Kavehaz Kultura in Budapest

Highlights

I am excited to report that I did not see one single Starbucks in Budapest. Yes, there are plenty of other chain shops and restaurants but Starbucks was blissfully absent. And to be honest there’s really no place for them because Budapest has plenty of fine cafes to choose from.

Favourites for me were the edgy Tandem Café, smart Gerloczy, laid-back Central Kavehaz, cosy cake emporium Ruszwurm Cukraszda and the bright and studious Café Eckermann. I also enjoyed a rich, thick hot chocolate at Café Kafka, near the Basilica of St. Stephen, a great little place to hide out in, in the centre of Pest. If you’ve got a few more forints in your pocket however, then you may be drawn to Gerbeaud or the New York Café instead. The interior of the New York is particularly spectacular but you definitely pay (two or three times as much) for the pleasure.

In between the coffee shops, Budapest is best enjoyed on a clear day from the Fishermen’s Bastion or the Citadella on Gellert Hill, where views down over the Danube are both serene and spectacular. Ambling along Buda’s Tancsics Mihaly Utca, Tarnok Utca and around the Royal Palace is also a relaxing way to spend the day.

Visiting the Central Market, Matthias Temple, Basilica of St. Stephen and the Parliament were all highlights. All of these exquisitely decorated structures are inexpensive attractions, especially if you’re entitled to the free entry at the Parliament building (for EU passport holders). For those who aren’t, I’m not entirely convinced that it’s worth the £7.70 entrance fee for what turned out to be a very brief 35-minute tour.

Another highlight, which is an odd one I admit, is that I was constantly impressed by the cleanliness of the toilets. It started at Budapest’s Ferihegy airport but as I began to explore the city, I realized that most cafes, restaurants and bars also pride themselves in providing clean and sometimes attractive toilet facilities. I don’t know if this is linked to the Turkish bathhouse heritage but it’s not an observation that can usually be made in any country.

If you’re not into coffee shops but find yourself needing a place to warm up in Budapest, this city has a bookshop on almost every street corner and in many I noticed English language publications for sale.


Quick Tips / Suggestions

As we quickly found out, Budapest isn’t a cheap place to visit. Eating out can cost the same as it does in London, sometimes more if you’re not careful. We had read about places trying to scam tourists and on our second night out, a barman tried to charge us for a double shot of palinka when we had only ordered singles. It may have been an honest mistake but having read about it in every guidebook we couldn’t help but be suspicious so do double check your receipt.

On the other hand, the public transport system in Budapest is cheap. We bought a book of ten tickets and this lasted two of us five days. We bought them at a metro station by holding up all 10 fingers in front of the ticket vendor, which got the message across, albeit rather crudely. The tickets are non-transferable but are good for any single bus, tram or metro journey. After familiarizing yourself with the local network, it’s an easy way of getting yourself around and it can be a big money-saver if you want to avoid paying for an overpriced city tour.

Best Way to Get Around

I always love exploring places on foot but Budapest is quite a large city and if you’re a little short on time or energy, it’s definitely worth taking advantage of the public transport. The metro trains run regularly and provide a fast connection between Buda and Pest. The trams are a little less speedy but allow easy access to far-reaching destinations. The metro system is pretty easy to work out on your own. For bus and tram information it’s worth asking at your hotel or hostel reception and they can probably point you in the right direction. Before you enter the metro you have to stamp your ticket. You do the same thing on the tram (although you actually do this once on board) and I’m guessing it’s the same for the bus too.

Taxis seem to be readily available in Budapest and at the airport, the fee to the city centre is pre-determined so there’s no danger of being ripped off on arrival, which is always reassuring.

Otherwise I can strongly recommend exploring streets such as Raday Utca, Vaci Utca, Andrassy Utca and the Castle District of Buda on foot.

If the joy of traveling is derived more from the journey and less from the destination then the Memento Sculpture Park delivers much happiness. I admit that I am doing the park a little disservice saying this but on a bitterly cold January day, I found myself squelching around the parks boggy pathways thinking that I would much rather be holed away in a café wrapping my blue hands around a mug of very hot chocolate.

The journey though was an interesting one and I had expected it to be. If you go to the park website (www.szoborpark.hu - ‘szobor’ being Hungarian for monument or statue) you’re presented with no less than five options of getting there. It’s only a 10-15 minute drive outside of Budapest but assuming that few foreign visitors will be hiring a car, the bus is the natural choice. My favourite suggestion however was the "on foot" option: "a 20-30-minute walk from Kamaraerd through the woods". I’m assuming that there’s only one footpath through the woods as that’s the only direction you get.

We took the less adventurous route of hopping on a tram to Kelenfold station. Kelenfold is at the end of the tramline so this first pit stop is not a hard to find. Once we arrived, a succession of posters and arrows directed us to the Volanbusz Station. The staff at the ticket counters is obviously used to the trail of uncertain foreigners coming through so buying tickets and finding the correct bus stop was an incredibly straightforward process. Additionally the bus driver knew to give us the signal to disembark, which was helpful as the entrance to the Sculpture Park is somewhat obscured from the main road.

It seemed all too fitting that this assembly of communist propagandist sculptures should now be banished to a soggy, desolate corner outside of the city walls. We paid the 1500 HUF (£4.67) entrance fee and were issued two pairs of blue plastic booties to protect our shoes from the sodden paths, which kicked up mud onto our trousers even as we tramped around carefully.

The park displays 42 Communist sculptures commissioned between 1945 and 1989 and displayed in and around Budapest. For examples the 6m tall Liberation Army Soldier sculpture used to stand on top of Gellert Hill so that it could be clearly seen from the city.

