Even with just the initial visuals, the House of Hungarian Music has always promised to be the most architecturally exciting feature of the wide-ranging transformation of the City Park, a long-term enterprise that is still ongoing.
Photo: Márton Koncz / We Love Budapest
The House of Hungarian Music is the one part that has caused the least controversy, both among professionals and the public. This is partly due to the fact that the site stands on the ruins of the former Hungexpo office building. Of an overall 10,000 square metres the new park will cover, the HoHM will occupy about a third.
Photo: Márton Koncz / We Love Budapest
The most common criticism of the building is why another such public institution and concert hall is needed in a city with Müpa, the Franz Liszt Music Academy, the Opera House and other illustrious landmarks. The answer to this is that the HoHM is intended to play a different role.
Photo: Márton Koncz / We Love Budapest
In addition to the concert hall and lecture hall, there will be music education workshops, a library and several exhibition spaces, as well as a larger open-air stage facing the City Park that evokes the atmosphere of old music pavilions. Hungary’s rich musical heritage will be presented in a meaningful way.
Photo: Liget Budapest
As for the building itself, most already recognise it because of its roof dotted with holes, floating in organic symmetry with the trees immediately surrounding it.
These circular openings will penetrate the roof and, in many places, the ceiling. There will be almost 100 in total, individual skylights that not only illuminate the offices and halls on the upper storey, but bring natural light down to the lower levels. Cavities will also hover above the alfresco areas.
Photo: Márton Koncz / We Love Budapest
The designer intends to surround the building with glass walls and cladding of a special bronze-green, with light and ambient false ceilings and floor coverings. The complex will thus blend the built environment in with nature.
Photo: Márton Koncz / We Love Budapest
The building’s cooling and heating system are another curiosity: 120 soil probes will be placed 100 metres deep to provide the house with environmentally friendly, renewable, geothermal energy, and the building’s cooling facility will come from the equipment for the adjacent ice rink.
The underground levels, where the exhibition spaces and the sound dome will be, are almost in place, with the raw concrete shapes of the central twisting spiral staircase already impressive.
It’s no secret that the path to the heart is through the stomach, and the Paris Budapest Restaurant is providing a truly spectacular dinner this year for all the lovers in the city. Combining Hungarian, French and other international cuisines, the Paris Budapest Restaurant has long been a leading light of fine dining in the capital. This 14 and 15 February, their Valentine’s Day dinner presents a special offer.
Photo: Sofitel
Pink Rose Champagne sets the mood, while lobster in cauliflower cream with black truffle begins this elegant, three-course dinner. Following the appetisers is the option of cod fillet with sweet potato, mussels and saffron sauce, or grilled veal loin with pear, fennel and dates. Finally, a loving tropical dessert for two completes the meal. Those who prefer to spend the evening cuddling at home can order this to go, as well as a selection of delicious heart-shaped macarons!
Photo: Sofitel
Served with still or sparkling water, a glass of wine, and tea or coffee, the meal is no more than 18,000 forints, and the option of dinner-only is 15,000. Of course, breathtaking views of Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge are only the icing on the cake! With its sweeping, panoramic vista over the Danube, there’s no better place to spend an evening with that special person who makes your heart beat faster.
Photo: Sofitel
Make your reservation for an unforgettable Valentine’s Day dinner at the Paris Budapest Restaurant, and enjoy the great food, stunning views, artisanal cocktails and romantic atmosphere.
Michael Simmons has a broad smile and the kind of voice begging to be on the radio. In fact, he began hosting his own radio show, called Soul School, 12 years ago here in Budapest. The show intersperses rhythm and blues with discussions of topical issues of the day.
Michael’s history in social activism stretches all the way back to the 1960s, when he dropped out of college to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee – known as SNCC – as a teenager. Now living in Europe, Michael speaks on social issues across topics, and aims to start a discussion among his listeners.
Photo: Michael Simmons
February is African American History Month, and Michael is using the opportunity to highlight the oft-overlooked contributions that women made in the Civil Rights movement in his talk this Tuesday.
“The history of social movements,” he says, “tends to be about men, in spite of all the things that the women were doing. In fact, a lot of the things that men get credit for, women really were the hard-core folks who made it happen”.
