of teas and wines, beer on tap, and a few light snacks that are pretty light but reasonably priced.

In winter, it’s shell lamps diffuse a warm glow through the basement-level windows, while in summer, the pavement outside is ample enough for enjoying a drink without feeling like you’re sitting in the road.

Praga seems proud of its coffee. It’s hard to escape the fact that they use “100% Arabica coffee”, and the menu, in English and Hungarian, goes as far as to make a distinction between a latte and tejescafe. The fact that it’s served with a small biscuit and a shot glass of water doesn’t do any harm to the idea that you’re being ever-so-slightly pampered either. (Perhaps I’m easy to please!)

The furniture, photographs, dark, bare floorboards, and staff who seem to know what they’re doing all contribute to the ambiance. Low-level music, of which I can only hear the bass and tripped-out rhythms proves that you can still create the right atmosphere without setting everything back to 1909.

Praga is bigger than you think too, so if it looks too full don’t turn back too soon because it’s hard to find such range, value and atmosphere elsewhere in the city.

Sirály

50, Király utca
Pest Centre, VII, Király utca (T4,6), 5min

Not the most cosmetic of Budapest’s bars or coffee shops, Sirály is nevertheless worth a visit as an informal, low-priced, student and Wifi hotspot.

The ground floor morphs from cafe to bar as the day progresses. Drinks are pretty cheap, no matter what you’re drinking and there are a few bread or pastry snacks available at the bar. It’s also extraordinarily well-lit!

A spiral staircase winds it’s way past the first floor, little more than a lovers’ couch, to a more studious second floor, where there’s plenty of room to spread paper across the desks. (Why bother with the library at all?) It doubles up as a live music venue on selected evenings. Although actual decoration is pretty sparse, there’s often some art exhibited at the top of the staircase and the whole place is littered with photos and flyers. I get the feeling that if you asked them to put anything up on the wall, they would.

Sirály is no-frills but customer-and bicycle-friendly: the kind of place that you can sit around in for as long as your battery will last, without feeling any pressure to keep buying drinks. This might explain the fact that it never feels particularly empty, despite being pretty sizeable.

Walk down Király utca from Erzsebet Korut. After the yellow church, look for an unremarkable-looking cafe on the right.

Teaház a Vörös Oroszlánhoz

Villányi u.12
Buda South, XI, Móricz Zsigmond körtér (T19,41, B7,173), 1min

Despite being tucked away, just off Móricz Zsigmond körtér – not the most glamorous end of town – Teaház a Vörös Oroszlánhoz (The Red Lion Teahouse) is surprisingly plush.

Low-lit and spacious, with an open fish pool, which bubbles away pleasantly, it also has several more intimate corners, with a choice of chairs or cushions.

An English menu is available on request, or if you’re spotted, and contains a wide selection of teas, three kinds of honey (one of which is described as “locust”), and a few snacks. A young team of polite, professional staff are numerous and seem to enjoy testing their English.

Whether you’re on your way back from Budaörs or are just checking out this corner of town – Ifujsag park is just around the corner – it’s a great place to unwind after a full day. Sparsely populated during the day but popular in the evenings, it stays open until eleven.

www.vorosoroszlanteahaz.hu

Jég Büfé

Ferenciek tere
Pest Centre, V, Ferenciek tere (M3), 0min

For coffee, cakes, waffles or ice cream on the run, Jég Büfé is both functional and reassuringly Hungarian.

This is not a cafe; you can’t sit down, for one. The more leisurely customers stand at the window counters, enjoying a refuelling of coffee and cake. That’s exactly what this is: a human pit stop. And since Ferenciek tere is a busy transport hub, it’s also a great place for people-watching.

As with that other Hungarian institution, the Hentes, you have to decide what you want, remember the name, pay at the cash desk and then take your receipt back to the counter to claim what you bought. Time to put your pronunciation to the test! (God knows what happens if you choose the last piece of chocolate cake and someone else claims it while you’re busy paying at the till – comments encouraged.)

