Indigo Budapest

Indigo in Budapest is an Indian restaurant offering really a massive variety of Indian dishes with a very nice flair and a cool location. They state on the website that “Indigo Indian restaurant opened in december 2005 with a vision of providing authentic indian flavours in a relaxing atmosphere” which is partly true, the flavours are great and authentic, though the atmosphere is a bit busy and somehow typical Hungarian so for me it was not really a relaxing experience. However the food, and they offer a lot, was great and the portions rich so there is nothing to complain about. Located in Jókai utca it is not far off the pulse of the city actually it is still considered as the city centre.

As mentioned the food is really great and the portions are enough to get full. I tried the typical Chicken Tikka Masala which was well spiced and had a really great taste and also the traditional Hungarian Dreher beer was good. It took me actually a long time to decide what I eat because the menu is ridiculously long with tons of dishes for every meat and fish type you can imagine. Chicken, pork, beef, fish, vegetarian in all kinds of variantswhich makes it not easy to chose something especially if it is full of Indian expressions such as Tandoori, Tikka or Paneer which maybe not everybody understands or knows what it is.

I think that the service was not the greatest, at least it took a while to get each and every drink so that you almost could order your next beer while you get one in case you want to have one more, maybe it was because we were sitting upstairs but there did not seem to be a dedicated waiter for this area. Also when asking for the ingrediants of a certain dish the waiter could not really explain us what it was and tell us what it is made of which for me is not really professional. So from this standpoint restaurant Indigo in Budapest is not the perfect place to go. However if you know the Indian kitchen a bit or have no problems chosing a dish that you might not know and just try I do recommend to visit Indigo.

Overall I was satisfied with the overall experience in restaurant Indigo with some remarks that you can accept. The prices for food are a bit expensive so that you are not leaving the place without paying around 2000 HUF for a main course without drinks. Although the food was very good I am still a fan of the Indian restaurant Hathi in Budapest in the 13th district which for me is the best Indian food you can get in the city. It is a bit far outside and not really nice to sit there for an evening though. But if you fancy some Indian food in the city centre do not hesitate to go to Indigo.

Restaurant Indigo Information:
Address: 1066 Budapest, Jókai u. 13.
Tel: +361 428-2187
Or visit the official Indigo website

Hathi Indiai Kifőzde

For now: Hathi is the best Indian restaurant in Budapest, most probably even the best I have ever been to.
The Hathi Indiai Kifőzde is rather a lunch place than a proper restaurant, so if you expect wine glasses on the table or dressed up waiters serving you, you better go somewhere else. The word Kifőzde in Hungarian describes a place where you get prepared food from a pot and not a freshly cooked dish. In Hathi you are even served on plastic plates and plastic forks so it is a real “grab your food, eat and leave place”.

All that sounds not too good but once you get your food you will be amazed how good it is. Usually the “Indian” restaurants serve you kind of Indian food which is prepared for Europeans meaning that spices are not used properly and probably the receipe is not what you expect from Indian food. In Hathi all dishes I ever ate, due to the fact that I am arround there quite much and really love it it is quite many I tried, simply taste fantastic, well spiced and simply blow up your mind.

No matter if you want to eat the typical Chicken Tikka Masala, a simple Butter Chicken or something you maybe have enver heard before like Chicken Vindaloo or Pakora you will for sure find something really tasty. If you dont know what the names stand for the employees are really willing to help you and explain what exactly it is and what it consists of. Also fantastic is the typical Indian Naan (bread) which you can have plain, with garlic, cheese, chicken meat or butter. This is a must have next to your dish.

Restaurant Hathi is located in the 13th disctrict in a place where, as a tourist, you probably not go to since it is a fairly industrial part of Budapest with office buildings, car repair services and technology outlets. So the typical person going to Hathi are working people for lunch but since the restaurant is open from 11.30 – 20.00 daily except from sunday people even come on a saturday to eat here and also in the evenings. Hathi also offers home delivery but only within the 13th district.

Indian Restaurant Budapest

So if you want to have a proper Indian food you have to go to Hathi because it honestly is the best Indian restaurant I have been to. As a little preview of the different dishes check the image on the left (that also describes what a Kifőzde is).