Famous personalities on display include Marx, Engels, Béla Kun and of course Lenin. The diminutive Red Star Store offered a rather small collection of souvenirs that included t-shirts, postcards, badges and CDs. I’ve since read that there’s an exhibition in the barracks hall across from the park but the lady at the ticket counter didn’t direct us to it so we missed out on it completely if it was open.

Park architect Ákos Eleod has said that the park is about democracy. It would have been nice if the staff had showed a bit more enthusiasm in promoting the park and his vision to independent visitors.

The Great Market Hall next to the Szabadsag Bridge in Budapest’s 9th district is the city’s largest indoor market. Opened at the end of the 19th century and renovated in the 1990s, the hall manages to keep a foot in the past but is a treasure trove to tourists and Budapest residents today. The hall was designed by Samu Pecz, who also had a hand in the renovations of the Matthias Church and gained a reputation for his striking diamond-patterned Zsolnay tilework, which are displayed to great effect on the roofs of both buildings.

We saw locals strolling out with armfuls of fresh bread while inside others pored over the fruit and vegetable selections. I was personally impressed by the sausage displays at the meat counters, arranged to look like an epic intestinal jungle. For gift hunters, stalls on the ground floor offer spicy and sweet paprika in cute red tins topped with miniature wooden scoops. Pale Hungarian honey and sweet Tokaji wines line glass shelves and jet black Unicum can be bought in large, medium, small, or very small bottles.

The first floor of the market is dedicated to native handicrafts such as lace, dolls, clothing, glassware and some slightly less traditional t-shirts. It’s also a great vantage point for snapping a photograph of the market hall. From here you can appreciate the beauty of this immense structure, especially on a clear day when shafts of dusty sunlight light up the market’s sea-green skeleton.

It was here that we stopped into Fakanal Etterem, a canteen-style cafeteria serving up trays of goulash and other Hungarian delights. Despite having the appearance of a countryside kindergarten, meal prices at Fakanal Etterem aren’t subsidized. Daylight spilled in through the glass ceiling as we shuffled along with our grey tray, collecting plates of goulash and vegetables followed by a choice of soft or alcohol drinks. Overhead, paper poppies with oversized flower heads and clutches of straw dangled down from the window frame. The meat was on the gristly side and I suspected the veggies of coming from the deep freeze but given the jolly location I would still recommend stopping in for lunch. It seemed especially ideal for large groups as wooden picnic tables are pushed together in long rows. Also paying before you’re seated eliminates the need to divide up a large bill at the end of the meal. In spite of the regular turnover of customers there were plenty of free tables and in such a relaxed atmosphere you felt comfortable enjoying a long lunch. They also serve alcohol, much to the joy of a group of grey-haired tourists one table up from us.

The one place we didn’t linger was the basement floor where the pickles are sold. The number of pickled items on offer rivaled the upstairs sausage collections but the smell was undoubtedly more distressing.

If you are an EU citizen, and therefore entitled to the free entry at the Budapest Parliament Building then doing this tour is a bit of a no-brainer. However, if you don’t have a European passport then the 35-minute tour doesn’t offer value for money. The gilt interior dazzles but just as the tour gets started, it’s over.

I arrived at Gate X and was admitted entry to the burrow-hole ticket office by a lone guard. If you pass through the cordon without a guard directing you you’ll find yourself turned around very quickly. I presented my passport and was issued a ticket for the 2pm tour in English. A young guide came to meet just before 2pm and led us to what I believe is the door of Gate 12 where we put coats and bags through a security scanner.

Just beyond the security check is a beautifully detailed matchstick model of the Parliament building. I was lagging at the back of the group and our tour guide was competing in volume with a German tour, which rather stupidly ran alongside ours, so sadly I was unable to pick up any information about the model.

Around the corner, we ascended a palatial staircase draped in a ribbon of red carpet. Our guide explained that each piece of sapphire stained glass had been individually removed during the Second World War and painstakingly restored piece by piece afterwards.

We were then led up to the Dome Hall where the Sacred Crown of St. Stephen claims centre stage. The crown was used by Kings of Hungary from 1000AD and was returned to Budapest in 1978 by the US, who had been holding it at Fort Knox, away from the hands of the Soviet Union. It’s a wonder that no one had a go at stripping away the kilos of gold leaf that shines as brilliantly as a luxury Christmas bauble.

Connecting the Dome Hall and the Upper House is a long vaulted lounge that smelled faintly of cigar smoke. Diminutive statues of local literature heroes look down over the crimson banquettes and floral carpet. The centerpiece of the Upper House dayroom is a large Herend vase. We got an idea of the value of the vase when our guide informed us that two of only five such pieces are owned and were commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei.

On into the Upper House and the core of the Hungarian Parliament is no less spectacular. With its horseshoe of wooden pews, red and green padded desks and golden arched galleries you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Upper House was decorated by Father Christmas and Jesus.

After a cursory look at the numbered cigar-holders, the tour reached its abrupt end. Since opening in 1902, the 691 rooms have never been fully utilized. Even today, the government only takes up 12% of the space and sadly it seems that they’re not too eager for visitors to see too much of it either.

English tours 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 2pm daily
EU citizens free (take passport)
Non-EU = 2520 huf / £7.20

The Castle Museum in Buda is one of three locations that makes up the Budapest History Museum (the other two being the Aquincum and Kiscell Museums) but it’s possible to dedicate almost an entire day just to the Castle Museum. If you take their floor plan guide at face value then you would need to spend a grand total of five and a half hours across the four floors. This is probably a little excessive but allowing about 2-3 hours wouldn’t be unreasonable. English language audio guides are available at the ticket counter but are not included in the 1,200 HUF (£3.45) entrance fee. The investment is probably worthwhile as about half of the exhibits (if not more) do not have an English translation. I decided to go it alone however and wandered the labyrinthine museum unaided.