There are plenty of sit-down cafes in the immediate vicinity so if you want to relax, there’s no need to compromise. However, Jég Büfé is convenient and cheap, so if you’ve just got twenty minutes to kill, it’s ideal.

Café Alibi

4, Egyetem tér
Pest Centre, V, between Ferenciek tere (M3) and Kalvin ter (M3)

Forget the New York Kavehaz and the famed Gerbaud; it's Cafe Alibi that keeps on being voted Hungary's Coffee House of the Year. On the hatstand, there's a bowler hat and a black umbrella. Painted posters advertise Italian coffee and Absinthe, while an antique cash register stands proudly atop the counter. The clinking of china mingles with the background jazz and the customers’ murmers. Only the coffee itself departs from the 1920s theme by being really quite expensive.

The over-sized wall clock says five past six and free tables are becoming scarce. Perhaps it's the draw of the pastry selection or maybe it’s the chocolate cake.The blackboard menu, chalked up in English and Hungarian, is pretty ambitious too and at a very reasonable price: salmon steak and asparagus with creamy sauce; grilled 'young' squid in dill sauce...

Being next door to the University of Law, ensures a certain student presence but being so central, the clientele is broad, if strictly middle class. The location too beats that of the clutch of coffee shops a little further along Karolyi Mihaly utca, which have to contend with an absurd amount of traffic.

Overall, then, it's clear to see why Cafe Alibi has received such plaudits. Its bygone era feel is deliberate but not sterile, and an impressive food selection gives it the edge over many of its neighbours.

Sirius teaház

Bródy Sándor u.13
Pest Centre, VII, between Kalvin ter (M3) and Astoria (M2)

Sirius Teahaz has escaped from the pages of a children’s book.

Sitting drinking my pot of Oolong tea, I contemplate the tower in the corner. It’s only the height of the room but the size of the doorway gives it a disproportionate sense of scale. I’m delighted to find that it conceals a tiny room but I’d need to be smaller to get in. Perhaps you have to drink a particular tea for that.

The whole café is an enchantingly whimsical construction. I know that there’s another room to the right of the tower because I’ve seen movement through the service hatch: a pair of socks ascending wooden steps that would look at home in a playground. But how do you get to it?

I walk through the only full-size doorway, which reveals a larger room, with sparse Chinese decoration, the carpeted floor besieged with cushions. A platform lodged in an upper corner provides just enough space for two. At the far end, the two socks that I glimpsed earlier emerge from a wardrobe. QED.

In the late evening, Sirius is a tranquil, fanciful curiosity; it’s hard to imagine though, how it can possibly make any money. The solution is revealed if you visit in the early evening, when, (and frankly to my miserly, selfish disappointment), I discovered the place awash with school-kids. Timing, then, is crucial, if you don’t want your reverie interrupted.

Bem Söröző Étterem

Bem József tér 1,
Buda North, II, near Margit hid, Budai Hidfo (T4/6)

A riverside basement bar and restaurant in Buda that still has reasonable prices.

Bem Söröző és Étterem, is on the Buda side of the Danube, just five minutes south of Margit Hid (Margaret Bridge) on foot. It's as much a bar as it is a restaurant, with a casual, no-frills, pub-like atmosphere.

Red-brick walls are decorated only with brewery advertising and a few knick-knacks, while “Gösser” lamps hang down above each of the wooden booths. The menu offers a moderate and unpretentious selection of traditional meat and fish dishes, at good prices, although it can be scaled-down drastically out of season. Despite the riverside location, the clientele is largely Hungarian.

Chagall cafe

Hajós u. 27
Pest Centre, V, near Arany Janos (M3), 5min

Amongst the crumbling buildings between Andrassy and Bajcy Zsilinszky utca, hides a clean, stylish cafe that's ideal for snacks, drinks and sunshine. Greenish-yellow walls (let's call them lime), modern furniture, brightly coloured paintings and a tree(!) keep Chagall feeling like a breath of fresh air. It's a Wifi hotspot too.

