Best of Budapest

Ok, this isn't really a pub and as it turns out, this may not be the most accurate title for this section but whatever.

Anyway, the Zizi Bár is definitely not a pub but I don't know how else to call it. A champagne bar, maybe... At least that's what the name refers to ( Zizi is a sort of onomatopoeic Hungarian word with a meaning close to 'sizzle' or 'fizz') and the fact that a large portion of the drink list is dedicated to champagne-based cocktails. I gave the 'Zizi' cocktail a try, which is an extremely nice one, quite lovely with cucumbers, ice and champagne, the perfect refreshment for a hot summer day. It was lovely to drink even now, despite the fact that the group of people I was with found it extremely important to place a middle finger in the background of my photo:

The place itself looks quite good with lots of colors, with a front part:

Clearly different from the back:

The former is dominated by the bar area, which you should take a good look at as they haven't officially opened yet and if you don't make a reservation hours or even days in advance, you'll never get to sit at a proper table, not even on weekdays as the place is completely invaded by the Budapest crowd.

It's easy to understand why as not only the cocktails taste really good (we tested the White Russian and some others) but the food as well. They offer a variety of tapas-style dishes that are quite reasonably priced, compared to what we would expect based on the look of the place. The portions are not too small, an average person would probably be full after two dishes, three is almost more than enough and their price ranges approximately from 850 to 1850 HUF. Most of them cost around 1200 HUF/plate with a variety of different food, such as shrimps, calamari, mussels or roast meat in it. The food certainly doesn't lag behind Pata Negra when it comes to the quality of the tapas; I have no doubt that you'll be satisfied:

As much as you'll appreciate the silly, random quotes hung on the walls of the restrooms.

I must say that this isn't the cheapest of the places, food and cocktails for two people can easily add up to 10-15 000 HUF, but we all know that cocktails tend to be a bit on the pricy end, so that's all right.

My only problem was that when I wanted to smoke a cigarette in front of the bar while sipping my drink, I was stopped and told that I wasn't allowed to take my drink outside. The non-smokers will naturally not be bothered by this, because Zizi is still a great place, one of the best in Budapest, worthy of being full and busy at all hours.

Zizi Bár
Budapest, Hercegprímás utca 12.
0617800888

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I don’t want everyone to think that I have a new favorite place. I posted something similar on our Facebook page when they put the ‘pork goodies’ down on my table. 

But I simply can’t deny it. 

The restaurant was recommended to me by Balázs Csapody, the person who – along with László Jahni – is responsible for one of the best restaurants in Hungary, the Kistücsök in Balatonszemes. When he gives you a tip, you’d better take it! Still, it took me several weeks to finally stop by the place on my way home and I can’t stop thinking about it ever since. 

Let’s see why it’s so very good: the entrance is reassuring, the interior is extremely cozy but in a professional way; you feel at home but never doubt for a second that serious interior decorators were involved in the creation of the atmosphere, or at least people that could be interior decorators if they wanted to. 

Even the concept is wonderful: they serve classic but heavy Hungarian dishes, which they don’t redesign but fit to the expectations of the modern Budapest’s effective demands. This means that you won’t have to look for the sausage molecule, dipped in ‘pork mousse’, on the contrary; everything is big, authentic, tangible, and greasy when necessary; nevertheless, it’s all made with great care and only the best ingredients.

You look up on the wall and feel extremely happy to see such dishes as piglet flitch with skin (1650 HUF) or pork legs, pork flitch (1400 HUF) or a whole grilled chicken (2700 HUF), maybe the duck (3500 HUF), the tripe stew (1500 HUF) or the variety of pork products (as a result of a Hungarian tradition, the ‘disznótor’ or ‘disznóvágás’, the slaughtering of a domestic pig and processing its edible parts into ham, cracklings, sausage etc.). This last one is what I ordered and not more than fifteen minutes later I received a nicely arranged but fully loaded plate, along with some homemade bread. 

While I was waiting, I talked to the waitress who definitely looked more like the owner than an employee. We had a chat and she told me that she is running the place with her husband, that they’ve had some experience in the catering business some ten years ago, that they only opened a while ago and that they had to go through a lot of research before they found the right suppliers. Ones that sell them the best sausages, chitterlings and meat but that by now everything sort of came together. 

Indeed it did. 