Photo: Michael Simmons
He aims to bring a deeper understanding to the topic of Civil Rights. When people talk about social movements, he explains, they tend to focus on the figurehead – Ghandi, Mandela, MLK, etc. “But social movements are much more complex,” he says. “And quite often the people who bear the most intense burden are ignored through history.” It’s one of the reasons why he’s focused on women’s involvement.
Michael has spoken all around Central Europe, and he’s found a receptive audience. “Often I’m speaking to people who may not be very informed about the Civil Rights Movement, but they’re interested. They are more surprised than anything at the information that comes out.” He’s already given this talk once before, at the Közkincs Community Library, run by fellow activist and social powerhouse Antonia Burrows.
Photo: Michael Simmons
Michael came to Europe through an American-based Quaker human rights organisation, the American Friends Service Committee, and he’s lived in Budapest ever since. He and his wife even use their living room as a hotspot for social discussion. “We don’t do it so much any more,” he explains, “but we used to do a monthly Salon, as we call it, where we invite speakers on Human Rights issues to speak in our flat. We’d get anywhere from 30-50 people, we were pretty much the largest Human Rights activity going on in the region!” He adds that often they would develop themes comparing and contrasting the reality of the African-American experience with various situations in Europe.
Tuesday’s talk will take place in the American Corner Budapest, located at Corvinus University. The talk will last for two hours and is free to attend, but registration is necessary as space will be limited. A question-and-answer session will follow. Anyone interested in getting involved in social agendas is encouraged to reach out to Michael, and his radio programme is available online. It is broadcast regularly through Tilos, a popular alternative radio broadcasting station in Budapest. To listen to Soul School, head the website. More information on the talk, including the link for registration, can be found on the Facebook event.
Urban Lobbycaters to all your travel needs: secure luggage storage, a cosy waiting room, airport transfers, a co-working space and tailor-made tours. Between Paulay Ede utca and Király utca, this entrance to the Central Passage was originally designed for hotel guests. Its renovation now allows Urban Lobby to keep the spotlight on providing maximum service to city visitor and freelancer alike.
Photo: Urban Lobby
Booked for up to a month ahead or on-site when you arrive, Urban Lobby lockers come in two sizes and can be set to five different storage times for periods of up to 72 hours. The facility is fully automated and under guarded surveillance.
Photo: Urban Lobby
The Urban Lobby Transfer service whisks you directly to or from Budapest Airport in the comfort of a private car – book by email or 12 hours in advance on-site.
Photo: Urban Lobby
If you’re keen on discovering more of what Budapest has to offer, then tailor-made Urban Lobby experiences open up the city’s history, wine culture, gastronomy and inventive heritage. Guided walks come with a free map and suggestions for nearby destinations for a bite and a drink.
Photo: Urban Lobby
Freelancers and those passing through Budapest who are looking for an inspirational environment in which to work, away from noise and distraction, then the co-working space at Urban Lobby operates seven days a week. Ideal for startups and business meetings, Urban Lobby also offers workshops and coaching classes – it’s even dog-friendly.
Photo: Urban Lobby
As comfortable as your home, this working environment is equipped like a classic office. There are three types of tickets available to use the Lobby, depending on how often you would use the service: daily (€5), weekly (€25) and monthly (€60), with no restrictions.
Photo: Urban Lobby
A meeting room will soon augment the spacious communal area. Printing services, ever-expanding IT equipment, snacks, refreshments, teas, coffees, kitchen and shower facilities help you get the job done every day. Whether it’s brainstorming, meetings, professional forums or corporate events, designer desks, sofas, super-fast WiFi and friendly staff create the ideal environment. In modern, Scandinavian-style surroundings, local digital nomads and international travellers come together to create a vibrant, inspirational space.
The southern section of the M3 metro line is under long-term renovation. The official website of the reconstruction project now displays images with the planned layout of Népliget, Ecseri út, Pöttyös utca and Határ út stations. The recently renovated Kőbánya-Kispest terminus isn’t expected to undergo any further significant changes.
Photo: M3felujitas.hu
According to the website: “The main objective of the architectural design was the general technical and aesthetic renewal and refurbishment of the passenger areas and the creation of a new look for this section while partially retaining the stations’ unique character”.