There's a small menu, reasonably priced drinks, and the chairs spill out onto the street in the summer: one of the city's more low-key (but not low-priced) pedestrian zones. There's also a widescreen TV but Chagall is hardly a sports bar.

Food is pretty basic but edible. Order the 'chips' and you'll find yourself with a bowl of warm crisps: interesting idea.

Osterbrau söröző

Tölgyfa utca 14
Buda North, II, Margit hid, Budai Hidfo (T4/6), 5min

Just down from Margit Hid, and a couple of blocks from the Danube is a lively, spacious bar on Tolgyfa utca. A mainly student clientele ensures that the week is busier than the weekend.

A small menu is available but it's the price of the beer and the atmosphere that you should come for. Unfortunately, Osterbrau is the only beer on tap. It's not exactly the highest quality and there are no bottled alternatives either. For me, the honey-ginger beer (mezes gyomber) goes down a lot better than the standard, and rather gassy, lager.

Like many places in Budapest, most tables are either occupied or reserved. It's best to ignore the signs until someone moves you, or you're likely to be standing all evening. Service is somewhat haphazard.

Café Creme Corner - Vittori Caffe

Hattyú utca / Batthyany utca
Buda North, I, Batthyany ter or Moskva ter (M2), 5min

Sandwiched between Hattyú utca and Batthyany utca is Vittori Caffe, or Cafe Creme Corner (depending on which sign you read.) If you're near Batthyany ter or you're unimpressed by the prices in the Var (the Castle district), take shelter from the sun in the orange glow of the terrace garden.

More-than-reasonably priced hot ciabatta, snacks, coffee and beer; and a Sunday afternoon atmosphere, which includes the leisurely but friendly service. A good opportunity to relax over a lunchtime snack.

True, Hattyu utca is a little bit busier than I would like but the small but nicely landscaped terrace feels like a cool oasis. Equidistant from Moskva ter and Batthyany ter, a short walk (downhill) from the Var, and open until eleven in the evening.

Isolabella Cafe

Iskola utca 36
Buda North, I, near Batthyany ter (M2)

Seemingly down-to-Earth bar still has Buda prices. Free WiFi connection, crazy ceiling and seats that are too low.

Isolabella looks like a good local. Certainly, the staff are friendly and there are usually a couple of people propping up the bar. This is the best place to be since the rest of the seating is just a bit too close to the floor. The comfy-looking sofas are deceptive too.

Prices aren't as low as I'd like from what is just a basic pub. But, if you have a laptop and want to check your emails, it might be worth your time. And don't forget to look up at the ceiling. (It must have taken a lot of effort.)

Beckett's Irish Bar and Restaurant

Bajcsy Zsilinszky út 72
Pest Centre, V, between Nyugati and Arany Janos (M3)

Going to an Irish bar in Budapest is perhaps a little Irish, particularly when you have to pay through the nose for the experience. However, there are two valid reasons to visit: the football and the rugby.

With plenty of televisions and a range of channels, if you can’t see it here, you’re unlikely to find it elsewhere. To its credit, Beckett’s is reasonably spacious, feels like a proper pub and draws a good crowd for the big games. It also has Guinness on tap! Sadly, it falls short in a few other areas.

Service is not the greatest; the food is on the measly side; and the Irishness, as with most Irish bars outside Ireland, is a little flakey. To be shifted from one television to the next at the whim of the management is rather annoying. I also feel as if I’ve offended the barman by asking for my beer in Hungarian. The elevated prices too, make it clear that this is not an ideal choice for those of us earning forints.

Unfortunately, with the lack of competition for sports bars, there’s no incentive to put this right, so it’s hard to stop going back.

Borozó a Szaszához

Dékán u.

