Image by Eszter Szilva

Indian restaurants are not abound in Budapest. However, there are some nice venues for those craving a spicy tikka or dahl. You just have to find them. My favorite one, Punjab, is not really easy to come across. I discovered this small restaurant behind Vígszínház theatre only a couple of years ago but since then I’m a regular guest there. Especially since I moved to the neighborhood and I always pass the spot which smells of Indian spices from far away.

Punjab is not a posh and trendy restaurant at all. The plastic entrance which separates the kitchen downstairs and the tables upstairs is probably the worst restaurant design which I have ever seen. But that doesn’t matter because the food is amazing. As experts in Indian gastronomy always emphasize, there’s no such a thing as “Indian cuisine”, because each region has its own tastes. Punjab offers food mostly from the northwestern region of India such as different meats baked in the traditional Tandoor oven. Besides, the dishes range from veggie sammosas, paneers, dahls and biryanis to different chicken, lamb, beef or fish plates. Tikka, masala, curry or korma, you’ll find all of them here. Always fresh and tasty.

Just one more thing: the waiter always ask you how you like your food: hot, medium or mild. I always go for the medium, but that’s already hot enough for me.

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Punjab | Restaurants (Indian) | Chicken curry HUF 1590
1133 Budapest Pannónia utca 3. | Central Pest | +3612702974
Mon – Sun 12:00 – 23:00

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Image by Eszter Szilva

Papa Gyrosa (Papa’s Gyros) is a tiny buffet, offering Arab food and sweets. As opposed to Szeráj which is attractive because of its central location, Papa is relatively hidden, small and cozy. And it offers delicious food, of course. Papa’s is located in Lövőház street, a recently refurbished pedestrian area of Buda within a stone’s throw from Millenáris park.

I’m a fan of this eatery because besides the regular gyros (or döner, as you like) which either comes in a pita or on a plate, they serve various dishes with a Middle Eastern flair. Even if it’s outside my regular route, I often cross Margit bridge with my bike to taste Papa’s delicious Arab meal which is not so easy to find at this price in Budapest. The spicy biryani is made with chicken, almonds and raisins and I never miss maklube, a traditional rice pilaf with eggplant and pomegranate. Meat lovers will appreciate kebab which is served with a hearty tomato sauce.

My extra favorite thing however are chick peas which I’m happy to find in many variations, for example with bulgur or in a parsley salad. If I’m lucky, I jump in on days when chick peas with tomato are on the menu.

The atmosphere is warm and friendly, the staff is ready to have a chat with the guests. All this makes Papa’s a popular place in the neighborhood: kids coming home from school or people from the nearby offices flock here to get their daily gyros.

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Papa Gyrosa | Snacks, Restaurants (Arab) | Gyros in pita HUF 600
Lövőház utca 24/b. | Outer Buda | +3617851116
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 21:00, Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 11:00 – 19:00

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Image by Eszter Szilva

Huge windows, remarkable ceiling height, and an interesting mix of industrial interior and old coffee-house furniture . When 400 opened last spring, this spacious bar felt to be a bit sterile at first sight but now it has become cozy and welcoming. In the meantime, its neighborhood has grown to be the new centre of Budapest’ night life, with the highest density of bars per square meter. For some reason, 400 has become the centre of the centre, at least for me.

As the owners are originally from Serbia, 400 offers some traditional Balkan dishes such as pljeskavica and cevapi. A hearty sandwich called “Balkan burger” is a must if you’re really hungry but there are different tapas as well if you feel like nibbling on some snacks with your wine.

Even if there’s no real dance floor here, lot of Friday nights end up with dancing in front of the DJ. However, my favorite thing is just sitting at the monumental wooden counter which occupies the middle of the bar and spotting the people around.

And why 400? It has nothing to do with Sparta. The answer is much more simple: 400 is as big as 400 square meters. Impressive!