Photo: M3felujitas.hu
Passengers can look forward to seeing reconfigured public areas of this southern section by the autumn.
From the ever-increasing number of restaurants lining the streets of Budapest, it’s hard to find ones that serve authentic Hungarian dishes without trying to twist or distort them.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Easy Wine, on the corner of Hold utca and Báthory utca, does just that, made possible by chef Attila Nagy, formerly of Costes, Bori Mami and Lou Lou. Although he excels at fine dining, traditional Hungarian cuisine and the flavours of the countryside are also close to his heart. The menu offers a number of international dishes as well, mainly among the starters and the tapas selection.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The tapas suit the other most important feature; wine. Apart from the sheer number of them, the method of filling your glass is equally special. A self-service system allows beginners as well as more advanced oenophiles to explore freely and playfully here, which can make even a standard Thursday evening feel like you’re at a special wine-tasting event.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Picture windows, the eclectic yet sophisticated use of colours dominated by pastels, the blue and natural shades, as well as the modern wine cabinets, provide an elegant yet relaxed atmosphere.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Getting back to the wines and cabinets, the management decided to offer a laid-back and fun way to allow guests to pick and choose from the selection and see the bottles for themselves. Those who enter Easy Wine receive a card that can be attached to the cabinets and, after choosing the preferred wine and quantity (half, one or 1.5 decilitres), the wine is poured into your glass, and its price is added to the card. This allows visitors to taste a whole palette of wines while adding a unique feature to the venue.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
While the card method offers 88 labels, there are more than 100 wines available at the bar. These are grouped according to their inherent character, starting from light white all the way to full-bodied red. For the entire repertoire, ask for the wine list, or consult the staff, who are happy to help at the self-service cabinets as well.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
A fine selection of tapas plates or easy bites may accompany the wines, including cheese by local producers, mini-burgers and French-style rillettes. Perhaps the most outstanding is the octopus in red wine sauce with chorizo and bell peppers (2,990 HUF), which has a strong Galician feeling to it.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The seasonally changing menu is based on Hungarian cuisine, although you can find fusion and international items as well, especially among the starters.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The poultry liver parfait with quince, onion jam and homemade brioche (2,850 HUF) is a truly delicious dish. The layer of butter made the parfait even softer, while the quince and the jam enhanced its taste. The homemade brioche was dense yet light.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
In an entirely different vein, we must mention the tuna tartare from the Maldives, which came with avocado, kaffir lime and rice crackers (4,200 HUF). This Asian-style dish was served with a bold use of spices and a beautifully decorated rice cracker.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
From the main courses, we tried the pan-fried veal liver with mashed potato, Lyonnaise onions and caper sauce (4,500 HUF). It was perfect in a simple, effortless way; the liver slices were creamy and delicate, the mashed potato light as a cloud, while the onions added crunch.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Among the weekly offers (two courses for 2,500 HUF, three for 3,000), we found the fried mushrooms the most intriguing. The juicy mushroom was coated with crunchy breadcrumbs, and came with a side of rice and peas, and silky herb mayonnaise.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The popular Hungarian dessert of aranygaluska (1,850 HUF) is also worth a try. This sweet dough came covered in walnut pieces, mild, warm white chocolate and vanilla custard.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Given its location, Easy Wine is ideal for both a quick, affordable lunch and a relaxed dinner. Its innovative cuisine and wide wine choice should also ensure repeat custom.
Scouring contemporary restaurant menus and antiquarian stores for dusty recipe books, Annabel Barber and her editorial team have created a culinary dictionary with a difference. “There are several books in English about Hungarian wine, but actually not that much on its cuisine,” says Annabel. “So this is, essentially, a lexicon of food terms. Anything you might hear at the market, in a restaurant, a shop or in the kitchen.”
