Image by Eszter Szilva

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.

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El Rapido | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Taco al pastor HUF 600
Budapest, 1075, Kazinczy utca 10. | Central Pest | +36302792861
Mon – Tue 11:30 – 02:00, Wed – Fri 11:30 – 03:00, Sat 12:00 – 04:00, Sun 17:00 – 02:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Eszter Szilva

It’s originally from Krakow, speaks English, offers interesting books and serves delicious coffee and tasty cookies in the heart of the Jewish district. Any guesses? Ok, I’ll help. Massolit, a café and English language bookstore from Poland, has recently opened its doors in Budapest as well, for the pleasure of expats, exchange and local university students, and basically everyone who speaks English.

For me, someone who graduated in English Literature, Media and Gender Studies, this place is a heaven of books as Massolit is specialised precisely in these areas (plus politics, history, Jewish Studies and other social studies) and offers great academic titles at reduced prices. Besides non-fiction, they have a selection of fiction as well. Reading requires coffee, of course, and here I get it from direct trade and in various seasonal blends.

The café and store is situated on a ground floor of an old building. The turquoise wooden windows, the black and white granite tiles, the palm tree and the big bookshelves embracing all these create an antique but still cozy interior. Behind you’ll find a terrace located in one of the nicest backyards of Budapest, especially friendly during the summer days when the garden is lush and green.

Similarly to the Krakow store, the Budapest branch also organizes concerts, readings and other social gatherings. In the back room you might bump into English courses as well.

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Massolit | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Shopping | Espresso HUF 300
Nagy Diófa utca 30. | Central Pest | +3617885292
Mon – Sat: 11:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Eszter Szilva

Design shop, gallery, café and silkscreen studio – you’ll find it all in place opposite the old synagogue in Jewish district’s Rumbach Sebestyén street.

Printa is a concept-store, that is, everything they offer is centered around a concept, here, eco-friendly design. Thus, the coffee they serve comes from direct trade and the items you can buy are designed by Hungarian designers who work with recycled or eco-friendly materials.

Besides the exquisite coffee beans, the trained baristas also guarantee that you get wonderful coffee here. As one of them said, we put sugar in our coffee only because the coffee is not of the best quality. However, if you have a sweet tooth, don’t be afraid, you’ll find sugar here.

Printa offers goodies from jewellery inspired by the beautiful matyó folk art embroidery to funny bags sewn from vintage leather jackets or silkscreen T-shirts with the names of iconic Budapest streets. If you want to make your own silkscreen print, register to the workshops!

The minimalistic but friendly interior contains two big tables and some seats at the counter, however, in a sunny weather you can take your seat outside in the huge windows. You might bump into exhibition openings and other social gatherings as well.

Printa is a great place to start a stroll in the Jewish district. What’s more, they have made their own, nicely designed map to downtown Pest. Delicious coffee and some cookies in your stomach, Printa’s map in your hands – you cannot get lost, only if you want to!

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Printa | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Shopping | Espresso HUF 300
Rumbach Sebestyén utca 10. | Central Pest | +36302920329
Mon – Fri 11:00- 19:00, Sat 12:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

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

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

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 Ferenc Nadai

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

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Miklos Zsamboki

Treehugger Dan’s Bookstore & Café is owned – very appropriately – by “Treehugger” Dan Swartz, an avid local environmental activist. As such, the selection of second-hand books includes quite a few titles on enviromentalism, politics, sociology and the like. Dan also uses the venue for various public lectures and events, such as “Free Independent Financial Advice” and “Greenpeace Friday”.

The place’s name includes “& Café” for a reason. It offers a selection of tasty Fair Trade teas and coffees, which you can drink in the back of the store at two tiny tables – don’t plan on bringing more than 3 friends!

Treehugger Dan also has two other venues in Budapest: a larger one in Lázár Street (just behind the Opera house), which also acts as a tourist information centre as well as a regular venue for Budapest’s premier English-language poetry reading series, The Bardroom; and a third place at Süto Street 2.