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400 | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (International) | Balkan burger HUF 1090
Kazinczy utca 52/b | Central Pest | +366207760765
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 02:00, Sat – Sun 12:00 – 02:00

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Image by Eszter Szilva

Entering this tiny veggie buffet in Pozsonyi street makes you feel that everything you eat here is fresh, tasty and healthy. And the chefs of Nemsüti guarantee that it’s really the case. Here you can fuel up on yummy vegetarian or vegan dishes, soups, sandwiches, cakes and fresh juices. The food is always seasonal, fresh, does not contain flour, sugar and artificial stuff. The materials are of the best quality.

This family-run buffet is a true success story, quite similar to the triumph of the Sunset Cookies in Woody Allen’s film Small Time Crooks, translated Süti, nemsüti (‘Cookies, Not Cookies’) in Hungarian. Except the owners of Nemsüti had never intended to rob a bank. That’s the origin of the name, which might be a bit complicated by I could not help sharing it. In addition, Nemsüti didn’t sell cookies in the beginning. It started out as a simple sandwich bar offering healthy snacks, but now they cook menus and run a home delivery as well. In lunch time, the buffet is always full and might run out of the menus, so it’s advised to order the menu the previous day.

Despite its name, Nemsüti sells now cookies as well. All of them home made, with brown sugar and lots of fruits. Delicious, of course.

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Nemsüti | Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.) | Main dish HUF 800
Jászai Mari tér 4/b | Central Pest | +3617826711
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 17:00

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Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Arriba is a recently opened Mexican fast food restaurant which has rapidly become popular, especially with the yuppie crowd (as far as I observed) and American expats craving for their Tex-Mex fix. The food is very nice – maybe not up to what you’d get in Mexico or some parts of the U.S. (I wouldn’t really know), but certainly the best I or my American friends have ever had in Budapest.

The place operates on the same “pick your own components” system as, say, Subway: you choose the base for you taco or burrito, the type of meat, and hand pick from a selection of various sauces, spices and veggies. The food is accompanied by a very nice selection of drinks, including Horchata (rice milk with cinnamon), Margarita, and various Mexican beers you can only get in maybe two or three places in Budapest.

While Taquerias are traditionally takeaways, Arriba also has plenty of seating on two levels. It’s a delightful place to sit down for you meal, with warm, colourful tables and adorable „faux kitsch” murals that really add to the upbeat vibe. Just be aware that the place can get quite crowded, and you might have no option but to take away your order and eat it elsewhere. Personally, I’ve had good luck so far late in the evening and just after lunchtime.

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Arriba Taqueria | Restaurants (Mexican) | Burrito HUF 1100
VI. Teréz körút 25 | Central Pest | +3613740057
Sun – Thu 11:00 – 00:00, Fri – Sat 11:00 – 02:00

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Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Centrál is a very elegant, old style coffee house and restaurant, a bit on the expensive side, but worth a look if you want to know what Pest was like a hundred years ago.

Thanks to Hungary’s proximity and, let’s say, historical contact with Turkey, coffee culture has always been big around here, but probably never so much so as in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Coffee houses were meeting points of the intellectual elite and the regular haunts of artists and journalists, some of who actually lived in coffee houses. Centrál Kávéház already existed back then, and even though it fulfilled other functions during the communist era, the new management is reaching back to the golden age for inspiration, and as far as looks go, they’re doing a good job.

The place looks exactly as it must have looked back then, and the selection of freely readable newspapers by the entrance is also a fitting touch.

The place is divided into a restaurant area, and a coffee house which is more appropriate for sitting down for a bit of a rest while sipping some tea or coffee. As for the food, it’s always been good when I tried it, but a bit pricey. However, if you want to sit down somewhere in the middle of the day to chat and look at passersby, Centrál has the perfect ambience for that – and a few teas or coffees won’t break the bank.

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Centrál Kávéház | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (European) | Main from HUF 1300
Károlyi Mihály utca 9 | Central Pest | +3612662110
07:00 – 00:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Csiga is a friendly, cozy café and restaurant with really nice cuisine, rather popular with local expats. A very nice place; not too big, but it always has a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere, and is a good place to visit with a not-too-large group of friends.

I can’t say I’ve tried everything on the menu, but what I’ve tasted so far has always been fine. If you’re going to stay in Budapest for a while, it’s worth checking back, as part of the menu – the one on the blackboard on the wall – sometimes changes.

They also have wi-fi, if you need it.

