Usually similar sentences like these occur when you are talking to a friend of yours:
Before we went to the Kolor …
After we have left the Kolor …
We were about to go to the Kolor, but …
So anyway a new star has born in only a few weeks. The Kolor had its opening at New Year’s Eve, next to the entrance of the Gozsdu udvar in the Király utca. Later on at the end of January these sentences mentioned above became quite frequent.
So to Quote Gábor ‘Slash-ticket’ Vörös: ‘how could this be?’
Well, the staff of the Kolor was quite active during 2012, though not here. They organized parties especially in places like ‘No one-would-have-thought-that-a-party-can-be-organized-even-here'. So, on a ferryboat, at the Honvéd Lovarda (Honvéd Riding School), or at the Közvágóhíd (a junction named after the slaughter-house nearby). Then they didn‘t have to look for places anymore because finally they found one.
When I first stepped in the place reminded me of the Spíler. But now I’m not talking about imitation or reproducing. It is simply trendy nowadays. Sophisticated and well-designed interior made by designers (or amateurs with good taste) with moderate lights, simple, not so flashy and comfy tables and chairs, a DJ setup, good drinks and similarly enjoyable hot food. Csaba called it Ruin pub 2.0 referring to the basic idea of this unique phenomenon of Budapest.
Or we can say that we can easily imagine having a good guitar concert and drinking beer in a ruin pub, while in this new place we rather think about the music provided by a DJ and drinking tequila. This is the way the look of Budapest at night moved to. Opening a place with tables, draught beer, salty sticks and waiting for the guests to come in is not enough. Or not in Budapest anymore.
You need a place where the community is also good. Where you post the following to the facebook page of the place:
‘Hello! Yesterday somebody stole my purse in Kolor. I had many important documents in it, like my ID card and my address card among other things. My purse is black, made of leather with a zipper. If somebody knows anything about it please contact me on this phone number:...'
… and tomorrow you can write the following under the post:
‘You, who sent me back my purse in a priority mail without touching it and what for more *anonymously* you are the coolest man on Earth!!! : ) the credit of kolor is checked and all right, reckless person, who left the purse is present!
Joy and happiness” : )’
Because things like these exist.
So we are in the Kolor. At night it is full of people, although the place itself isn’t small. It reaches out till the courtyard and ends almost at the Spíler. Amongst dozen other clubs, these two pubs are the tractive force of the Gozsdu udvar and during the summer they can easily rearrange the route of the partygoers (and maybe the most secret pub of Budapest will also get more customers).
We can see the texture of the brick wall above us, but the unfriendly bedpan-looking lampshades are already, cleverly covered with a wooden rack. With this little practical thing the whole interior became unique and cozy.
However in the Kolor we couldn’t feel the sophisticatedly detailed idea of design. For instance the toilet is so hopelessly awful, it couldn’t be refined either with a huge 'ruin pub' or ‘ruin graffiti'.
At the back the colorful neon lights give us a bit more mysterious atmosphere. Blade Runner fans would love this part of the place. And here you can see the terrace which isn’t ready yet and where we are likely to bib during spring.
But what? On the wall you can only see the distilled spirits written because their price looks better, but we can also have better. For example real tequila, made of blue agave. Those, who haven’t tasted it before cannot imagine how good the original one could be after the ‘drink it with lemon and salt’ with that little red hat type of tequila.
Except if they run out of tequila – or they don’t even have it – and you order gin instead of it. The bartender puts out the drinks in front of you and meanwhile he is constantly telling the interesting story of the gin. The excise duty had to be roughly increased long ago because guzzling gin became an endemic.
Really, because people didn't have to have permission for making gin in England before 1736, while taxes were really high on imported beverages. Moreover gin could also be made of poor quality grain because mostly juniper berries gave the taste of it (in a good case, or turpentine in a bad case) .
So we don't have to be afraid at these drinks and even fully-ripe fruits are added to the Tanqueray in the middle, not only the skin of the fruit. I have decided to choose this one, after our bartender analyzed also the taste of the drinks. So the service is great - which is fortunately an expectation most of the places must deal with.
What else do we have? Oh, yes, food. We have chosen one goulash soup for two. A real Hungarian dish, which isn't so complicated but also easy to mess it up. It was absolutely good, like on Sundays at home. The meat was alright, the soup was tasty and the portion was huge (in the picture you can the half of it).
Prices are reasonable. You can have distilled spirits for around 700 HUF and quality drinks for twice as much. Wines are also at a really good level of quality. There isn’t a wide range of variety. The most expensive wine is the Sauska 13, One and a half deciliter for 1000 HUF (it takes 3000 HUF in the stores, so it's ok). For the soup we paid 800 HUF.
But Kolor isn’t only about this place. Inspiring presentations like TED are organized by the Kolor projekt, the Vírus Klub and the Vírus Pszichó. In the courtyard you can also watch movies you have never seen in Hungary before and parties are organized in the cellar. Soon we will also visit these, because we really like as the club participates in the everyday life of the community gathered around it. And vice versa.
Kolor
1075 Budapest, Király utca 13
Opening hours:
Monday: 12:00 - 4:00
Tuesday - Wednesday: 12:00 - 12:00
Thursday - Saturday: 12:00 - 4:00
Sunday: 12:00 - 12:00
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