What I got on my plate was not only affordable and a huge portion, but also an excellent lunch. You’d never find any of these sausages at a normal butcher as they are all homemade. The ‘véreshurka’ (a sort of boudin or blood-pudding) literally almost made me cry. The potatoes were nice too, but the cabbage with those tiny pieces of lard or the Dijon mustard with the fresh horseradish are such delicacies, which you usually don’t get unless you go much higher up on the restaurant price range. 

And that’s why I liked Kispiac so much: they serve food that most people could eat anytime but the quality of their food is so high that it’s never been expected from such foods in Hungary before. When we started looking for the best Hungarian restaurant in Budapest, this is exactly what we were looking for. I know that Lajos Bíró makes magic at Bock or that they are reinterpreting the ‘mangalica’ (a special Hungarian breed ‘curly-hair hog’ that tastes delicious) at Nobu in an unusual way, and that they use Hungarian ingredients at the Michelin-star restaurant, Onyx, but when I’m looking for a ‘disznótoros’ (explained above), I don’t really care about high-concept food, all I want is a good sausage. And that’s what I got at Kispiac. 

In the end I ordered a ‘lekváros derelye’ (a type of pasta, usually filled with plum jam), which I won’t describe but believe me, the mere thought of not having some right now makes me sad. In the end I paid and left as a very satisfied customer. I finally found a place that I can truly recommend to all my non-Hungarian friends if they are looking for an authentic, high quality and affordable Hungarian restaurant. 

Kispiac

Hold utca 13., Budapest, HU.

06304300142, 061-269-4231

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Even though by reading us it might seem like only wonderful places open in Budapest, the reality is that we tend to cheat a bit : we only write about our positive experiences and the rest goes on to be forgotten. This also means that we visit a lot more places than what we review on the blog, there is a whole load of restaurants and bars that simply aren’t worthy of being mentioned. Say good or nothing – that’s our motto.

Apacuka in Nagymező utca used to be one these places: we visited them last summer, had a meal and left unsatisfied. At least I did: there were four of us and everyone else liked what they ate. I on the contrary found that the quality was mediocre at best, while the prices were set relatively high. I would even go as far as to call it expensive. So Apacuka never made my list and I kind of forgot about it.

And then I've been back on two occasions, both times for a work-related event. I had my preconceptions but at the same time I was very hungry so I put my principles aside and ordered a dish. I was surprised by the quality of the food, which was much more edible than what I've tasted before so I decided to visit them again and test at least three of their courses. 

The interior of the restaurant is quite interesting, not so much cosy as surreal, sometimes simple, different wherever you look but definitely more exciting than the majority of the places in Budapest. The composition I liked th most is the 'Girl teasing two-headed geese with no underwear' - this is I title I gave to the piece. 

But let's see about the food: I had mussels with white wine, garlic and chili for the entrée, which was way better than most of what they serve in this genre. The mussels didn't taste tired or frozen but quite fresh and this spicy, creamy, oniony sauce I found to be extraordinary. Well done!

I also tasted some of the duck foie gras which came in several forms, as a crème brûlée or served with cocoa dots. Experimenting with this ingredient only works with high quality foie gras and I think it's rare to find it treated by as expert hands as in Apacuka.

As for the main course, I had Confit of Pork Cheeks with 'slambuc' lasagne (slambuc is a traditional 'shepherd's' food, made of pasta, potatoes and lard), a simply wonderful dish: the pork cheeks were juicy, soft and crisp and the lasagne smoked enough to make it less of a gastrosnob and more of an authentic experience. I could have used some more 'jus' on the plate though. 

The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was the Cheeseplate, I find that 1500 HUF is way too much for a mediocre camambert and a boring cheddar, even if the blue cheese was all right, but not outstanding.

All in all, Apacuka has undergone an immense development and passed from indifferent to recommendable, though it's still considered as expensive, 6-8000 HUF / person with drinks, and for that amount it is normal to expect high quality dining.

Apacuka Kávéház Étterem Varieté

1065 Budapest, Nagymező utca 54-56.
Telefon: +36 1 269 1317
Mon-Fri 10 AM- 2 AM
Sat: 12 AM-4 AM
Sunday: closed

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The place just opened, we even went to the opening party and here is a photo to prove it:

And also, I will be shamelessly using the official party pictures from the place’s Facebook page throughout the article. Just telling you.  

We went by for a drink and fully accomplished our mission, just like Méter does. There is a new, authentically furnished bar in Budapest. Méter simply looks good, well thought-out or at least you can see that they looked around for some fresh ideas. For example, there is a cage that really is a bar, which you can sit around and get served at. Above that you can find some light bulbs stuck in glass jars, which look amazing, even if it isn’t the first time we’ve ever seen them: 

But the fact that hot twins pour your drink is so infinitely awesome that it no doubt makes the bar stand out, so that’s definitely one of the main reasons to stop by Méter (the first picture does not do the girls justice!):

The trick is that they measure everything in meters, a sandwich is 33 cm so a third of a meter:

They give you one meter of drinks (which would be about 3.3 feet for those of you not familiar with the metric system) that actually comes down to – if I’m not mistaken – one liter. 

On the wall you can find a list of things based on how many meters away they are from Méter.

Good news: your dick does NOT get measured in either of the toilets! 

The prices are average for the city center, as is their menu. As we were having a smoke outside the bar (full even on its opening day), we were talking about how many nice places there are in Budapest and how hard it is to stand out these days. Would Méter have been incredibly awesome five years ago? Sure! But now there are so many original, good quality places in the city, even on this street alone, that it’s extremely hard to create something that truly fascinates everyone. 

But maybe that’s all right. Maybe it will be enough, if Budapest gets so full of cool places that the bad one will slowly disappear. That would be nice…

Méter

Budapest, Kazinczy utca 31

Opening hours: 4 PM - 2 AM

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Pasta pont (=Pasta point), is how you pronounce it. It was created by the same group as Leves. (=Soup.), a place that practically revolutionized our culinary habits, especially among the university students. As a result of no more than one article we wrote about them, long lines were queuing on the street in front of their restaurant. We have not written a single word about their second installment, they haven’t even made an official announcement about their opening and yet, there was a huge line at Kálvin tér on the second day after their almost unnoticeable “inauguration”: 

The concept of Pasta. is exactly the same as Leves.’s; a portion costs 990 HUF and the menu changes daily. 

When I arrived on Tuesday, around 1:30 PM, the situation was almost distressing as I find long lines very discouraging, but then I decided to stay and wait.  Then I started worrying: what if by the time I get there, there will be almost nothing left to choose from? Things got even more interesting when I got through the door: I was still far from my goal and there were at least 8-10 people before me so I couldn’t relax just yet. 

I barely passed the door when the sweet and funny cashier girl held up a sign with the word BOLOGNESE written on it, then she told us in a shy, almost whisper that it was the only sauce left and that they ran out of the rest. No matter, I thought.

At this point I started worrying that they would run out of even the Bolognese sauce by the time I was next. In the end the wait was not that bad, 9 minutes at most from the end of the line until I was handed my box as the boys work really quick (cooking the pasta, warming the sauce, sprinkling the cheese etc.) The work is cleverly divided up so every person is executing one short, well-practiced operation at a time. This way they can serve a dozen people in an amazingly short amount of time. Sometimes, of course, even this isn’t enough. 

So let’s talk about the food. It comes in a fun box which is suitable for consummation while walking but if you prefer, you can also find benches in front the place, unless all of them are occupied, of course. Anyway, the Bolognese: not a bad direction to take. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it perfect but as the boys tell you, they are still in trial mode so smaller glitches can occur from time to time. 

Let’s see the ones I experienced: a turkey Bolognese counts as absolute blasphemy. I simply cannot allow it. Maybe someone will find a recipe proving that the ancient Etruscans made Bolognese with turkey or discover that this is the new rage in Europe; I still won’t care. I’m quite sure that putting turkey in a Bolognese is the work of the Devil himself. Also: the pasta was OK but not flawless, a tad overcooked. 

Everything else was great, even the pasta. The sauce has a superb taste; all the ingredients (tomatoes, carrots, wine, oregano and basil) come together nicely. It’s spicy enough so that we even accept the girly meat choice, especially as they pay a lot of attention to the details: the presentation is good and the cheese is definitely not the cheapest one you can buy. I’m talking about a rich tomato-flavor, none of the plastic stuff or preservatives but a simply great dish. 

Budapest has a new place that is worthy of mentioning and I’m telling you that this happens on almost a daily basis now and these places are crawling with customers. Fortunately, the old but nice places keep their clients as well, maybe the bad ones will go down, but this is a tendency I like a lot, very much indeed… 

Pasta.
Budapest, IX. Kálvin tér 2.
06302417760

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