Hungarian cooking is built on a small set of things used well. Onions softened in fat, paprika stirred in off the heat so it keeps its colour, and sour cream to finish. The best of it turns up in four places: small canteens, market halls, the old cafés, and a growing group of serious restaurants.
Park Plaza Budapest sits on the Buda embankment at Bem rakpart, between the Chain Bridge and Batthyány tér. Many of the places below are within walking distance of the hotel or easily reached by tram or metro.
Canteens
Hungarians call these places étkezde. Think canteen: a small room, a short menu, lunch only, and prices set for people who eat there every week.
Kádár Étkezde
Kádár sits on Klauzál tér, a leafy square in the old Jewish Quarter on the Pest side, a few streets from the ruin bars. It opened in 1957 and the room has not changed much since: panelled walls, checked tablecloths, shared tables. Order the sólet, a slow-cooked bean dish, or the székelykáposzta, pork with sauerkraut and sour cream. It runs Tuesday to Saturday, for breakfast and lunch, and the room is small, so arrive early.
Stand25 Bisztró
Stand25 is on the Buda side at the foot of Castle Hill, close enough to walk from the hotel along the embankment. It brings traditional Hungarian food into a polished but informal restaurant setting and is included in the Michelin Guide. The goulash comes with celery root and a little lemon peel to cut the paprika. Finish with túrógombóc, curd cheese dumplings with soured cream.
Markets
Budapest built a set of iron-framed market halls around the turn of the last century and still uses them. They are good for shopping and, in a few cases, better for eating.
Batthyány tér Market Hall
This is the closest market to the hotel, a few minutes north along the Buda embankment. The hall opened in 1902 and faces Parliament across the water. Locals shop here in the morning, and the cafés upstairs look out over the Danube.
Belvárosi Piac
Belvárosi Piac is on Hold utca, in the office streets behind Szabadság tér and a few minutes from Parliament on the Pest side. It is the best of the halls for eating, and quieter than the Great Market Hall. The food court upstairs fills with office workers at lunch. It opens early on weekdays and closes at 18:00, at 14:00 on Saturday, and shuts on Sunday.
Great Market Hall
The Great Market Hall stands at the Pest end of Liberty Bridge, where Váci utca runs out. It is the biggest of them and the busiest with visitors. The ground floor is the reason to go: paprika strung on ropes, sausage, sheep’s cheese, and pickles sold from barrels. Upstairs sells lángos, fried dough with sour cream and grated cheese.
Fény utca Market
Fény utca is tucked behind the Mammut shopping centre at Széll Kálmán tér, one metro stop from Batthyány tér. This is a normal neighbourhood market serving residential Buda, with produce, flowers, and pastry rather than souvenirs. Go in the morning.
Hunyadi tér
Hunyadi tér is a small neighbourhood square in Terézváros, a couple of streets off Andrássy út. It is the smallest market here. On Saturday mornings, produce and sausage sellers set up outside the hall.
Cafés
Budapest has two coffee traditions. The old cafés are grand rooms that sell pastry. The newer ones are small and built around the coffee itself.
Gerbeaud
Gerbeaud takes up most of one side of Vörösmarty tér, at the top of Váci utca in downtown Pest. It is the grandest of the old cafés, and people still come in for cake and coffee rather than only to look at the room.
New York Café
The New York Café is on the Grand Boulevard at Erzsébet körút, inside the hotel of the same name. The interior is the reason to come: gilt, frescoes, painted ceilings. Prices are set for the room rather than the coffee.
Espresso Embassy
Espresso Embassy is on Arany János utca, in the streets between St Stephen’s Basilica and Szabadság tér. It was one of the places that started the specialty coffee scene here, and it is still a serious espresso bar.
Fekete
Fekete is on Múzeum körút, across from the Hungarian National Museum. It roasts its own coffee rather than buying it in. The front room is narrow, and there is a planted courtyard behind it.
Madal
Madal has branches across the city, so there is usually one near wherever you have ended up. It serves espresso, filter and AeroPress coffee, and is often easier to find a seat here than the two cafés above.
Fine dining
Budapest has seven Michelin-starred restaurants, with eight stars between them.
Stand
Stand is on Székely Mihály utca, a side street near Deák Ferenc tér where the three metro lines meet. It is the city’s only two-star restaurant. Szabina Szulló and Tamás Széll cook Hungarian ingredients with fine dining technique. Book well ahead.
Babel
Babel is on Piarista köz, a lane off Ferenciek tere with the Danube a minute away. It has one star and only about a dozen tables. The eight and 13-course menus draw on Austro-Hungarian cooking, including a refined version of the layered potato dish rakott krumpli.
Borkonyha Winekitchen
Borkonyha is on Sas utca, a short street beside St Stephen’s Basilica. It is one of the city’s less formal Michelin-starred restaurants, with one star, around 200 Hungarian wines, and a dining room you can talk in.
Costes
Costes is on Ráday utca in District IX, the restaurant street that runs south from Kálvin tér. It opened in 2008 and won a star in 2010, the first in Hungary to do so, and has held it since.
essència
essència is further along Sas utca from Borkonyha, near the Basilica. It is run by a Portuguese and Hungarian couple, and the cooking sits between the two countries.
Rumour
Rumour is on Petőfi tér, near the Danube on the Pest side, behind a door that is easy to walk past. Chef Jenő Rácz cooks for a counter of about 20 seats.
Salt
Salt is on Királyi Pál utca in downtown Pest, inside Hotel Rum. It holds a star and a Green Star for sustainability, and the menu leans on foraged, pickled and fermented Hungarian ingredients.
Good to know
In a canteen, sit wherever there is room, even if that means sharing a table. Read the daily board before the printed menu, because the board is what the kitchen cooked that morning.
Book fine dining two to three weeks ahead, and further for weekends. Smart casual is generally suitable, but check the restaurant’s guidance when booking. If you want incredible food without the price, look at the Bib Gourmand list instead of the Michelin-starred one.
Check your bill for szervízdíj, a service charge of 10 to 15 per cent. If it is has already been added, an additional tip is not generally expected.
For a late snack, the food trucks at Karaván stay open past most kitchens, on Kazinczy utca in the Jewish Quarter next to the Szimpla ruin bar. Look for kürtőskalács, the spiral-shaped chimney cake, cooked over visible coals.
