Snacks

Sarki Fűszeres (Grocery store at the corner) is located next to Szent István park in Újlipótváros (thirteenth district), embraced by impressive Bauhaus buildings. It’s literally a corner of a house, often compared to the Flatiron Building of New York, while others tend to think that this place is a piece of Paris in Budapest. I’d rather say that it’s one of Budapest’s nicest faces. You won’t see it as often as the courtyard houses of downtown Pest, but it belongs very much to the city.

Sarki Fűszeres is something between a grocery store, a bistro and a café. Besides coffee and tea, they sell freshly baked breads, croissants, delicious cakes (you might bump into traditional Hungarian sweeties like Rákóczi túrós made with sweet cottage cheese) and a nice selection of cheese and ham. The tall wooden shelves are full of wine. You can order your sandwich with the ingredients you see in the counter or ask for a cheese plate. They are specialized in hearty breakfasts as well.

Take your seat on their lovely terrace and enjoy the sight of the red, old school trolleybuses turning here to Pozsonyi street at a relatively high speed. Noisy and also a bit terrifying for trolley-freaks like me, but definitely part of the Újlipótváros picture.

Retro style is in nowadays, but Bambi is not a neatly designed retro parlor, it’s just a simple café which opened its doors fifty years ago and has not changed much since then. Located in one of Buda’s nicest side streets just a few steps away from Margit bridge, Bambi is equally perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon coffee or some glasses of post-work beer.

Bambi has become an institution, where time literally stood still. However, it’s one of Budapest’s liveliest cafés always brimming with people. If I fancy freshly baked baguettes, sophisticated cakes or triple chocolate latte machiattos with rice milk, I don’t go to Bambi. Here, I get simple or double espresso in a glass, foamed milk comes in a red dotted mug and the classic hot cheese sandwich or debreceni sausage is served with mustard and ketchup. Everything is decent and affordable, but that’s not the point, Bambi is famous for itself.

While most people, especially the non-smokers, prefer sitting at the roomy terrace, regular guests tend to occupy the back corner of the café where they play domino, card or board games all night long. The interior is defined by red faux leather chairs, embroidery tablecloths and yellow-green mosaic pillars.

Bambi has its own rules that you can read in the terrace (only in Hungarian). For example, you have to pay as soon as you get what you ordered. Finally, when you hear a bell ringing, don’t wait for Santa Claus, it’s just the signal of the closing hour.

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.

El Rapido has introduced a pretty unusual combination to the bar scene of the seventh district. It’s a taco buffet and a deli upstairs, plus a flea market bar in the cellar where everything you see is on sale.

Located in the busy Kazinczy street, El Rapido offers cheap and fast tacos and other Mexican-like fast food. The target group is clear: mainly those who arrive late in the evening from the neighborhood’s clubs and bars. As El Rapido is a deli as well, the shelves are packed with international food such as curry sauces, exotic spices and Mexican beers. 

While the small buffet is mostly crowded with people waiting for their snacks, downstairs you’ll enter a much more tranquil place. The smoky cellar bar is full of old tables, chairs and seemingly useless but funny retro gadgets, books and other bric-a-bracs. It feels a bit like sitting in a storage. That sort of a storage where you can choose from forty different types of Mexican tequilas… The slogan is the following: you can buy anything here. So if you feel that your chair is perfectly comfy, you just have to bargain a nice price and be happy with your Budapest souvenir.

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.