Information:
Address:
Frangepán utca 20 (corner of Teve utca)
1139 Budapest
Tel.: 06-1-239-79-54
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat, 11.30 – 20.00
Or visit the Hathi Website

Bombay Express Budapest

Restaurant Bombay Express in Budapest is located in one of the hottest spots in the city on Ándrassy út right at Oktogon and Liszt Ferenc Tér. As the name says you get offered Indian food as well as drinks and imported spices and herbs. Bombay Express is kind of a fast food restaurant since most of the food is prepared and offered in buffet like pots. Nevertheless the Bombay Express is a very good choice when it comes to Indian food and the choice is not too bad.

Of course in Bombay Express you can find tghe typical Indian tastes like Tandoori Chicken and more but they also offer a great variety of a la carte dishes like Chicken Vindaloo or Madras Chicken and many more. For the menu check the website at the end of this article. I had there a lamb curry which was really excellent but in terms of quantity a bit poor compared to the fairly high price you pay. Nevertheless they have quite fancy things to try like Pakora which is some kind of deep fried vegetable ball which tastes really great. So whatever you want to try in the Indian kitchen you will most probably find it in Bombay Express.

But Bombay Express does not only offer food they also offer Indian beers (very expensive) and a large selection of herbs, spices, prepared dishes for home, spice mixes and so on all from the Indian cuisine. They have like a little shop attached to the restaurant where you can find all those fancy oriental things. Have a look and enjoy.

Adress:
Andrássy út 44
1061 Budapest

The menu is built up like a matrix so that you can choose between Burrito, Quesadilla and Taco with different fillings and toppings like sliced pork, chicken, beef, Chorizo, vegetarian and so on. You also can choose vegetables that should go with it from tomatoes, onions, paprika to coriander or spicy pepperoni. So basically you can choose whatever you want to go with you Burrito or Quesadilla.

Next to these 3 main dishes Arriba offers a selection of salads and small finger food like the Poppers (Chillies stuffed with cheese, deep fried) which taste fantastic or Taquitos which are a bit dry but OK. To go with it Arriba offers typical Mexican beer, XX, but also Margaritas and of course the usual soft drinks.

The prices in Arriba are not too bad even though not cheap but for the quality of food aceptable. The taste reminded me of my trip to Mexico so there is some original flavour in the food and not some cheap TexMex American wannabe Mexican. Arriba offers also home delivery within a quite small area of Budapest. If you fancy Mexican food I would definetly recommend Arriba.

Adress:
Teréz körút 25. (near Octogon)
Every day: 11:00-24:00
Phone: +36-1-374-0057
Or visit the Arriba website

Until recently I haven’t heart anyything about the restuarant Két Szerecsen in Budapest. It is located in the city center, near Andrássy út and Nagymező utca. At first I thought it is a simple café serving coffee, tea and cakes but it is not only. Két Szerecsen has a very good kitchen, and when I say very good, I mean very good. The menu is not too long and the food to choose from is special but what you get served is just amazing.

Két Szerecsen means “Two nutmeg” and the name comes from tradition. In early years 2 people from Muskat opened up a store where they sold tea and in that time an unknown drink called coffee. It used to be a little shop in the outskirts, what is today the city center of a 2 million city. So by that time people came there to drink coffee or tea imported from Muskat.
Later the coffee shop turned into a restaurant but the coffee shop stayed aside so you still can have your coffee, tea and what is quite unusual for Hungary you can have breakfast there.
Coming back to the food, Két Szerecsen offers a small but very good selection of exotic foods such as a fantastic chicken curry, fish, duck and much more. All foods that I have tried there taste fantastic and so do the starters which come in a tapas size bowl. Also the soups are amazing.
So if you fancy some more exotic food than Paprikascsirke or Gulyas leves than the resturant Két Szerecsen in Budapest is the right place for you. 

Adress: 
Nagymező utca 14.
6th district, 1065 Budapest,
Phone and Fax: (+36 1) 343-1983 
Or visit the Két Szerecsen website.

As I know quite a bit about Transilvania and especially about the food and drinks there I went into restaurant Széklykapu in Budapest with high expectations. Additionally the dinner was organised by a Transilvanian so I was totally happy about going there to have a nice dinner with some nice Pálinka.

Unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations at all. The Pálinka was fine and the beer, the original, fantastic “Ciuc”, was as usual fantastic and the live music was OK that alone made a great evening because there is nothing else you need when you get drunk and can dance. Nevertheless I expected a nice food so I ordered the Vinette (Padlizsan Krém / Aubergine Creme) as a starter which didn’t even have onions in it which is an absolute No Go in Transilvania. It tasted just like nothing. As I main course I decided to eat a slice of pork meat with a onion, paprika sauce on top which as well had no taste at all. Not even the onions tasted like anything.
All the other dishes I tried from my friends were not better, not thinking about really good or Transilvanian.
Stayed the Ciki Sör and the Blueberry Pálinka which was great but that alone doesn’t make afantastic evening, at least not if you go to a restaurant with such high expectations.
And of course that was not enough. The waitress, an unfriendly, unalerted woman brought a bill with just some numbers listed. As we were 9 persons, had a lot of food and drinks we could not figure out if everything is correct or if maybe the tip is already added or something is listed twice. We ended up spending 56.000 HUF which is not too bad for a 9 person dinner including loads of drinks but it was just not transparent at all.
Overall I can just recommend not to go there if you want to taste Transilvanian cuisine, it is just not worth it. Unfortunately I have not found any other alternative other than going to Transilvania yourself which is still the best. 

Adress: 
Podmaniczky utca 29.
6th district, Budapest
Telefone: +36 1 269 4072

Becketts is a well known place for live football in Budapest. Specially English Premier League is shown in Becketts but als the Bundesliga, Seria A and Primera Division. Next to football Becketts offers like many other Pubs pints of beer, food and English pub atmosphere. For football you have the best atmosphere in Becketts. 

Becketss is THE place for expats and foreigners. Every staff member speaks perfect English, you find tons of beer from the UK there and you get your sunday roast or stew there. So for every one who misses his or her traditional British food Becketts is for sure a good place to go.

On weekends you will find many Budapest girls there as expats are quite attractive to some types of girls in Hungary. So at night time you will have music and a lot of alcohol in Becketts mixed with sometimes good looking girls that makes a nice evening.

Adress:
Bajcsy Zsilinszky út 72, 
District 5, Budapest
Phone: (+36-1) 311-1033

Restaurant Mongolian Barbecue Budapest is a restaurant which is quiet amazing. The system is that you re actually not ordering your food but yu go to some kind of buffet, take out the meat you would like to have and bring it to the barbeque guys who fry it for you. During the frying you can choose your side dishes and after pick up your fresh fried meat.

The variety of meat offered there is amazing, not just the different spices and tasts but also “exotic” meat types like sheep or horse meat. I know that horse meat sounds a bit hard but probably this is what mongolians like to eat. The interior and location of the Mongolian Barbecue in Budapest is some communistic left. So the place and ambience of the Mongolian barbecue restaurant is not that nice but the food is very good and the prices are fair. Thus it is worth a visit if you are interested in eating Mongolian. 

Adress: 
Márvány utca 19/a.
District 12, 1126 Budapest
Reservations: +36-1 212-1859

The bar Creol in Budapest has a very prominent location. At Roosewelt tér Creol is located near the Danube, next to high quality hotels and in the city centre. Therefore bar Creol has its prices which are far above average and can compete with London, Paris or Berlin. The cheapest beer you can get is 1000 HUF (4 Euro) for a 0,33l Amstel which ist 2-3 times as much as you usually pay for a 0,5l beer in a regular bar.

The Creol is more a bar than a restaurant, nevertheless they offer food which is quiet nice but also above average. The food menu is around 3 pages long, the drinks fit on the left 20 pages of the menu. You have the choice of tons of drinks, cocktails, whiskeys or wines.
The bar itself has a very nice interior and is designed fashioned. It is nice to sit in there, listen to live music but when it comes to the bill you wish you have been somewhere else. Unless you are swimming in money I definetly recommend to go somewhere else. 

Adress:
Roosevelt tér 7-8 
District 5, Budapest
Phone: (+36-1) 302 7909

Or visit the website

Paulaner Brauhaus (Engl.: brewery, Hun.: Sörház) Budapest is on top floor of MOM Park Shopping center. The restaurant is very big and offers enough space for big groups of people, parties or just a two person dinner. The menu in Paulaner Brauhaus consists mostly of traditional German food like “Haxe, Schnitzel or sausages”. To stay in German tradition of course the beer is not missing.

Several fresh draft and bottled beers from different parts of Germany are offered. Besides all this German specialties Paulaner Brauhaus in Budapest offers Hungarian dishes as well like Gulash soup or palatchinta. For all Germans the Paulaner Brauhaus is a must if you want to feel like home. 

Adress: 
Mom Park
Alkotás utca 53
District 12, Budapest
Phone: +36 (1) 224 2020
or vistit the Paulaner Brauhaus website