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Café Csiga | Bars, Restaurants (Various) | Main dishes HUF 1800
Vásár utca 2 | Central Pest | +3612100885
11:00 – 01:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Pótkulcs is a bar, club and restaurant popular with the bohemian crowd, full of laid-back vibes, but rather crowded sometimes. Located a few minutes’walk from Nyugati train and metro station, it has a garden completely separated from the street by a wall, as well as indoor seating – and some of the fussball tables so ubiquitous in these kinds of places.

Personally, I find the garden to be my favourite part of the locale. There’s nothing objectively special about it, but it’s cozy, charming, and has just enough grass that isn’t covered by chairs and tables. In fact, it has such a nice ambience that once I’ve stayed there late at night just to watch a game of Bridge unfold – and I can’t even play Bridge!

One thing that separates Pótkulcs from many similar venues is that you can get some hot food here, making it a good stopping point on a late night crawl. You’ll need to walk a few minutes from and back to the nearest public transport, but that has the added bonus of clearing a bit of the alcohol haze from your head.

Do note that this is a smokers-friendly place, and the air can get rather thick even in the garden, so if you’re sensitive to cigarette smoke, you might want to go give the place a miss.

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Pótkulcs | Bars, Restaurants (Central-Eastern Eur.) | Beer HUF 450
Csengery utca 65/b | Outer Pest | +3612691050
Sun – Wed 17:00 – 01:30, Thu – Sat 17:00 – 02:30

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Szimpla is hands-down the best known and most popular of Budapest’s “kert”-s(“gardens”) – courtyards of condemned or just abandoned buildings transformed into outdoor summer pubs, originally catering mostly for a young, bohemian clientele. As such, it has all the typical accroutements: crumbling architecture, plain but sturdy benches and tables, beer, totally kooky decor, lots of noise, beer, heavily stickered and graffitied toilets, and beer.

While there are many establishments that follow the same recipe, Szimpla is unique for having its own open-air movie theater, where they often play art movies, sparsely screened documentaries and the like. In recent years, they’ve also covered part of the venue with a roof to let them stay open all year round, and expanded into the upper floor, where you can also get some hot grub with your drinks.

Recently, I’ve heard some friends complain that Szimpla is getting too popular and thus too mainstream these days. Well, maybe that’s true – sometimes the crowd and the noise does get a bit too much for my tastes -, but it’s still more than worth checking out if you’re in town. Loud, friendly, visually lush and exciting; a great place to go when the company you desire is more upbeat than sublime.

Also, it’s one of the very few places in town where you can get cider. Pretty expensive – low-quantity import is bound to be pricey -, but there you have it: if you really, really want the stuff, you can get it here.

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Szimpla Kert | Bars, Restaurants (Various) | Beers HUF 500
Kazinczy utca 14 | Central Pest
12:00 – 04:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Budapest is chock-full of gyros and falafel stands and many operate all night to service the roving bands of pub crawlers. Yet, I’m going to recommend Szinbád, which is an atypical example for closing late afternoon. “But Kalman, you dark horse, you,” – some of you readers might exclaim – “you got us all excited about the idea of nighttime cuisine! Why recommend a daytime-only place, then?”

Well, simply put, the food is just so much better than elsewhere. You see, the food in many of these gyros places just tastes samey. Not bad, just rather indistinguishable from the food in all the other gyros places. That’s because (at least so I hear) all these places buy their stuff from the same central distributor, from the meat on the spit to the spices and sauces.And that’s where Szinbád is different. The Syrian owner and his sons make all the food themselves on the spot, from original raw ingredients (except the baklava, but even that’s from some special source); therefore, their stuff has its own distinguishable – and very good – taste. So much so, in fact, that there people coming here from the far end of the city, passing half a dozen other takeaways of a similar profile on the way.Personal tip: try the grape leaves filled with rice and ground meat. Just be aware that it’s rather messy for finger food, so you might want to take it away and eat in in the vicinity of a bathroom.

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Szinbád Büfé | Snacks, Restaurants (Takeaway) | Meal HUF 500
Kruspér utca 6-8 | Central Buda | +36203545390
10:00 – 19:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest