95 PLACES TO EAT OR BUY GOOD FOOD

5 restaurants to EAT LIKE A LOCAL—————————— 24 5 lovely and small NEIGHBOURHOOD RESTAURANTS——————————————————————————— 50 The 5 best places for A HEALTHY MEAL———————— 26 The 5 restaurants to go for GOULASH——————————— 52 5 lesser-known FOOD MARKETS—————————————— 28 5 iconic HUNGARIAN SWEETS—————————————— 54 The 5 best places for SUNDAY BRUNCH———————— 30 The 5 best PASTRY SHOPS—————————————————— 56 5 hip places for GENERATION-NOW DIETS———— 32 5 tempting ICE-CREAM PARLOURS————————— 58 The 5 best FOOD SHOPS———————————————————— 34 5 not-to-miss ARTISAN BAKERS————————————— 60 The 5 most ROMANTIC RESTAURANTS—————— 36

5 restaurants for MEAT LOVERS—————————————— 38

The 5 best places for TRADITIONAL HUNGARIAN FOOD——————— 40

5 great places to eat on A SMALL BUDGET—————— 42

The 5 best places for FINE DINING———————————— 44

5 INFORMAL GOURMET RESTAURANTS——— 46

5 places for JEWISH FOOD—————————————————— 48 5 restaurants to 4 FRICI PAPA ‘Uncle Frici’ was an instant success when VII. Király utca 55. it opened in 1997 and has since then EAT LIKE A LOCAL Erzsébetváros ➆ become a institution. The menu +36 1 351 0197 is short and features traditional dishes fricipapa.hu and low prices. Expect a constant queue on workdays at lunch as well as at dinnertime. Once you get inside, you’re free to sit wherever you can find a seat.

1 KERÉK VENDÉGLŐ This authentic small restaurant in Old 5 OPERA HENTES This butcher’s shop overlooks the side of III. Bécsi út 103. with its lovely garden has been in VI. Hajós utca 21. the Opera House; at noon you’ll bump Óbuda �� business since the early 1900s – it used to Terézváros ➆ into opera stagehands who come here to +36 1 250 42 61 be frequented by the blue-collar workers +36 1 353 4022 grab lunch: a fried sausage with mustard kerekvendeglo.hu of a nearby hat factory. The latest facelift and a huge slice of white bread. Among took place in 1988. On the menu you’ll find the clientele there are also lawyers and grandma’s homespun cooking, including small business owners who are happy to two legendary dishes: fried bone marrow sometimes forget about their healthy, with tartar sauce and tripe stew. modern diets.

2 CHABLON BISTRO Only regulars and food bloggers know VI. Bajcsy-Zsilinszky about this no-frills gourmet place tucked út 27. away in a courtyard opposite the Arany Terézváros ➆ János utca metro station. The décor is +36 20 915 7130 plain, the prices are low, but the menu, chablonbistro.hu which changes weekly, is sophisticated and delicious.

3 CSALOGATÓ A popular local institution since the 1930s. KISVENDÉGLŐ These days the 13 tables are often taken by XIV. Amerikai út 64. the staff of the film studio and the personel Zugló ➇ of two hospitals nearby, who come here +36 20 381 4445 for lunch; in the evening local families csalogato.hu come here for dinner. The pleasant, large 4 FRICI PAPA terrace can seat about 60 people.

24 25 5 bars that offer SMALL-SCALE BEER LABELS

151 FIRST CRAFT BEER Be careful when you’re looking for this IV. Váci út 83. place: the house numbers of Váci út start Újpest back from 1 in District IV.; it would cost +36 30 349 6052 you a 20-minute taxi drive. This is an firstcraftbeer.com open brewery, meaning that you can see everything through windows – the people working and the workshop, which is as clean as a surgical theatre. Eight varieties are offered in the taproom, none of them very strong.

152 HUNYADI This ‘apartment bistro and artisanal LAKÁSBISZTRÓ ÉS brewery’ is on the slopes of Castle Hill. KÉZMŰVES SÖRÖZŐ It takes up the entire ground floor of I. Hunyadi János a 200-year-old block, overlooking utca 15. a small square. The focus is on beer, Várnegyed ➃ but there’s also something for wine- +36 70 881 8100 lovers. There’s a small private room for lakasbisztro.hu smaller groups, called the apartment. There are also beer-related events.