The ground floor provides a short introduction to the creation of the once separate cities of Buda and Pest and covers the Middle Ages era. In a chilly back room, a display of amputated Gothic statues stand in silence, uncovered during excavations of the castle in 1974.

I then descended to the basement, which is the largest and most diverse level. Starting with a series of illustrations and photos that document the palace’s development through the ages, it ends with a bleak photograph of its devastation wrought by the Nazis. Some of the following rooms are restored halls from the original palace, but are presented in a disjointed fashion. Not all of the museum’s interior was designed to compliment the vaulted Gothic and Renaissance Hall and it was a bit distracting stepping in and out concrete and glass whilst trying to get a handle on Budapest’s Medieval era. Bare tunnels and steep staircases lead to the palace halls, the royal cellar and a small chapel. According to the plan there are some interior gardens on this level too but I couldn’t see any way of accessing them.

Up to the first floor is Budapest in more recent times but it is here that English translations are suddenly lacking so you’re left guessing about many of the exhibits. Starting with Buda’s independence from the Turks in 1703, the exhibition looks at the regeneration and reconstruction of the city. A War Council ordered that only Catholics and preferably of German descent should be allowed to settle in the Castle District. Beyond this, the population was made up of Serbians, Hungarian industrialists and a German middle class.

Up to the second floor and the exhibition finishes up in prehistory. Artifacts from the stone and iron ages are dotting around encased in glass pillars. A map of the Roman Empire shows how Europe was divided up during their rule but the Castle Museum sensibly leaves Budapest’s Roman history to the Aquincum Museum in Obuda. If you still have the energy, you can round off your mammoth history lesson reading up on the legacy of the marauding Avar and Hun invaders.

Matthias Church, or Matyas Templom is, I’m guessing, a beautiful beacon sat atop Buda Hill. I say ‘guessing’ because at the time of my visit, the exterior was largely hidden behind a curtain of scaffold. I know most structures of its age have to undergo renovation at some point or another but it always takes the wind out of your sails when it happens to be during your visit. At the back of the church I noticed a couple of roofers and didn’t envy their task of replacing endless stretches of Zsolnay tilework. I have a feeling that Matthias Church will be surrounded by scaffold for a while longer yet.

The popular name came from Hungary’s King Mátyás who ruled between 1458 and 1490 and was twice married here. He also ordered the construction of its original southern tower. The official name is Church of Our Lady and it is reported that there has been a church at this location since 1015.

The 700 huf (a little over £2) entry fee seemed fair and they offer an audio tour for an additional 400 huf. I decided to forego the headphones as the camera and guidebook attachments were enough for me to deal with. Most Gothic cathedrals I’ve been to, while stunning, tend to be dark and subdued inside but the Matthias Church is quite different. Benefiting from a striking paint job, the walls and arches inside are an extension of the colourful roof outside. And I now vaguely know what it would feel like entering into a giant gingerbread house. Tourists trickled in and out but overall the church was thankfully quiet. It’s fairly small so I can imagine it being easily overrun in the summer months. A French tour guide scolded his dawdling charges as he impatiently waited to show them swastika motifs near the main entrance. The continuum of frescos and patterns that bleed over into the next is as remarkable as it is beautiful. On a clear day the sapphire stained glass sparkles in the sunlight and the entire church lights up like a Byzantine tapestry.

In spite of its long history, much of the church’s current design is attributed to Frigyes Schulek, the chief architect in the reconstruction between 1874-1896. Neighbouring buildings were demolished so that the church could stand alone and some of the walls taken down in their entirety so that the original architecture could be reconstructed from scratch. Schulek also added some touches of his own with the new snakeskin tiled roof and a gargoyle-embellished spire.
He then went on to further make his mark with the Fishermen’s Bastion, built between 1895 and 1902.

Matthias Church is open weekdays from 9am-5pm and from 9am-1pm on Saturday and 1pm-5pm on Sunday. However I went on a Saturday after 1pm so I guess the website advertised hours are subject to change. Visit: www.matyas-templom.hu

We came upon Café Eckermann somewhat by accident. It’s at the far end of Ráday utca, just before you reach Ferenc Korut and probably at a point beyond where most people would turn and head back up towards the centre of Pest. This large coffeehouse is home to what may be the largest cappuccino, they just haven’t notified the Guinness World Records committee yet. What they deliver in quantity doesn’t lack in quality though as the coffee is topped with an even blanket of foamed milk.

We arrived late in the morning and had apparently missed out on most of their breakfast menu, which was unfortunate, as the buttered croissant with jam had sounded particularly good. The quiet-spoken waiter seemed a bit confused by our resolve in ordering from the breakfast menu (to be fair it was closer to lunchtime) but we eventually managed to relay our order of toast and jam and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

The long café is brightly lit and situated as it is in the Goethe Institute building, it’s a popular hangout for students and lecturers. I felt marginally out of place without a laptop, textbook or broadsheet on the table but the atmosphere is pleasantly studious with enough discourse going on around that you don’t feel self-conscious. It feels more like an upmarket common room than an exclusive academic coffeeshop and there always seemed to be plenty of open tables despite the fact that most customers stay a while. As it was close to our hotel (the Ramada Budapest on Tompa Street) we stopped in twice on the same day and were amused to see some of the same people back (or possibly still there) in the afternoon.

The toast and jam was pretty good as toast and jam goes. The toasted sandwich though was excellent and I’d highly recommend coming here if you’re looking for an inexpensive, uncomplicated sandwich. Later that same day we ordered a couple of sausage dishes, which sadly were less impressive. My husband had a spicier sausage (which wasn’t at all spicy) and I got the bland wiener sausage. In retrospect we should have asked about the options on the specials blackboard but we were in a hurry and didn’t think to at the time.

Café Eckermann is a great place to kick back and read a book or paper and as it’s a little off the beaten track you don’t have to worry about competing with other tourists for a seat. It’s a quietly buzzing place during the day and stays open late into the evening.

If doctors prescribed confectionary for ailments, Ruszwurm would be the number one pharmacy in Budapest. Dispensing row after row of sumptuous cakes, the glass cases in this coffeehouse would tempt the strictest of dieters.

Ruszwurm is a top recommendation in every guidebook. It is the oldest confectionary shop in Budapest and they still know how to produce outstanding cakes and pastries. In addition, it’s on the doorstep of Buda’s most popular sights Matthias Temple and the Fishermen’s Bastion so the tourist draw is inevitable.

The shop opened its doors back in 1827 and parts of the original cherrywood counter are still in place. Now run by the Szamos family, Ruszwurm only offers home-made cakes, preserving the traditions of its founder Ferenc Schwabl and the Ruszwurm family who ran the shop between 1884-1922.

We were lucky that late on a Saturday morning, Ruszwurm had a few empty tables. We took a seat in the back room by the net-curtained window and were promptly given a menu by a sobre-tempered waitress. The petite round tables had the same cherrywood finish as the front counter and were decorated with a single off-white lace doily. Across from us was an olive-striped banquette. The furniture looked somewhat worn and in keeping with the medical theme, I felt like I was in a doctor’s waiting room from a bygone era.

Our cappuccino and Americano coffees were delivered swiftly along with the standard shot glass of drinking water. While the decision had been near impossible to make, we plumped for a raspberry slice and the house special: the Ruszwurm Cream Pastry. The cakes arrived in all their glory and I pondered, although not for long, how to break into the tower of cream sandwiched between two thin pastry squares. The cream, which constituted about 90% of the cake, was unsurprisingly rich with hints of vanilla custard in its mousse-like texture. The raspberry slice was a bit more modest but equally delicious. While the cakes were beautiful to look at it didn’t take us long to destroy both.

We paid about £4.88 for the two coffees and cakes, which given the location and the quality of the food and drink seemed very reasonable. The service wasn’t as friendly as we had experienced in the coffeehouses of Pest but it was fast and again, their command of English was 200% better than my Hungarian.

If you want to whet your appetite before you go, look at their very informative website: www.ruszwurm.hu, which also includes photographs of some of their top fare. I’ve read that it is usually difficult to get a seat in Ruszwurm but I would implore anyone to get a cake to go if you’re not able to eat in. Just be sure to grab a big stack of napkins if you opt for the Ruszwurm Cream Pastry.

2 x coffees and 2 x cakes = 1,680 HUF (£4.88)

My other favourite, Central Kavehaz is an elegant coffeehouse of times gone by. It has refined edges but the Central is a lovely laid-back café. We took a seat at the very back of the long room and this is actually the perfect place to be if you want to sit uninterrupted and watch the outside world go by.

We ordered two chicken salad sandwiches on ciabatta bread and some tea. Noticing that I wasn’t a local, the waiter offered to bring the tea with milk rather than lemon, which seems to be the norm in Budapest. The staff here, as in most coffeehouses, was courteous and spoke good English and I was again impressed by the toilet facilities. Down the stairs, I found an impossibly large (and clean) washroom with a long rack of washbasins and toilets. Kavehaz is a fairly large café but from the size of the bathrooms you would think they were expecting a daily surge of thousands.

Our sandwiches arrived looking decidedly regal on large white plates adorned with a golden ‘Central’ insignia. The long uncut ciabatta was filled with a diced chicken mixed with chopped egg, cabbage, lettuce and a little mayonnaise. At the top of the plate was a glass dish with two blanched (or possibly pickled, I wasn’t sure) figs. I cut these and stuffed them into the sandwich and it was positively delicious. On the side were six thick wedges of parsley potatoes. At 6,700 huf (£19.70) for two sandwiches, one beer and one tea, lunch at Central Kavehaz definitely isn’t cheap but it was tasty and filling. Other menu items were no less expensive but you do also pay for the prime location close to Ferenciek Tere.

I ate my sandwich at a leisurely pace, sinking into the leather banquette, another advantage of sitting at the back of the restaurant. From here too you can observe the afternoon clientele coming and going. Young and old stopped to peak at the illuminated cake display. There looked to be an upstairs seating area as well. I didn’t notice anyone up there but I imagine it would be an even nicer to look down across all the tables and pretty chandeliers.

The walls were covered with large mirrors, giving the illusion of continuity between the windows that look out onto Cukor Utca. White lamps dotted all around lit up the marmalade-coloured interior, giving the appearance of a beautiful old theatre bar. Fairy lights from the restaurant opposite lent the Central Kavehaz a definite festive air and if I ever found myself in Budapest on Christmas day, I would quite happily spend it here.

Of all the cafes we visited, Gerloczy and Central Kavehaz were probably my favourites. Each coffee shop in Budapest seems to have its own personality, allowing you to enjoy the posh, the laid back and the cheap and cheerful. Gerloczy probably falls into the upmarket category, although it’s nowhere near as grand as the New York, although I doubt any of them are. The Gerloczy is located on its namesake road, close to the Budapest City Hall. We had tried to stop in for lunch on a previous day but the busy café and restaurant had a 20-minute wait and judging by the bustling tables, this estimate seemed optimistic. We decided to try for a late breakfast instead and were much more successful as there were plenty of unoccupied tables.

In spite of its near-isosceles triangle shape, the Gerloczy feels surprisingly spacious inside. This is thanks to the banks of windows that stretch down both sides of the building. On the Vitkovies Mihaly side you’ll find the slower paced café room while the Gerloczy Utca side provides seating for those seeking a meal in a more refined dining environment.

We took our brunch on the ‘restaurant’ side and were served attentively by polite, upbeat waiters. The glowing open kitchen divides the two dining areas and the waiters exchanged jokes with the two young male chefs decked in tall fluffy toques.

At Gerloczy it’s impossible not to do breakfast in style. For starters the hot drinks menu reads like an exotic haiku of teas: Assam, Ceylon, Gunpowder Formosa, Wild Cherry and coffees: Ristretto, Espresso, Cappuccino cream and Espresso cream shakerato (the last of which sounds made up!) I ordered an Earl Grey tea, which arrived on dainty white china accompanied by a tiny pot of clear Hungarian honey and a large slice of lemon. The waiter brought us a basket of freshly baked ciabatta and I proceeded to drizzle the honey on the warm bread rather than using it for my tea. Both the honey and the bread were incredibly moreish.

Moving onto the food menu, it was impossible to know where to start as both the sweet and savoury options sounded equally tantalising. We opted for the Hungarian Omelette, which looked so delicious that any thoughts of taking a photograph were removed from my mind until it was long gone. The two golden omelettes were laid out neatly unfolded on square plates, threaded with crispy bacon, strings of juicy onion, chunks of green pepper and slices of chorizo sausage. It was light yet filling and perfect sustenance for a day of walking in the cold drizzle of January.

Gerloczy also has a boutique hotel upstairs with 15 rooms at 85 euros a night. I imagine it would be a wonderful place to stay and you would certainly be spoilt for choice come breakfast time.

After a delightful dinner at Café Kor, we headed south and took a walk down pedestrianised Vaci Utca to Kafana. This brick-interior bar has all the trappings of an alpine cabin, which would make for a perfect evening of après-ski revelry. Too bad that it’s far from any snowbound location.

When we arrived a very young looking group were singing and dancing along to a round of raucous Hungarian music, livening up the otherwise quiet bar. We took a look at the menu and ordered a couple of shots of palinka, a traditional fruit brandy produced in Hungary. We were hoping to try raspberry and cherry but the bartender only had elderberry and quince so that’s what we went with. It’s served in iced shot glasses and drank neat and comes at £2.10 for a single. I couldn’t honestly detect the fruit ingredient and to me it was more reminiscent of cheap vodka. I had to drink it quickly to avoid tasting it too many times and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for something sweet, or even brandy-like for that matter.

Having just eaten we didn’t give too much notice to the food menu, that was until a group sat near us was served up a mountainous meat platter. Kafana prides itself on its Serbian cooked kebab meals and the tray heaped full of sausages, chicken and other carnivorous delights laid testament to that claim. The four female recipients were momentarily dumbstruck by the display, which could have easily fed a party twice their size. They had ordered plates of salad, which also looked very appetizing and smelt (weirdly for a salad to have a far-reaching aroma) very fresh.

Kafana is a great bar for people watching. As we tried to stomach the last gulps of palinka, a continuous stream of locals stopped in for single drink, a quick chat with the barman and then hastily left. Elsewhere a couple drank iced Unicum and smoked thin cigarettes like it was going out of style. Foreign bills decorated the crude brick pillars and recessed bulbs beamed spotlights onto the palinka bottles. The bartender tried to tempt us with another round of palinka but we smiled with a firm ‘no’ and ordered a beer instead.

When it came to leave and we asked for the bill my husband noticed that we had been charged for double rather than single shots. I don’t know it this was one of the infamous scams we’d read about in the guidebooks but the bartender apologized for his mistake and promptly amended the bill. It’s worth double-checking your receipt against the prices on the menu though before handing over your cash. It was our first night out in Budapest so rather than letting it leave a bitter taste in our mouth (the bill experience, not the palinka) we took it as a lesson learned for future outings.

We took a calculated risk and went to Café Kor without a dinner reservation. Our guidebook had recommended making one and given its central location, I can understand why. Being just two of us, we snuck in at 7pm without any problem but the place gradually filled up as the night went on and a few groups of four who arrived after us had sensibly booked ahead for their tables.

Café Kor is a fairly small restaurant, with a scattering of wooden tables covered with white linen cloths and flickering tealight candles. The décor is fairly neutral, with dark tangerine walls displaying an array of old photographs. Small green pool-hall style lamps hang high from the ceiling, barely illuminating the rich wooden floorboards, giving the room a very cozy feel. The only anomaly in this intimate setting was the rotund gentleman sat behind a computer on a mezzanine level at the back of the restaurant. It was fairly easy to forget he was there but whenever he did catch my eye I felt like my dinner progress was being monitored.

We skipped the starters and ordered the beef goulash in red wine sauce and breaded chicken, which was interestingly offered up "with or without skin". Looking for a local beer, we were recommended the Dreher, a fairly light, crisp, slightly bubbly lager. They brought some complimentary bread and shortly after our food arrived, which looked delicious and hearty. The goulash came with croquette potatoes and chunky wedge of tomato. The "no skin" breaded chicken was served with parsley potatoes, a seemingly popular local potato preparation. Considering the simplicity of roasting potatoes with parsley and how tasty they were I wondered why it’s not more widespread in Western Europe too.

We decided to indulge in a dessert. We ordered a pancake dish to share and discovered another delicious recipe and what I assume is another local preparation. The warm pancakes were stuffed with plum jam and rolled into two thin pipes then covered with crushed poppy seeds and served with generous dollops of cream. The pulverised poppy seeds had the appearance of charcoal ash and added a slightly bitter but not unpleasant contrast to the sweetness of the plum and the cream.

