Szeráj Turkish Restaurant Budapest

Fast food veterans

Iulia from Budapest

About me I was born and raised in Romania and come from a family of mixed Romanian and Hungarian heritage. I am a native speaker of both languages and my parents are teachers, so I was always very interested in learning new things and trying to have a balanced and informed view on whatever topic I was dealing with. I moved to Budapest to study and majored in English and Finnish. After univer...
""Szeráj Turkish Restaurant" in Budapest, but that's not all! This place is the great leveler: here you can meet anyone, from hungry students to TV stars..."

It may sound hyperbolical, but in my heart, I know it’s true: Szeráj saved me from certain death while at university. Bewildered by the local cuisine, I had spent about a fortnight eating nothing but bland spaghetti bolognese at the campus cafeteria and felt the end was near when a kindly colleague told me she knew this Turkish place with great salads, everything at affordable prices. An orgy of slightly gaudy greens and yellows, brimming with life from early morning till late at night, Szeráj hasn’t changed a bit since then.

It’s a fast-food restaurant, with all the advantages and trappings of the genre. It’s Turkish, so you’ll get the compulsory döners, chicken and beef, some more exotic kebabs such as Adana or Iskender, lentil soup and meat dishes smothered in vegetables, but their longevity has taught them to cater to the Hungarian palate as well, with breaded fish or cheese landing among the aubergine salads. It’s honest and unfussy, a conveyor belt of quickly dispatched but tasty meals- good food, quickly, as they say.

But Szeráj is also a bit more than just a fast food place. It’s the great leveler of Budapest’s people. In Szeráj you can meet anyone, the hungry student queues along the TV star, the workers from nearby sites mingle with elegantly turned out people coming to the theatre across the road, tipsy revelers share tables with covered ladies and their rambunctious children. An egalitarian utopia with great baklava. Try to beat that.

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Budapest Spotter Iulia

About me I was born and raised in Romania and come from a family of mixed Romanian and Hungarian heritage. I am a native speaker of both languages and my parents are teachers, so I was always very interested in learning new things and trying to have a balanced and informed view on whatever topic I was dealing with. I moved to Budapest to study and majored in English and Finnish. After university I started working in HR, which is what I am still doing today, leading a team of HR advisors working with the entire EMEA region. Besides my day job, I am a keen photographer, with a special inte...

About this spot

Szent István körút, 13

Döner plate:

HUF

1600

+36

13116690

Oct 6, 2025

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