Buda North, II, Moszkva tér (M2), 2min

How many tourists find themselves in Budapest and think: this place is just too clean? One in a thousand? One in a million? Well, for the one in however many, there's a place at up at Moskva ter where you can fester.

Most of the clientele are working men, ‘fresh’ from a hard day’s labour, still in their overalls. Others are alcoholics, smiling docile, lobotomised smiles, as the sympathetic barmaid pours another generous Unicum. I should feel out of place, being the middle-class Englishman that I am, but somehow, I don’t feel in the least bit conspicuous. The reason: no one is giving me strange looks. I can’t imagine such a lack of hostility in a British working men’s club.

The room is lit by several wall lamps, some with their hard plastic covers still intact and others down to their bare phosphorescent innards. Flowers in small vases, hide behind a fan, and are rather less noticeable than the large gas canisters that are sharing my table. The fruit machines, sitting opposite, are quite popular and I watch the nearest swallow six thousand forints, without recompense for the hand that fed it.

How can a room with a helicopter fan and air conditioning be quite so hot? It isn’t even particularly warm outside. These things must somehow generate heat themselves, and, now that I look more closely, I can see by its off-kilter sway, that it might not be the most efficient of coolers. I also note, as I look to the yellow-stained window that the extractor fan is all motor and nothing much else, which goes some way to explaining why my skin is turning yellow.

Hence, it is something of a relief to step back outside, to the relative cool. The smoke though, has attached itself to my clothes and will remain with me for some time yet. It is difficult to see how this place will have any tourist appeal beyond the most dedicated anthropologist, but, if you happen to be seeking an unapologetic working class drinking hole, look no further.

6tus

26 Nagy Diofa Utca
Pest Centre, VII, Astoria (M2), 5min

This quirky little bar with friendly staff is popular with long-term expats and also sports its fair share of Hungarians. 6tus is popular for its relaxed everyone-knows-your-name atmosphere. For some, it's more like home than a bar.

The first room is small – you sometimes have to fight your way in through the door – with a few stools, but most people choose to stand, drifting between people and conversations. In the back, a larger room contains five or six tables.

There's just one beer on tap (Dreher) and a small choice of spirits, and the fridge is no different from the one in your kitchen at home.

Decor is bright and original, with local artist, Marcus Higson contributing most of the artwork - you may well see a few of the subjects knocking around in the bar - while the music is almost too quiet to notice. The root of the atmosphere is the staff, who are not so much working as maintaining a community.

Sark

now appears to be closed. All that remains of this once thriving bar is just an empty shell. Dead, lifeless. Once there were pictures on the walls, faces, huge faces. But now you can’t see them because Sark is a dead, lifeless husk. An empty shell.

There was a basement, where the popular Gumipop indie night was once held, but that has now gone. It’s just an empty dark shell, a lifeless husk, probably overrun by vermin.

Beer would flow freely and the bouncers used to tell you to be quiet upon leaving, but they don’t do that any more, because nobody comes in or goes out.

(Sark was located on the corner of Dob utca and Klauzal ter)

Orokmozgo

Visiting Orokmozgo is rarely a polished cinema-going experience. During a showing of Midnight Cowboy, I watched Dustin Hoffman get sliced in half as he started to cross the street. The film ran for a full five minutes before the print was repositioned, and Dustin’s upper body and legs were happily reunited. It isn’t the only time that the projector has spluttered its way through a screening. Last month, Buster Keaton’s The General ground to a halt four times before the film finally began to run smoothly. Occasionally, there are other hiccups. Perhaps most disappointingly of all, as I tried to buy my ticket for Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, I was told that it would be shown only in French and Hungarian. Not English, as advertised.

In spite of all this, it is very easy to forgive Orokmozgo’s flaws. It is run by small group of people – the staff who work in the ticket office also man the projection booth. The reason that the prints are unpredictable is because of their age. In many cases, they are original copies, taken from the National Archive but because of the access to this, the program is extremely eclectic. It’s certainly hard to turn your nose up at a cinema which gives visitors the opportunity to see films such as MASH, Young Frankenstein, A Bout de Souffle and Escape to Victory on the big screen.

Hummus Bar

In the two years since this small cafe opened, it has managed to build up quite a dedicated following. It claims to have the best hummus and falafel in Budapest which is a bold boast, given the amount of falafel shops dotted around the map. Still, there are a lot of good things about it.

For once in Hungary, the service comes with smile, not a grimace. Complimentary tea is often handed out – certainly welcome in winter – and there is a cosy, clean seating area upstairs. Unsurprisingly, the food served here is hummus, or hummus based. This ranges from Hummus pita to Hummus plates, or Hummus mushrooms to Falafel Pita... with hummus. The prices are reasonable and the location, just opposite Dupla on Kertesz utca, is very central. They also offer a delivery service.

A word of warning though –it might not be the best place for a first date. While the jury may be out on whether it really is the best falafel pita in the city, it’s certainly one of the messiest. If you aren’t careful, you’ll finish your meal with hummus on your face, hands and shoes and possibly, in your hair.

(Hummus bar is located on Kertesz utca, on the other side of Kiraly to Liszt Ferenc ter)

Nababe

Predominantly playing African, Jamaican and Middle Eastern music, Nababe is the city’s only ‘world’ music bar. While it isn’t quite off the beaten track, it hardly draws attention to itself and consequently, feels like a real find.

It’s situated behind KFC, just off Kiraly, where an uneven red staircase takes you down into the cosy basement. As you step through the door for the first time, it isn’t immediately clear what kind of place Nababe is. It’s a smoky wine cellar with nicely decorated walls. Or a snug concert venue. Or a teahouse with a dance floor.

In the main area, the seating is divided into booths, with cushions scattered on the floor. A quieter back room offers some privacy, while a DJ plays music at the opposite end. Consecutive nights are never the same – one might be Afro-beat and reggae, then the next sixties psychedelia, Middle Eastern, or maybe a surf guitar band. This variety is perhaps what’s most appealing about Nababe - it certainly makes a refreshing change from Szimpla or Kuplung, where the DJs too often seem to spin a humdrum mix of funky breaks and hip-hop.

There are also plenty of other reasons to recommend it -the staff are friendly, it’s warm, it closes late. And what’s more, it usually isn’t too hard to get a seat.

( Nababe is open Tuesday through Saturday. Cross the Korut and take the first right off Kiraly, onto Harsfa ut, then look for the little yellow lights around the door.)

Kuplung

It’s probably fair to say that Kuplung must be one of the only bars in Central Europe which is located in a disused mechanic’s repair shop, and also has an enormous whale skeleton as its central feature.

Constructed out of papier mache and wire, the whale hangs somewhat precariously above rickety wooden tables, usually thronged with customers. At one stage, dozens of fairy lights were threaded through the skull, ribs and tail, the bizarre structure lighting up the room like a Christmas decoration from another world. However, at the time of writing, most of the lights had flickered out, and just a dark shell remains.

Located on Kiraly ut, the entrance to the bar is unmarked but easy to spot. Crowds of young inebriated hipsters, wannabe-hipsters, punks, skaters or students are usually loitering outside, getting glared at and hushed by the tough-looking door staff. Once through the door, an intimidatingly large entrance hall leads to a hangar with graffiti-covered walls. There is also an art gallery, as well as table football and table tennis. A separate concert hall is open at weekends and in the corner, a DJ plays tunes that nobody really dances to.

Kuplung might have a grimy feel - it’s impossible to leave without your clothes reeking of cigarettes – but it is cheap and welcoming. For a cross-section of young, vibrant Budapest, there’s nowhere better to start.

(From the Korut, walk down Kiraly towards Deak ter. The bar is at number 46, two doors down from Siraly)