Besides selling used books, Dan also buys them, but only at the Csengery Street location.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Treehugger Dan’s | Coffee & tea, Shopping | Books HUF 900
Csengery utca 48 | Central Pest | +3613220774
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by András Nagy

The former Corvin Áruház hosts two spots at once: Jelen [present] on the ground floor and Corvintető on the top floor. This duality lets you combine alcohol and concerts, starting on the ground floor and going high or beginning at the top and slowly sinking down to the very bottom. It’s close to a major traffic conjunction still in a small street, a cozy and spacey pub at the same time with three rooms, as you can see on the photos.

I’ve been wondering why the concert room of Jelen is smaller than the actual pub area. The more the merrier? Indeed. All of my concert memories tell about a heavy crowd although there might have been only 50 people. Nice trick! However, they never charged me for a concert. Regarding the musical profile, I’d tick the ‘jazz’ and ‘world music’ boxes on the query.

The wine bar has a pretty solid assortment of wines from all over the country, also for take-away. Jelen feeds you bistro food, they have a brunch menu, a lunch menu and a la carte meals.

It’s an excellent stop on your downtown bar hopping tour, easy to reach and within a block you’ll have several other places to visit. Due to the late closing time there is no hurry, just make sure you find your way back home.

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Jelen | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Soproni beer HUF 490
Blaha Lujza tér 1-2 | Central Pest | +36203443155
Mon – Tue 11:00 – 02:00, Wed – Fri 11:00 – 04:00, Sat 16:00 – 04:00, Sun 16:00 – 02:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by András Nagy

Enter this confectionery and you step into the world of “Charlie and the chocolate factory”. White walls and lights help you focus on the vast selection of sweets in all colors: jellies, candies, lollipops, mints, marshmallows and designer cakes. Not enough? Walk to the end of the counter to find milk rice and ice cream. Go for a smoothie or an airy mousse, you won’t be disappointed anyway.

A child’s dream has come true in this shop: I love the expression on the people’s faces as they walk around or try to pick their choice at the counter. Pure joy is what you see.

The owners (already running one of the best confectioneries in town) had the idea of creating cakes that, besides tasting good, look beautiful too. Total success, I can tell you.

Allow yourself a little treat and try those sweets! You deserve it. Remember, diets always start on the same day: tomorrow.

Check out some more pictures.Please note that Sugar is closed 24 -26th December and 1-4th January.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
Sugar! | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Chocolate raspberry pie HUF 480
Paulay Ede utca 48 | Central Pest | +3613216672
Mon 12:00 – 22:00, Tue – Sun 10:00 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Helene Bienvenu

If you’re vegetarian or simply fancy having a good healthy bite in Budapest, going to the butcher’s (check the Pinczi article) for lunch might not be the best thing to do! No worry: wherever you stand, there’s probably a hummus bar around the corner!

Budapest now has four “Hummus bars” (it’s a franchise so all four serve the same food in a similar-looking place), one is next to the Parlement (Alkotmány utca 20), another in the 13th disctrict (Hollán Ernő utca 6), the third is next to Ferenciek tere (Október 6. utca 19) and the last one nearby the lovely Egyetem tér (Kecskeméti utca 1).

As its name clearly indicates, at Hummus bar you’ll find hummus (= mashed chickpeas) plates, served with falafels, beans, mushrooms and other ingredients. The list doesn’t stop there. You can also get a pita bread (called laffa, the Israelian way) full with falafel and vegetables, as well as soups (don’t look for goulash though!), and tasty oriental salads and desserts.

All that is freshly made, good and filling. Add a quick and foreigner-friendly service, affordable prices and here you go: happy for the day! Note that the humus bar on Október 6 is the only one to offer meat dishes too.

These spots are perfect if you’re in a rush, hungry, don’t know what to order, want a break from Hungarian delights… among other reasons to come! They are conveniently located next to the main touristic attractions though local students make up for the biggest part of their customers.

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Hummus bar | Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Hummus) | Hummus plate HUF 900
Alkotmány utca 20 | Central Pest | +36703787293
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 22:00, Sat – Sun 12:00 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest