Best of Budapest

Two rooftop bars opened for business recently in Budapest. One of them is on the top of the Paris Department Store, where a skating rink operated in our grandparents’ time. The other one gives us the feeling of being close to the clouds above Gozsdu Court, which we badly need among the tall buildings’ walls anyway. In addition to a view onto the Danube, the direct contact with the sky is another important thing that city-dwellers need to fight for. The Tip Top Bar is good, but simply not enough.

Gozsdu Sky Terasz

It’s not easy to find your way up to the terrace. When we went to the opening party last year (this year it opens today), there were no signs pointing in the right direction; only two ladies trying to read the behavior of passers-by at the entrance to the Oldtimer show were there to invite people to the roof. An elevator takes you to the place through the parking garage. Here is the entrance:

The security guards will awkwardly swear if you want to lock your bike near the door, but they don’t really mind. The elevator takes us to the sixth floor. Then we need to walk through the cars to the left and take a door on the right. Here we need to traverse another floor by taking the steps. It’s really not easy without signs, which will obviously be posted later.

Upstairs we run into young people lying in bean-bags against the wall of the toilet, which immediately creates a laid-back atmosphere. The roof is huge and we need to walk a bit further along a section with real grass and trees to arrive at the counter, where we find the famous jazz singer Veronika Harcsa, who is just starting her concert with her band.

The back part also has two bed-like things with cushions, so if you want to get the best experience, you should arrive early to be able to lie down under the sky with a drink in your hand and stare at the clouds.

Panorama: unfortunately the roof doesn’t rise far above the neighboring houses and the view is dominated by the Citadella and the Madách Trade Center. But you can spend some good time watching the diversity of the roofs in Budapest and if you search carefully, you can find some surprises too.

Company: it was mostly young people between 18 and 25 and the number of colored or white rimmed glasses per square meter set a new record. Boys and girls were in equal numbers at 50% each, just as God intended.

Price: espresso HUF 450, a glass of Sió fruit juice HUF 450, Mojito HUF 1590, a mug of beer HUF 790. Spirits start at HUF 890.

360 Bar

It’s only a little bit easier to get up to this place. You’ll need to find the side entrance to the office block just to the right of the entrance to the Alexandra book store. From here you should take the elevator to T (roof) level, where you won’t need to take any more stairs (the place is wheelchair-friendly).

The roof is actually a six meter-wide zone around a “This is Sparta” pit which you can walk around. It can accommodate about as many people as the place on top of Gozsdu Court. They made sure to have a lot of green stuff too. Various plants grow stoically in aquariums on the tables and decoration grass is planted along the rims. Security guards make sure you don’t throw yourself over the railings.

Panorama: awesome. Nearly all of Budapest’s important sights are visible from here: the Citadella, the Basilica – with the Ferris wheel next to it –, the Fishermen’s Bastion, and so on. In the middle of the terrace you can see the bookstore way down below, which is also a great sight.

Company: a little bit older crowd in their thirties, often wearing a jacket or even a tie. But most of them are sipping their drinks in T-shirts.

Price: espresso HUF 360, a glass of fruit juice HUF 390, Mojito and other cocktails HUF 1600, a mug of beer from around HUF 600. Spirits start at HUF 900. So it’s cheaper than the Gozsdu Sky Terrace though at first glance I would have guessed this one would be more expensive.

Roof of +1 Regency Suites Hotel Budapest

Although this did not open – even when it was open previously, only hotel guests were allowed to come up here – I still wanted to show it to you. There may be some event organized here in the summer, so we just might have the chance to get above Madách Square.

Incidentally, you could take long walks along the roofs and it’s quite possible that you could get over to the Gozsdu Sky Terrace by parkouring. I didn’t try.

Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu

You may find the original article here.