The service at Café Kor is both relaxed and refined. The staff speaks excellent English and was happy to make recommendations. Being that the restaurant is a stones throw from the Basilica of St. Stephen they’re obviously used to the tourist crowds but you feel like you’re getting a bit more in the way of value for money. It probably costs around £25 for two people to have a two-course meal plus two alcoholic drinks here, which for a decent dinner in the city centre is quite cheap. It seems that many of Budapest’s restaurants and bars are clued in to the spending power of tourists and it’s nice that at Café Kor you don’t feel like you’re being ripped off.

2 x Dreher Beers, 1 x Beef Goulash, 1 x breaded chicken and 1 x plum jam pancake to share came to 7170 HUF (£21.09)

Our guidebook described Siraly as a bustling, hip hangout but if their reporter had visited on a Thursday lunchtime, it would have received quite a different review. I wouldn’t have said that Siraly seemed sleepy but closer to dead. The one staff member seemed to be there under duress and was more interested in surfing the net than stocking the counter with fresh food. The coffee wasn’t bad though. One thing that the Budapest natives don’t slack on is a carefully prepared cappuccino. We ordered two and took a risk on a day (or two) old pastry.

Being that we had the run of the place, we found it difficult to choose a seat and decided to venture up the spiral staircase. We bypassed a mezzanine table at the halfway point and ascended to the top floor where a menagerie of angry looking plants greeted us. To our great surprise, not all the tables were free. As if we had entered a university library, individuals sat consulting textbooks, typing on laptop computers and smoking cigarettes. Their coffees were long finished and one girl had obviously brought some of her own food in with her (quite sensible really given the brittle pastry we consumed). We took a seat close to the stairwell and talked in hushed voices, worried that we were disturbing the silent students around us. The bookshelves looked like they’d been pillaged over the years and then subsequently left to accumulate not much else but dust. The back wall of the room was obscured by a few long curtains and it was easy to imagine this being a place for poetry readings or small-scale theatrical productions.

I have a feeling though that we experienced the sober side of daytime Siraly and maybe this is a place to come to in the evenings instead. If the nightclub-like aroma of the toilets is anything to go by then Siraly must have a rougher edge. Failing that, you’re best advised to follow the herd and bring a good book and / or laptop.

It’s centrally located on a quiet side street close to Andrassy Utca and Erzsebet Korut. At 850 huf (£2.60 approx) for a couple of good coffees and one dodgy pastry it may be cheap, but you may be better off saving it for somewhere a little more vibrant and soulful.

To be honest, Caramia isn’t the most exciting restaurant along Raday Utca, but they do offer a decent tourist lunch. We had been out walking all morning and having eaten one too many expensive chicken baguettes during our stay, the 1690 huf (£5.10) three-course meal advertised on their outside blackboard seemed like a good deal.

Apart from a couple of locals watching the Australian open tournament on the TV at the end of the bar, we had the place to ourselves. Our subdued waiter asked which menu option we were interested in: the paprika chicken or the pork chop ‘gypsy style’. I never found out what ‘gypsy style’ is but I have a weird vision of it being a pork chop on a plate with a crystal ball and other Romany accoutrements. We ordered the chicken and pondered the 1980s-style black and white prints. The collection included Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Lenny Kravitz, Angelina Jolie. I was half surprised they didn’t have Spencer Rowell’s "l’Enfant" hanging somewhere too. They were available to purchase, some with the dubious claim of being limited edition.

The main restaurant area is fairly blandly decorated although one corner to the left of the bar is half-heartedly decked with some Buddha statues and Tibetan garb. Perhaps if events in the main restaurant become too crazy you can sit here and escape the sports TV and moody staff.

Our first dish of goulash soup arrived and to be fair, it was actually quite good and was served with chunky wedges of fresh bread. The paprika chicken with gnocchi was forgettable but I ate it all anyway. I’m still not able to accurately describe Hungarian gnocchi but don’t expect it to be anything like the fluffier, tastier Italian variety.

Following our main course, we were brought a slice of cake, which was possibly one of the more intriguing desserts I’ve tried in a foreign country. Two slivers of sponge sandwiched a large marshmallow triangle that was dotted with specs of tinned fruit. I admit it sounds gross, and it was highly artificial in flavour and ingredients but it actually wasn’t bad.

If you come to Caramia prepared for canteen style food then you’ll probably leave happy but it’s not somewhere you would want to seek out for your evening meal, as there are far better places on Raday Utca to choose from.

Tea, 2 x cappuccinos, 2 x tourist menus (goulash soup, paprika chicken with gnocchi and cake) came to 4770 HUF (£14.41)

You can often get good measure of a place if it’s popular on a Monday night. Every time we walked past Claro Bisztro it was busy so it seemed foolish not to try it out for size.

We took a seat in their no-smoking section at the far end of the bar. Most restaurants appear to have smoking and no-smoking areas but the boundaries are fuzzy at best. Claro was decked out in a myriad of Hollywood film posters. Most of the titles are written in the local language, allowing you to try your hand at some Magyar-English translation. At the opposite end of the bar is the Claro Gallery, the management’s attempt at supporting and popularizing local contemporary art. I didn’t actually notice it while we were there so I can’t comment on the exhibition at that time but in any event, the artwork was evidently losing the battle of wall space to the film poster display.

We looked through the sizeable menu but in the end both went for the Paprika Chicken with dumplings. Tealights flickered prettily in Unicum branded candleholders and we relaxed with a pint of the Heineken Hungaria brewed Soproni and a 2 DL (i.e. large) glass of red Villanyi Portugieser. This is a Hungarian wine, and not, as the name suggests, Portuguese. I’ve read that the name may derive from the Austrian Baron von Fries bringing the grape varietal from Oporto in 1772 but the claim seems tenuous. It’s a very palatable wine though, not too rich and not too sweet and compliments a plate of Paprika Chicken.

