Szinbád Büfé Budapest

Simple, but very good kitchen!

Kálmán from Budapest

About me I've done a variety of things in the past, a good part of them centred on words: poetry, translation, journalism. I have a history of English studies at college, and of a mighty array of knicks and knacks that are not proper jobs. I like hearing stories and telling stories: they're edifices built of facts (or falsehoods, or falsehoods that are truer than facts, as the case might be)...
""Szinbád Büfé" in Budapest is a street food restaurant only open during the day, but the food is so much better than anywhere else! Excellent Syrian."

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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Budapest Spotter Kálmán

About me I've done a variety of things in the past, a good part of them centred on words: poetry, translation, journalism. I have a history of English studies at college, and of a mighty array of knicks and knacks that are not proper jobs. I like hearing stories and telling stories: they're edifices built of facts (or falsehoods, or falsehoods that are truer than facts, as the case might be), but they tell us everything that facts alone never could. About Budapest Because it's old and full of memories, and because it's young and alive and constantly growing and changin...

About this spot

Kruspér utca 6-8

Meal:

HUF

500

+36

203545390

Oct 2, 2025

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