It’s great that we have Halkakas, which is based on Hungarian fish, but these are salt-water fish:

TheBigFish is right next to Oktogon, run by the same people that also operate the fish market in Budaörs. This guarantees the quality of the ingredients and just like a good steak, good fish is 95% about the ingredients. The remaining 5% depends on the chef: it’s good if he doesn’t spoil what he receives ready-made.

Then Dzsidzsi Csekey wrote about the place and reported on all sorts of disasters like inadequate offerings and tasteless fish, so I lost interest in experimenting for some time. I was hoping that most of the problems could be overcome and in a few weeks the situation would change for the better, so we waited until this Saturday to try TheBigFish.

If you are already bored by my article: the restaurant is still struggling with teething troubles and isn’t particularly cheap either, but there’s nothing like it in Budapest.

The location is great, the design is good, the chairs are tall enough, the counter is full of fresh fish, and it’s great that we can watch from an alcove as our lunch is prepared. It’s also great that the sun dumps its photons through the enormous windows. There is light.

However, the ordering process is not correct. I don’t know how it could be improved, but it’s not right as it is: you go up to the counter and say what you want. The only staff member selects a fillet or a full fish, depending on what you asked for, and walks back to you. She asks you if it’s good. You say it is. Then she measures it. Next, she does the same with the next course. With your partner’s fish. With the fish of all the guests at your table. It takes about 5-6 minutes per person. And people are waiting in the queue. For you. More and more people. Half an hour after opening, when you are already eating at your table because you came first, you look around and see that the line is at least half an hour long. And you wouldn’t dream of having another fish, although you might want to. You’d starve to death rather than have to wait in the line again.

Luckily, you can get a drink from the waiters, but it’s hard to catch one because on this Saturday the place was so full that by the afternoon there was not a single vacant seat. TheBigFish is a huge success.

This is obviously not due to the ordering process, but the meals, which are really fantastic. We didn’t order anything special, just roast squid, salmon steak, trout, sea pikeperch and yoghurt salad. And we weren’t fully satisfied either because the pikeperch, the trout and the sides were cold. When I complained, they warmed it up immediately and when they returned it, it wasn’t any drier (obviously they spat into it). And indeed, it was warm.

So, although they are still working on overcoming problems after opening, we have arrived at the gist of it: they didn’t spoil it. Indeed, they even emphasized what’s good in these fish. I’ve seen the same fresh, high-quality fish in such a great variety within only a 13-meter zone of the sea. It’s taken for granted at TheBigFish that everything has a fresh, clear flavor. And it’s due to the good concept, the good technique and considerable experience that the outcome is a well prepared, juicy food with moderate but proper seasoning. I adored the squid. You’ve got to taste the sea pikeperch, the seasoned olive goes very well with the fish, and although the fried potatoes were a disappointment, the potato salad with mayonnaise and the French potato side matched the fish very well. The house wine is not very nice, but it makes you just as drunk and likely to grin as the similarly bad, but after all very cheerful Croatian wines.

We paid a total of HUF 12,290 for three. This is not cheap. But we were really full. In a way that you can rarely be at home: without any feeling of being full but full of good fish. We had some wine too, because after all this is healthier than a knuckle with juicy meat (which is also great).

Viewed from a different perspective: a restaurant of the same quality in Budapest is no cheaper than TheBigFish, and if you order the same dishes at a place that is spitting distance from the sea, you wouldn’t pay less. So, the place isn’t overly expensive; it’s a fair price and basically without any competitor in Budapest. Therefore, it’s great news for everyone that it has opened.

Go there and eat a lot of fish because fish are good.

TheBigFish
Budapest, Andrássy út 44.
06-30-6942855
12:00-22:00

Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu

Everyone has learned that they can buy arabica and robusta coffee; the former is more expensive and of premium quality, the latter is cheaper and simpler. We were all raised on the latter one.

Well, this is not necessarily true. On the other hand, there are more than just these two types, though these are the most widespread. For example, the Barako coffee shop in Török Street sells barako coffee, which accounts for less than 1% of coffee production in the world. Ryan Luelyn, the owner from the Philippines, imports the coffee beans from his family’s plantation in order to sell them in Budapest.

Crazy. All of a sudden, he began looking for a place on the other side of the world where it would be worth opening a coffee bar. And clearly he preferred Budapest: a city with a traditional coffee bar culture and people who like this drink, but don’t know much about current trends and coffee in general. He looked at corporate taxes and was satisfied (only to later realize that he had looked at only a few of them and that he has to pay six different taxes), so he decided to set off and is now here.

Ryan is a coffee designer. It may sound pretentious or ridiculous, but there’s a real difference in terms of his behavior and approach. He doesn’t want to serve the coffee that he selects to best match the style of preparation. What he wants to know is what brands his guests like and how they like it. So he experiments a lot with his regular guests and is not afraid to give them robusta or over-roast coffee if that’s what they like. He wants to please everybody by making the kind of coffee that they like.

And, if possible, at a place that is not much-frequented. He didn’t want to go to the party quarter because the essence of his work would lose its flavor, since he has no wish to serve swarms of people. He much prefers to deal with his guests at a quiet Buda pace. It’s a good thing if someone comes to check out Barako from a faraway place, since a person like that is really looking for something. He doesn’t necessarily know what it is though.

And the owner behind his test tubes – sorry, his siphons – is indeed as exciting as one would think based on the above description. The additional good news is that for the price of two coffees, he gives a workshop which introduces you to all the exciting aspects of coffee-making and the coffees sold here.

Out of curiosity and due to the recommendation by cink.hu, I went to the first occasion where we tasted six different coffees blindly, poured through a filter. There were various arabica blends (in some cases two infusions were made of the same blend, but prepared differently), one barako and one dead robusta roasted 7 months ago. The last one was so bitter that I even liked it, but Ryan didn’t mind. Of course, I liked the fourth one best, as did many others at the tasting event, which – to his greatest delight – happened to be the owner’s own barako. It’s really great stuff.

Something was dripping on the back shelf when we were there. Ice drip coffee was being prepared, which would be the main attraction for the evening: a big piece of ice is placed over the coffee and as it is melting, it goes through the filter drip by drip. One portion drips down in 10 hours. No brewing at all; the aromas are simple washed out of the ground coffee by the ice-cold water.

And what is extremely important: the second part of Ryan’s training workshop will be this Saturday. This time we will have a chance to see the difference between the various ways of brewing coffee. All you can drink for HUF 1200. I think you should go there before it gets packed. It helps if you know a bit of English, though there will be people around who can help you out. Let’s be honest, I think coffee terms sound much better in English. Blooming, going flat, brew and the like. Be prepared to be hyperactive for a few hours afterwards. Here is where you can register.

Barako coffee shop
Address: 1023 Budapest, Török u. 3
Opening hours: Monday through Saturday: 08:00 – 20:00, Sunday: 9:00-18:00

Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu

As far as I can tell, Budapest doesn’t really have a group capable of bringing the same care and professionalism to a vegetarian restaurant that our tops chefs guarantee in the world of bistros.

I can still assemble an unenthusiastic list, however, which can be used to check out the world of meatless meals. But it’s even better if you take a look at a few vegetarian offerings by the top restaurants and go there instead. You’d likely be much better off this way.

1. Napfényes étterem

This is clearly Budapest’s best vegetarian restaurant. The people in the kitchen are full of ideas and have a lot of imagination, so the foods are all a delightful experience, which even meat eaters can applaud. The foods were so cleverly seasoned and the more acidic and neutral bites were so skillfully mixed that I hardly noticed I was eating only vegetables and grains (and, of course, oil).

Since then, I’ve been back to this place several times, and even when the place is only half full, you can see the waiters are in a flurry and there is a sense of chaos in the air, but the courses are perfect and we are always happy to eat them.

Still, in an ideal situation, this place would only get a strong C in my book. Like a good csárda (inn), where hearty and delicious meals are prepared with great enthusiasm, but the gastro specialties are left to those who specialize in them. But as I see it, there’s no such place.

2. Nemsüti bisztró

This is where I had the best vegetarian hamburger in my life. I must add, however, that I don’t have much experience in this area. The goat cheese, special sauces and vegetables create a rich flavor between the hard ciabatta buns that you may be familiar with from Ring Café.

The bistro has a little brother as well, Nemsüti ételbár, which didn’t knock me off my feet either, though it’s a decent place.

3. Govinda

After the somewhat awkward service, I had some surprisingly good mouthfuls, so the Krishna restaurant got third place in my book.  Contrary to the Hungarian flavors of Napfényes, this place prefers an Indian style. You could say it’s extraordinary in Hungary, but it’s not at all. In fact, most of the vegetarian places focus on this pepper pakora and sabji cuisine, and this place provides the best flavors.

4. Napos oldal

Here the only thing we can highlight is the atmosphere, because it would be hard to say anything good about the vegetables that have been boiled to death. This is one of the few vegetarian places in Budapest where the restaurant is not down in a basement or cellar, so you can see the sun while you eat. Which does you some good.

Nonetheless, they do have some exciting dishes – for example breaded seitan (wheat gluten), to mention one – but this place is geared to a basic “we chew because we must grind” experience.

5. Mannatural Ételmanufaktúra

This is a raw vegan restaurant. It’s a special category that requires a very specific approach. I’d say I could hardly it eat, but I know people who particularly like the courses served here.

Incidentally, they’re not bad. It’s more like getting to know an extraterrestrial gastronomy.

It’s amazing how they put a plate of stuffed cabbage on your table made of vegetables without cooking it, but I for one would have been happier with an apple or carrot. Those are also raw, but somehow they go down more easily. Nature is a good cook too, so often it is wise not to interfere with it.

I wouldn’t rate the rest; I just wrote down what I experienced.

Vegalife

This place used to be the Ganga vega at 25 Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street, but now it has a different name (there is a location in Buda as well). This one also has Indian cuisine, as usual, and the place is definitely filled with exotic aromas. The chutney that you can order next to your food is quite good. It’s a bit too sweet for me, but at least it’s something that is worth a try.

Otherwise, the food looks really bad on the plate when it’s served. I wonder why they can’t serve vegetarian food nicely. Of course it can be done, but for some reason there’s no real desire for it.

Alkotmány utcai Hummus bár

Cold pita, lukewarm falafel. The whole thing is just garlic. The staff are making huge amounts of it, although there are only two guests inside. They’re surely used to this kind of tempo. The walls are dirty.

That’s what I noted when I was there.

Édeni Vegán

It’s a very carefully decorated place, although there are a few things that hurt my eyes a bit.

The food here is thrown together without striving for perfection. I got onion potatoes at a pretty high price (considering that it was just plain onion potatoes, a bit burned), nor was the soup any good, and the falafel was tasteless. I don’t have any positive memories about this place.

Rizsa17

This is not only a vegetarian restaurant, but a macrobiotic and vegan place as well. If you’ve ever had tasteless miso soup in which the tofu is like a dry sponge, you’ll know what I'm talking about. The second course was kinpira vegetables in tempeh (I had to Google it too), with rice and vegetables for HUF 2350. It had no taste whatsoever. I was told that it’s like that; macrobiotic food doesn’t use spices.

Don't misunderstand me. Maybe this is Canaan for macrobiotic vegans. I’ve been on a macrobiotic diet myself before and suffered more than enough. I just want to say that unless you have some strong intolerance for food, you should be bold enough to have something delicious. You shouldn’t go from fast food places to the other extreme, but you should have something good made of fresh, good quality ingredients. Nothing can be healthier than that.

