Budapest Restaurant Tips by biggeorge

Pizza Pronto: Italian Lunch

Cheap and cheerfull ,place to have a beer and a pizza for lunch. Friendly staff so try not notice when they microwave your lasagne.

Favorite Dish: Spaghetti - reassuringly tasty despite being totally artificial.

Address: Hollan Erno Utca

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Turn off Svent Istvan Korut at the Rothschild supermarket.

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 3

Theme: Italian

Szerb vengeglo: Serbian cafe

Serbian cafe that doles out huge portions of Serbian meals ,in between every one watching Eurosport and drinking lots of beer. Very popular with the elderly lunch crowd due to cheap prices and large portions. The waiters are all typically Serbian ( huge nightclub boucer types ) and very laid back compared to their more formal Hungarian counterparts.

Favorite Dish: Cevapcici with chips and avjar.

Address: V Nagy Ignac Utca

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Near Svent Istvan Korut

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Other

Angelika: Angelika

Nice coffee house in the former crypt of St Annes church. Waitresses could be described as statuesque because they look nice but it's difficult to get one to move.

Favorite Dish: Fantastic sandwiches , salami and tomato.

Address: Batthanyi Ter

Comparison: about average

Directions: Round the back of the church.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Coffeehouse

FATAL: Do you like big portions? Fatal Restaurant Review

Serves huge hungarian meals with a minimum of fuss to flocks of tourists.
Meals are gigantic but you end up paying for it. Waiters could politely be described as " abrupt " it's a nightmare ordering a drink , so that's it down to one star then!

Favorite Dish: The fish wrapped in cheese and bacon and deep fried , i saw Scottish people complaining it was unhealthy.

Address: 67 Vaci Utca st.

Comparison: more expensive than average

Directions: on the "Pest" side

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 2

Theme: Other

Gerbeaud cafe: Ultra swanky coffee and cakes Gerbeaud House Review

Super Posh but remarkably un-snooty coffee house near the British Embassy. The service is formal and you pay for the obvoius quality of what is served but they don't really look down on the " casually dressed " and there's a lot less attitiude than in say Paris. Best in the early evening when the horded of flourescant tourists have gone to take night time photographs of the chain bridge.

Favorite Dish: Hot Chocolate - I don't drink coffee because i ahve enough bad habits.

Address: V Vorosmarty ter 7

Comparison: more expensive than average

Directions: Centre of Pest side

Phone: 429900

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Coffeehouse

Blue Tomato: Blue Tomato

Mixture of traditional Hungarian and Steak house food ,varied menu ,varied quality, bit of an ex-pat hangout as it's near the Sherlock Holmes pub.

Favorite Dish: Gulyasleves - Beef stew with dumplings potato and carrot.

Address: Pannonia Utca District XIII

Comparison: about average

Directions: One road north from Svent Istvan Korut

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 3

Theme: Steakhouse

Roszadomb: Lunch time canteen

At lunch time 10-2 avoid the sit down resteraunt and head for the bar which converts into a point and shoot canteen at lunchtimes. Its no smoking at lunchtime but you get a tray and have hours of fun because there are no signs to say what anything is and the menu's in hungarian. Decide on something that looks hopefull and try and order some potatoes and noodles and grab a side plate of pickles and a soup starter, but the staff speak no English so its all a bit random.
Having said that you can try a variety of weird and wonderfull Hungarian dishes for 500 forint ( ý1.50) for 2 courses.

Favorite Dish: Giant meatball in cabbage and brussel sprout stew ,with egg soup and gherkin side plate.

Address: Bimbo utca

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Near the 4-6 tram line ( 3 stops from Moskva ter) and walk up the hill.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Local

Firkasz: Best resteraunt in Budapest

Proper Hungarian resteraunt with a small but varied menu and a good atmosphere.
Don't do much but concentrate on doing it well ,fantastic interior. You can spend hours in there and the waiters don't care ( they don't come over if your talking ). The owner brings the drinks round and the regulars smoke at the bar cos they've seen it all before.

Favorite Dish: Veal stew in paprika and sour cream sauce with egg noodles.

Address: 1136 Tatra Utca 18 , District XIII

Comparison: about average

Directions: On the corner of Tatra Utca and Raoul Wallenburg Utca ,just north of Svent Istvan Korut.

Phone: 450-1118

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Other

Marxim: A communist pizza parlour -you what?

Pizza parlour designed in a communist theme , plastic chairs ,barbed wire between the booths, communist themed murals.
Decent and varied selection of pizza's ,very cheap drinks ,cigarette smoke ,loud music.
Its a hang out for local kids and the beer loving International house english teachers and is always packed so book ahead.
Eat pizza ,drink Unicum and pints of Dreher and write your name on the walls.

Favorite Dish: Has to be the Monica and Bill Pussy Pussy Pizza.

Address: Kisrokus Utca , Buda , District II

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Straight up the hill from the Mammut tram stop.

Phone: 316 0231

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Pizza

Kaveszunet: Best internet cafe ever!

Internet cafes are normally awful ,but this place is fantastic! Only 6 computers but decent food and drink ,cheap prices and a decent wooden decor make this the meeting point for the locals of District XIII as well as international net fiends writing boring travelogues. Good music too.

Favorite Dish: Cheese on toast , homemade cakes ,fruit tea ,beer ,toasted snadwiches ,its all snack stuff but better than you normally get in similar places.

Address: Tatra Utca , District XIII

Directions: Off Svent Istvan Korut

Phone: 236-0853

Rating: 5

Theme: Other