Having subsisted largely on goulash and bread for a few days, I also ordered a Greek salad to share. When it arrived I was pleased to note that not only were all the salad ingredients fresh, but that the salad was massive, big enough for 3-4 people to share. They were very generous with the Feta cubes and green olives and I kept going back for more even when I was full from my main meal.

The chicken was tender and tangy (the paprika was sweet rather than spicy) and the dumplings were the Hungarian-style gnocchi nibbles rather than the doughy English-style golf balls. Sour cream had been liberally spilled all over the paprika sauce, giving the chicken dish the vague appearance of cat sick. Fortunately the smell was not as unattractive and overall it was one of the better meals I had in Budapest.

Sadly we didn’t have the time to stay at Claro although I could have happily ordered another glass of Portugieser. We had to go on the hunt for our bill as our waitress gone on her break and no one had taken over from her. Otherwise the service was excellent and the food exceeded expectations. If you’re looking for variety, Claro has a far larger menu than Jaffa at number 39 and you always have the option of moving down two doors for some after dinner drinks.

We had a large Greek salad, 2 x paprika chicken with dumplings, 1 x beer, 1 x red wine, which came to 5560 HUF (£16.80)

The Tandem is a café of contradictions. The floor is black and white, the atmosphere is old school but the crowds are mostly adolescent, the entrance door is inauspicious but a tacky red and orange sign hangs over it. The interior is hip and populated by locals and a long bar displays a selection of snacks, spirits and cigarettes. With coffee costing only £1 a cup, I could have easily spent more time at the Tandem café had the mist of cigarette smoke not been so stifling.

Despite being located directly across the road from a wealth of fresh produce at the Central Market, the pastries on the counter didn’t look too healthy so we ordered two lone cappuccinos and found a table in the back room. Close to us, a large group of chain-smoking students who looked barely old enough to be drinking sat around pints of lunchtime beer. This and the lack of natural light gave the illusion that we had skipped ahead twelve hours.

The Escher-like floor tiles and spotlight illumination lend the Tandem an antiestablishment and subversive nature. I’m sure it’s a lot less extraordinary in reality but it definitely has an other-worldly quality and looks like the kind of place that any self-respecting spy should meet to pass off an attaché case.

As I said, had it not been for the fact that we were force fed second hand cigarette smoke the whole time we would have stayed longer but as it was, we downed our drinks and burst back out onto Pipa utca in a bid to get some fresh air back into our lungs.

2 x cappuccinos = 640 HUF

Csiga isn’t particularly easy to find. Unless someone specifically instructs you to turn down off Jozsef Korut at the big construction site, you might well miss it. After one about turn we arrived into the warmth of the Csiga oasis. Late on a Saturday night we had expected this place to be busy but with only a handful of people propping up the bar and a couple of tables, we practically had the place to ourselves. A DJ was wedged under the staircase, mixing tunes on an impossibly small table.

We took a table upstairs and ordered a couple of Dreher beers while taking a look over the menu. The waiter kindly translated the specials blackboard to us and explained that the big black site next door was part of the construction of the new metro line. Apparently waterlogged foundations mean that the opening of the new station at Rakuczi ter may be further off than originally anticipated.

The warm wooden tables and chairs glowed under beach-umbrella like lights wound in yellow, green, blue and red webs. The place reminded me of my old student union bar but perhaps as it would have looked if it were decked out for a Caribbean-themed party. A few palm fronds were stuck in the corner for extra effect and large canvases hung haphazardly around the walls. In true student fashion, rows of seriously undernourished potted plants wilted on the windowsill. Even the ivy was on the brink of death.

Our food arrived quickly. I had decided to try the beef stew on their specials board. It was cooked in beer and came with curious fried balls of rice, mushroom, and cheese. They were a lot better than they sound and tasted a lot like risotto. The beef was a bit disappointing as there was no hint of beer in the sauce and the meat was a chewy and overcooked. My husband had the lamb shank served with couscous. While the food wasn’t outstanding, both meals were substantial and good value for money. Arriving at 10pm, we were additionally thankful that the kitchen stays open until midnight and that it is only a ten minute walk from the Novotel hotel.

By the time we had finished, we were the only customers left. The waiter told us that you can never tell when it will be busy or not at Csiga. Even he seemed a bit perplexed that it was so quiet late on a Saturday night.

Despite it’s awkward location, I’d definitely recommend a visit to Csiga. Even in the cold month of January, the vivid artwork, friendly service and chill out music makes you feel like you’re wearing rose-tinted glasses for an evening.

We had lamb shank with couscous, beef stew cooked in beer with fried rice, mushroom, cheese balls with salad garnish and three beers which cost 5750 HUF (£17.40)

On the doorstep of the Batthyany ter Metro station is the Angelika. This deceptively large restaurant is tucked into the corner on this neat square, enlivened by pedestrians heading to the supermarket (cunningly disguised as a beautiful market hall) and the Szent Anna church. In addition, Batthyany ter is possibly the best place to take a photograph of the Parliament building as it sits directly across the Danube.

At around 5pm, the Angelika was almost empty so I was seated right away. I took a table in the non-smoking section and had the choice of sitting on a low sofa or a regular chair. I plumped for the sofa and placed my order from the English-language menu. I’m not proud to admit that I made little effort to learn any Hungarian before I left for Budapest and when you’re there, all hotel and restaurant staff speak such good English that any desire to try quickly disappears. Plus it’s such a tricky looking language on paper I’m fairly sure any attempts on my part would have been met with confusion or laughter. Not that I’m making excuses.

The history of the Angelika describes it as a once "favourite place for writers, poets, and performers". Originally famous for coffee and cages, it now prides itself on being an "international restaurant where you can also feel the past and culture of Hungary". Upon reflection, I’m not sure that I felt either. You do get a sense of the past, but that’s only when you’re outside looking at the beautiful baroque Szent Anna church next door. As for the present day, the Angelika looked too much like a modern day pizzeria inside and once inside, I could have been in any European city.

