Oh, hot summer days! Oh, endless summer nights! I wish they’d last forever. Outdoors, that’s where you should be now, in the shades or under the orange-black city skies. In a garden of the “Kazinczy street pub axis”: Kőleves Kert. A fine example for utilizing an empty, deserted site other than turning it into a parking lot.

Kőleves, the “mother ship” is a good place to have a lunch or dinner, and the garden also offers a row of great dishes from noon till late in the night. In this time of the year I definitely prefer eating outdoors.

The place looks really cheerful with colorful tables and chairs, swings instead of bar chairs and other odd accessories. There are small stones spread all over the garden which makes simple walking quite a challenge, especially after a few drinks, so be prepared to leave the bar with enough supplies!

Click here for more photos.

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Kőleves Kert | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Large Soproni beer HUF 480
Kazinczy u. 37 | Central Pest | +3613221011
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00 (closed in case of bad weather)

True, Újpest is a bit out of centre, it looks like a small town in the countryside with dusty wattles on the side of the road. But this is just the thing which gives it its charm and the true local feeling. You can be sure, there are no tourists around, it’s a locals-only market.

I live quite close so it’s obvious for me to do the shopping here every now and then. For those coming from downtown, the blue metro line takes you as close as a block away.

There are three buildings: the big market hall, the connecting side wing and the separate dome. The hall is full of tables with piles of vegetables, fruits and eggs, while on the side various shops sell meat, pastries, dairy products and pickled vegetables. I was always wondering why there were supermarket-like shops, maybe it’s some weird tradition. The side wing has shops but no stands, the dome offers one important shop selling fish.

After a long and exhausting shopping spree there is nothing better than a fried sausage or meat along with some pickled vegetables, and a “fröccs” to help you digest. All this is available at the back of the main building.

The “new main square” project of Újpest includes the market area, you can already enjoy the positive changes of the expanded public spaces.

Now go and see for yourself. It’s worth the trip!

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Újpest market | Shopping, Snacks | Strawberries (1kg) HUF 999
Szent István tér | Outer Pest
Mon – Fri 06:00 – 17:00, Sat 06:00 – 14:00

Handmade quality chocolate, all forms and tastes that a real connoisseur can dream of. Pralines and table chocolates are just the top of the iceberg. Personally I am a big fan of (dark) chocolates, I don’t even want to hide my enthusiasm.

The shop is really small where the design and the lights create a calm atmosphere that accentuates the bitter-clean smell of chocolate and cocoa beans. I’m still in the phase of tasting various pralines, if course I can recommend all of the flavors but I wouldn’t miss the lemon-oil caramel bonbon and the chanterelle praline at no cost. The sweets are wrapped in stylish wrappers or put in design-boxes.

Chocolate can also be used as raw material to create artworks: chocolate sculptures, boxes or “rusty tools” show the skills of the craftsmen and -women. Eating these beautiful pieces of art would be blasphemy! Well, hard times sometimes bring the heretic out of the chocolate believer.

The street where the shop is located has been undergoing a major transformation for some time and it has turned into a nice pedestrian street, just like the surrounding area. You’ve got to watch out not to walk past the shop, look for the chocolate brown shop front.

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Rózsavölgyi Chocolate | Shopping, Snacks | 10 Bonbons HUF 2760
Királyi Pál utca 6 | Central Pest | +36308148929
Mon – Fri 10:30 – 13:00 & 13:30 – 18:30, Sat 12:00 – 18:00

Before entering the city and becoming a channel forced between concrete quays, the Danube is actually a living river. On the Buda side, north of the Újpest railway bridge there’s a long green esplanade called Római part stretching on the riverbank towards Szentendre. “Római” means Roman, since the ruins of the ancient town “Aquincum” are located nearby.

Római part is full of bars, restaurants mostly serving the same food and lacking a distinct character. The iconic dish, “hekk” is a fish, the number one fish consumed by Hungarians which is funny because it’s a sea fish. You go to lake Balaton, you eat hekk from the Atlantic. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you get past the crowd and the twelve-in-a-dozen places, you’ll eventually reach Fellini, this colourful circus car placed near the water with its own beach. Other bars simply don’t use the opportunity to get closer to the water than 10 meters, thus it’s a relief to finally find a place with deck-chairs on the stony beach.

By character I mean that Fellini has a certain atmosphere. The colors, the car, the beach – a very simple idea and it works, because it brings you close to the water in a green setting. Plus they have several Belgian beers on tap, don’t miss the cherry-flavored one!

Downsides? Not too many, not too serious: a bit expensive to my taste, only has a mobile toilet and the water attracts bugs.

I can live with these until I have my cherry beer.

Want to see some pictures?

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Fellini Római Kultúrbisztró | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Glass of Floris Kriek beer HUF 520
Kossuth Lajos üdülőpart 5. | Outer Buda
Mon – Thu 14:00 – 23:00, Fri 14:00 – 00:00, Sat 11:00 – 00:00, Sun 11:00 – 22:00

As the name suggests perfectly, Noir is a chocolate bar. While Hungary is not a chocolate world power like, say, Belgium, Noir certainly does its part in meeting the needs of local chocophiles. It’s got all sorts of chocolates, including hot drinking chocolate, hot drinking chocolate with various spices from chili to cardamom, hot chocolate with or without alchohol, or hot chocolate with or without spices and/or alcohol on ice.

What more need I say? If you have the craving for sweet, sweet (or dark andbitter) chocolate, this is the place to go. Do reserve a table if you’re planning to visit in the evening, it gets crowded around that time.

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Noir ChocoBar | Bars, Snacks | Hot chocolate from HUF 700
Hegedu utca 6 | Central Pest | +36202228555
Sun – Mon 15:00 – 22:00, Tue – Sat 15:00 – 00:00

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

Arioso is a coffee-, furniture- and flowershop very close to Deák Ferenc Square. It’s a small, friendly place where you can sit down in the middle of the day for a tea and a hot sandwich, or maybe a salad, and have some peace away from the rush of the street. Besides the street front area, Arioso also has an even mellower garden in the back, open whenever the weather is nice.

They also have furniture and other home decoration elements like candelabras for sale, and if you walk a few meters down the street, you’ll find the Arioso flower shop (which is where the photo was taken) with a wide selection of really elegant potted and vase plants, bouquets and the like.

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Arioso | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Tea HUF 350
Király utca 9 | Central Pest | +3612663555
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 16:00

For the first time when me and a friend visited Briós, a nice cozy cafe located at Pozsonyi Street, we were so hungry, that we were shaking to hear about the menu, but the offer was too good to decide fast. Finally we succeeded, ordering 4 dishes which saved our life. Thank you!

Briós is a friendly and cozy cafe, just the right place to have a breakfast out of home. It is a simple and friendly spot run by a family, who was traveling a lot and wanted to show what they think about hospitality. Nóri the owner, who is a mother of 3, wanted to open a child friendly spot, where menus appeal to both children and adults alike. Briós managed to build its reputation really fast, not only because upstairs there is a playing space with activities to keep kids playing while their parents enjoy their meal, but also because of the open minded atmosphere, not to mention their excellent coffees.

They offer a satisfying menu from which it’s hard to decide, because every single dish seems to be delicious. They offer omelettes, baguettes, salads, bagels and marvelous desserts – I bet on the brownies, but carrot cake is also a big favorite. But they also have a nice wine selection for those who desire peaceful moments on their new terrace which is open from April.

I guess if you are on holiday to Budapest, you don’t want to prepare breakfast at home, so Brios is worth a visit!

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Briós Cafe | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Ham & eggs HUF 690
Pozsonyi út 16 | Central Pest | +3617896110
07:30 – 22:00 daily

Hungary – and especially Budapest- has a long tradition of coffee houses. Though I guess coffee beans have never been grown anywhere in Central Europe (!), coffee has been ultimately associated with Culture at the heart of Europe.

Hungarian writers from the end of the 19th century till World war II spent most of their time in coffee houses asking the waiters for ink! At that time coffee was even called “fekete leves” which basically means “dark soup”.

Though most of Budapest famous writers cafes had to close during communism – putting an end to this brilliant tradition of coffee as a fuel for writing – some famous cafes reopened such as Centrál Kávéház. And I don’t really know why but in Central Europe I still feel some kind of coffee cosiness, something that I haven’t really found in Paris (no wonder when you see the price of an espresso over there!). For instance, when I lived in Warsaw I used to spend hours in nice cafes, reading the press, meeting people, working…

Alibi cafe is pretty much like that. The design imitates some libraries, the space is intimate and the coffee excellent. The neighborhood is ultimately picturesque too, with the Law faculty nearby, and all those narrow streets full of shops and cafes, so typically “Belvaros” (the city-centre). At Alibi, they also serve pastries and light lunch offers. And yes, you guess, it’s a cool place for breakfast too!

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Cafe Alibi | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Hungarian) | Espresso coffee HUF 350
Egyetem tér 4 | Central Pest | +3613174209
08:00 – 23:00 daily

You’d better be prepared for long queues because this confectionery attracts people from all across the city. No wonder, the family Daubner has been serving the needs of the clientèle for several decades since they moved to Budapest at the end of the 1950s with excellent pastries, cakes, parfaits and ice cream.

You shouldn’t miss the ice cream in sweet waffle (no extra charge) but don’t forget to pay first, keep the receipt and hand it over when asking for your favourite taste. For those with a “salty tooth” there’s an impressive choice of “pogácsa”, traditional Hungarian pastry. Most guests come here to choose and pick up their favourite stuff after paying since the whole store is set up to serve as a takeaway.

You’ll find some benches outside but beware, the street features pretty heavy traffic during the day. There is also some room inside to eat what you have asked for. The previous opening times have changed, now we can enjoy Daubner on Mondays too.

Located a bit far from down town you might want to combine this visit with a walk around the nicer parts of Óbuda or a hike to Hármashatár-hegy.

See more photos here.

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Daubner Confectionery | Snacks | Pork greaves pogácsa/kg HUF 1500
Szépvölgyi út 50. | Outer Buda | +3613352253
09:00 – 19:00 daily