151 FIRST CRAFT BEER

88 89 HEART OF JESUS CHURCH 35 BUILDINGS TO ADMIRE

5 ARCHITECTS TO REMEMBER—————————— 130

5 secrets about the PARLIAMENT BUILDING———————————————— 132

The 5 most striking examples of ART NOUVEAU————————————————————————— 134

The 5 most impressive ARCADES—————————————— 137

5 stunning CLASSIC MODERN BUILDINGS——————————————————— 139

5 secrets about BUDAPEST’S BRIDGES—————— 141

5 stunning 21ST-CENTURY BUILDINGS————— 144 The 5 best 278 BATTHYÁNY TÉR This pretty square, with some early I. Batthyány tér 18th-century houses, two churches and VIEWS OF BUDAPEST Víziváros ➃ two statues, became more important when the metro station opened in 1972. The best place to enjoy the view is the riverfront, right opposite the Parliament building. This is also a perfect place to get a good look at the bridges, Gellért Hill and the cathedral dome. 276 FORTRESS This widely known and sombre fortress XI. Gellérthegy was built in 1851 by the Habsburgs to 279 THE MIDDLE OF For a mighty view look southwards, Újbuda ➄ keep Buda and Pest under control, but away from – you’ll be it was never really used – 16 years later Between Buda looking at a sort of ‘third bank’ of the the dual monarchy was established. and Pest, at the tip . You’ll see Gellért Hill and three It was occupied by the Austrians until of the island ➈ or four bridges, and then as far as the 1897, when the city took over the site. new Millennium Quarter, including Some parts of its walls were destroyed the controversial, schmaltzy National by the city authorities, but most of the Theatre. The cross on the stone crown structure still stands. right in front of you regularly gets stolen by vandals. 277 IN FRONT OF THE The medieval was destroyed STATUE OF PRINCE in 1686 when the Habsburgs liberated 280 PANORAMA DECK Vigadó is a word thought up especially to EUGENE OF SAVOY Buda. A new palace was built piecemeal in OF VIGADÓ name this building: ‘a place to be merry’. I. Budavári Palota the following decades, and the statue of CONCERT HALL It was built by architect Frigyes Feszl in Várnegyed ➃ the Austrian general who cleared V. Vigadó tér 2. 1865, but after it was seriously damaged of the Turks was placed there in 1900. Belváros ➀ during the war, it remained unused for The view is superb: all Pest is at our feet. +36 20 429 4124 decades. During the latest renovation vigado.hu a panorama deck was added, oriented towards Buda. It’s a nice place for a rest after a visit of the building.

148 149 5 great 344 MŰVÉSZ During the interwar period this was a VI. Teréz körút 30. ‘cinema with a bell’: they rang a bell CINEMAS Terézváros ➆ as a sign for couples to stop cuddling. +36 1 224 5650 Nowadays it’s a six-room art kino, on with an interesting past muveszmozi.hu Grand Boulevard, with performances from 1 pm onwards, and earlier in the weekend. It also offers the best art video rental service in town with well over 10.000 DVDs and great personal advice. 341 URÁNIA Originally built for a ‘science slide show’ in VIII. Rákóczi út 21. 1894 in the Moorish Revival style, this large 345 CORVIN Originally built in 1924, this was Józsefváros ➅ cinema was completely renovated in 2002. VIII. Corvin köz 1. Budapest’s largest cinema for many years. +36 1 486 3400 It’s maintained by the government, and is Józsefváros ➅ It played an important role in the 1956 urania-nf.hu a great place to attend festivals and film +36 1 224 5650 revolution, a fact that’s commemorated premieres, but also English and American corvinmozi.hu with a statue and with some plaques with theatre and opera broadcasts. There are unreliable facts. In 1996 it was converted two small rooms downstairs as well. into a multiplex cinema. It’s still owned by the city. 342 PUSKIN Opened in 1926 as Forum, this cinema is V. Kossuth Lajos one of the best art kinos in town, with utca 18. three screening rooms. In 1929 it was the 341 URÁNIA Belváros ➀ first cinema to show a talking picture in +36 1 224 5650 Hungary. It was renamed Puskin in 1948, puskinmozi.hu after the communist coup d’état. Unlike other cinemas, it didn’t get back its old name in 1990.

343 KINO CAFÉ A lovely two-room art cinema on Grand XIII. Szent István Boulevard, near Margaret Bridge. Though krt. 16 the name means ‘cinema’ in Russian, the Újlipótváros ➈ cinema was actually named after a pop +36 1 781 9453 band. Occasionally small festivals are kinocafemozi.hu organised here, in honour of architectural films. There’s a great cafe in the foyer.

178 179 25 ACTIVITIES FOR THE WEEKEND

5 nice DAY TRIPS—————————————————————— 222

The 5 BEACHES (STRAND) to visit in the Budapest area——————————————————————— 224

The 5 best CYCLING ROUTES————————————— 226

5 great HIKING TOURS in the Buda Hills—————— 228

The 5 best BATH HOUSES———————————————— 230

SZÉCHENYI BATH The 5 463 A SPA CITY AND Budapest is a spa city, but a special one: A BIG CITY AT usually spa cities are small settlements ODDEST THINGS THE SAME TIME that have little to offer besides thermal water. Budapest has a lot of attractions; about Budapest the baths are just one of them. The concept was first brought to Buda by the Turks. Until WWII there were about a dozen Danube swimming pools. These days Budapest baths are mostly used by 461 PEST IS RISING Looking from hilly Buda at Pest, the latter families with kids, and tourists. Ordinary looks completely flat. Anyone who ever people go to fitness clubs and gyms with tried to bike from the river to Kőbánya or small pools. District X. knows that isn’t true. Pest, as a matter of fact, is incrementally growing 464 CHAPEL IN THE ROCK The medieval-looking chapel was higher and higher, as it moves away from XI. Gellérthegy inaugurated in 1931. It has been carved the Danube. Geologists compare it to an into the south slope of Gellért Hill and amphitheatre created by nature. serves as a place for prayers by the monks of the nearby monastery. It was brutally 462 23 SEMI- Budapest, a city of 1,7 million inhabitants, closed on Easter Monday 1951, when the INDEPENDENT is highly compartmentalised; there are 23 monks were deported, and some of them FIEFDOMS districts, each with its own elected mayor killed. The chapel was reopened for the and city council. There is a mayor-in-chief monks and the public in 1992. as well, but he has limited power. The coordination of the different districts 465 AN EXACT COPY OF You could call Budapest a city of copies: is slow and difficult, and corruption is A FIRENZE PALACE many buildings will remind visitors of probably higher as a consequence of that. buildings in Vienna or Paris. Batthyány Palace for example (Teréz körút 13.) is a close to perfect copy of Palazzo Strozzi (1538), in Firenze. The copy was designed by Lajos Hauszmann, a leading architect of his time.

234 235