So, these are alleged to be the best vegetarian places in Budapest, and I’m sad about it. A complete revival would be needed for the chefs working at these places to treat the vegetables with the sensitivity that they deserve. I sincerely hope there will be some fresh blood pumped into this genre, since the city has been able to produce better and better chefs one after the other. Because what we currently have is way too little.

Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu

[The original article was posted on May 26, 2014]

As of March this year we have three Michelin-starred locations in Budapest. The first to receive a star was Costes in 2010, followed by Onyx – and we’ll quickly add that both of them have since maintained their good quality – and now the newest winner is the restaurant in Sas Street. Of course, I was eager to check out this new top restaurant.

Booking a table was easy three weeks in advance. Currently, there’s no point in trying to get an earlier time.

Soon after I arrived I realized why I liked Borkonyha. Here are a bunch of reasons:

Cool style

When the star was awarded to Onyx, we were glad to see that Hungarian chefs had also finally been recognized. We are happy for Borkonyha’s success because a restaurant that appears to be average at first glance was able to make it to the top level. There’s no embarrassment, no special serving performed to the same rhythm, no neo-Baroque stuccos or white gloves.

The waiters rush around but are also cheerful, informal and willing to crack jokes when we ask them about the origin of a particular dish. Of course, there are cooler Michelin-starred places than this one in the world (in Hong Kong, for example where even fast-food places can receive this sort of recognition) but Borkonyha is still a big step forward for us. The message is: you shouldn’t treat it as a religion, it’s only food.

Wines

The restaurant’s name shows that they are very proud of their wine selection. Just look at the wall behind the counter:

The selection of wines served in glasses is not spectacular at all; the two varieties of rosé and the three types of champagne/sparkling wine make up a rather poor offering. On the other hand, 200 different varieties of Hungarian wine are available according to the website if bottled brands are included.  If you request a recommendation they won’t call for a sommelier (unless your randomly chosen waiter also happens to be a sommelier). Instead they promise to bring you a surprise, with your taster arriving soon after.

Luckily, even the low-priced wines are good enough and, more importantly, exciting. That the wine list begins with a furmint (kéknyelű) makes me especially pleased.

Flawless meals

My starter: gizzard salad with colored apples and mushrooms:

Astoundingly exciting. Every bite was pure pleasure as we ate the gizzard pieces, perfect both in texture and flavor, mixed with the cracking marinated apples, mushrooms and salad.

The main course: duck leg confit with pressed liver and tender carrots with basil.

The duck fell into pieces when touched with a fork, but the muscles remained intact. The pressed liver made the bites creamy with its tender flavors and the carrots were crunchy and perfect. Another main dish: polenta with curd and spinach:

You can’t get more than that out of a simple dish like this. They managed to raise the commonness (not in a pejorative sense) of polenta to the highest possible level: astounding.

My dessert (cream-filled pastry), however, was not hedonist enough. It was way too refined and elegant, so I didn’t really like it. But in its category it was also perfect.

Eating in a Michelin-starred restaurant is like listening to music on a perfect audio system. Everything is nice, complete, refined and perfect. You can enjoy it a lot, but then you’d put a vinyl record on your old record-player. You would like meals with a few small flaws scattered around because often that’s what makes eating fun.

Price

Rarely can you get a Michelin-starred treat for such a low price. The soups and starters begin at HUF 1500, the main courses cost HUF 2500 to 4000 (well, the Angus sirloin is the exception) and you can close the meal with dessert for HUF 1500.

Michelin star on the street

And another novelty: until now you could not eat Michelin-starred food outdoors. Now it’s possible, which is another thing that reveals the laid-back style this place exudes.

Borkonyha
Address: 1051 Budapest, Sas utca 3.
Opening hours: Mon – Sat: 12:00–24:00, closed on Sunday and holidays.
The kitchen is closed between 16:00 and 18:00.

Translation provided by Helpers Business and Immigration Services. Find us at www.helpers.hu