To be fair, I didn’t opt for any Hungarian food so perhaps this is when the sense of local culture is truly felt. I ordered a chicken noodle soup and a ‘Lightly glazed chicken breast with honey mustard mayoneise in a baguette’ [sic]. Both were tasty but the portions were small and after finishing both I was left feeling not as sated as I’d hoped. In fact a few hours afterwards I went out and had a full dinner.

Considering that the place was so quiet, the service was pretty slow and I had to ask twice for my bill. I couldn’t quite work out what Angelika was trying to be but perhaps it makes for a better lunch spot. Unless it really picks up late at night, I certainly wouldn’t recommend venturing there for dinner as I wasn’t particularly impressed by the ambience. This was somewhat compounded by the first waiter who was somewhat aloof, neglected to bring me the bill when I first asked and then abruptly disappeared. Apparently in the summer there is room for an additional 200 seats outside so perhaps this is when Angelika is at its best.

According to their website, the Angelika accepts Euros as well as Hungarian Forints and credit cards.

For 1 x chicken noodle soup, 1 x chicken baguette sandwich and 1 x tea, I paid 2673 HUF inc. 10% service charge (just over £8)

As my husband was in Budapest on business and the Novotel couldn’t accommodate us for the duration of our stay, we spent the last two nights at the Ramada Budapest on Tompa Street. The Ramada is at the far end of the quiet, residential Tompa Street and is very close to the lovely Raday Utca, a great area for shops and restaurants.

Check in was quick and easy but we had been allocated a room on a smoking floor and asked to change. The online reservation had requested a non-smoking room but for some strange reason, this hadn’t been communicated to the hotel management. However when they did find us a non-smoking room (twin though, not double) it smelt smokier still so we reverted back to the original room.

The standard rooms at the Ramada are very narrow and a little reminiscent of a cabin on a ship. The walls were barely wider than the bed and on one side a pillar jutted out and against the mattress. To our relief the bed itself was very comfortable and with the heating on permanently at full blast there was no danger of us getting cold at night. In fact we left the window open the entire time we were there and the room was still too hot.

The TV offered the normal run of German, Italian and Hungarian language channels as well as a couple of English options. The small fridge was bottle-free but handy storage for fruit juice, yogurt and beer that we picked up at a small shop across the road. Again we bypassed the 15 euro breakfast and improvised our own instead.

The bathroom was cupboard-like but served its purpose. The shower (no bath) was great but the doors didn’t quite meet in the middle, which meant that there was some mopping up to do afterwards. On the final morning our toilet became blocked so we were quite happy to be checking out.

The staff at the Ramada seemed very helpful and was apologetic about the problem with the (smoking) room. I’ve since read reviews by others that have commented on the heating issue and similar bathroom problems so I’m wondering if the Ramada is perhaps overdue for a few minor repair jobs.

In terms of location, the Ramada is probably better located than the Novotel. It’s still out of the centre, but being so close to Raday Utca you have a great choice of cafes for breakfast and lunch as well as restaurants for dinner. It’s also only 15 minutes walk from the Great Market Hall where you can pick up last minute gifts of paprika, Tokaji, Unicum, lace and other knick-knacks. Across the river from the market, the Gellert Hotel and baths and the Liberation Monument atop Gellert Hill are also within easy reach. The nearest metro station to the Ramada is a 10-15 minute walk to Ferenc Korut on the blue line.

The Novotel Centrum is a curious place. The noisy, dirty crossroads of Rakoczi Utca and Erzsebet Korut hardly befit the hotel’s sparkling black and white entrance but as you move in through the reception area and to your room, the hotel feels less out of place with its surroundings. In the end, the Novotel is what you would expect from a hotel chain. Yes it has a fancy front but rather than capturing the essence of its 1911 Art Nouveau heritage, renovations rendered its rooms (or most of them I’m assuming) with something of a Ikea Nouveau feeling. Formerly the Palace Hotel, there is little palatial about the accommodations. The rooms I admit were spacious but there were more than a few chinks in the armour.

Our room was on the fourth floor and overlooked a side quiet street. Unfortunately the silence, and warmth, was interrupted by a constant whistling of wind that blew through a permanently open crack in the seam of the double-glazing. We could, and should have asked to change room but laziness overtook us and we stuck with it. The bed, which was pleasingly wide, turned out to be furnished with a cheap, uncomfortable mattress, which didn’t make for a very good night’s sleep.

In spite of its faults, I did like the fact that the room was so large. There was a long sofa next to our bed and plenty of space to hang clothes as well as tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge stocked with a bounteous mini bar, including a diminutive bottle of the local Unicum.

The café and bar on the ground floor are all quite attractive, and retain some historic integrity. However the breakfast was an additional 17 euros so we skipped the expense. One nice touch was the two large Apple Mac computers near the reception desk, providing free Internet access to guests. It’s the first time I’ve seen a hotel choose Mac over PC and I have to give them some kudos for doing that.

I decided to check out some of the hotel’s spa facilities, which include a gym, Jacuzzi and sauna. I sat in the lackluster Jacuzzi for ten minutes before deciding that I would probably get more out of having a shower in the room. The Jacuzzi was lukewarm and emitted two puny bubble jets of bubbles close to the steps. After this disappointment I also decided to skip the sauna, solely occupied as it was by a male pensioner in his birthday suit.

The Novotel boasts that it has a central location but it’s not the most convenient choice in terms of walking. It is handily located within a stones throw of Blaha Lujza ter station on the red metro line, which runs directly to stops in Buda. On foot, the Novotel is a good 20 minute walk to Vaci Utca and probably 40 minutes or more to Buda.