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
Starting with abált szalonna – literally ‘simmered bacon’ but so much more, as a longer peruse will reveal – and finishing with the red-wine grape of Zweigelt created in 1922 in Austria by the eponymous Dr Friedrich, Hungary Food Companion brings centuries of gastronomic culture to the table.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
Beyond the A-Z, Hungary Food Companion is a thoroughly entertaining read. Every page opens up a cornucopia of detail deeply rooted in this exotic island surrounded and influenced by Latin, Balkan, Slav and Germanic culinary lore.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
“Most Budapest restaurants have English-language menus these days,” says Annabel, “but we delve into Hungary’s food culture and traditions. Some Hungarians disparagingly think of their cuisine as unhealthy and fatty. They have a plethora of Nobel-prize winners but seem afraid to promote themselves in other fields.”
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
Having created an Italy Food Companion for Blue Guides a couple of years ago, Budapest-based Annabel is well placed to compare the two countries where gastronomy is concerned: “Italy is more self-confident, its cuisine is globally fashionable. This isn’t so much the case with Hungary. Italy differs from region to region, food, dialects and vocabulary. Hungary is more unified, with pretty much the same terms used across the country”.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
In researching this book, Annabel and colleagues were often struck by the contrast between disappearing traditional dishes and new innovative cuisine. “Gastronomy here still follows the seasons, asparagus, for example, or wild garlic, in soups, in scones and on special menus. So far, the most enthusiastic feedback we’ve had has been from émigré Hungarians in North America. ‘This takes me back to my grandmother’s kitchen’, is a typical comment.”
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
Annabel is at pains to stress that the book has been a group effort, editorial brainstorming coming up with vignettes such as Hungarian Christmas treats for Mikulás, Károly Gundel’s century-old recipe for a classic Jókai bean soup, and the 22 cuts of pork possible from any given pig.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
All is superbly illustrated by Csenge Hangay, an emerging, self-taught talent, chanced upon by Annabel when her watercolours were on show at Budapest bookstore Massolit. Hungary Food Companion is Csenge’s first book.
Photo: Gretchen Kessler / We Love Budapest
Throw in all kinds of literary links, tips on being a guest when invited to a Hungarian home for dinner and a guide to spritzer measurements of wine and soda, and this is a welcome and much-needed addition to any Hungarophile’s bookshelf.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
The Companion’s companion speaking app can be expected later this month. As for Annabel, this project has given her a real taste for further culinary adventure. “I’m looking to explore the Hungarian countryside to create a series of blog posts,” she concludes. “Who knows what I might find?”
From tonight for two days, independent filmmakers from all over the world descend on Budapest to present their works – short film, drama, animation, comedy, documentary and experimental. It’s the perfect showcase for those whose budget may not be large but whose vision is clear and story-telling technique engaging. The venue is the charming Puskin cinema, soon approaching its centenary. A grand total of 14 films will be screened tonight, the subject matters ranging from Tibetan stone carriers to an bizarre outing for a quartet of orphans. The common language is English. Audiences on both nights will be voting for their favourite mini-feature – the Budapest Trophy is at stake!
A culinary tour around Turkey continues at Borganika, the global gastronomic space in Klauzál tér market. This evening’s stop is the south-east of the country, the four courses consisting of Gaziantep red-lentil soup, rice-stuffed dried aubergine and paprika, tomato lamb ragout and Zerdeli oven cake. Entry of 9,990 forints includes a welcome drink. Book through hello@borganika.hu
The Novan Experiment is a series of improvisation-based monthly concerts. Each month, two guest musicians from the Hungarian jazz, folk, electronic or pop sceneare invited to come and join the musical conversation on stage. Admission free.
Budapest three-piece Rien du Sol combine alt-rock with a smattering of electronica to crowd-pleasing effect, generating a significant fan base since releasing their first tunes less than two years ago. Here they appear in the Small Hall with Quiet Kid and The Speakers for company.
Starting this Friday, Hungary’s prize breed of pig, mangalica, is the focus of a three-day festival staged on Budapest’s central Szabadság tér. Farmers, breeders, producers and porkers from around Hungary descend on the capital for this long-established gastronomic showcase. Entry is free. Mangalica pork is one of the most sought-after types of meat thanks to its flavoursome fattiness. The Mangalica Festival is not only a culinary celebration but communal acknowledgement of the revival of this particular variety of Hungarian hog, now found on many menus.
The ninth annual Finnish Film Days take place over four days at the Toldi cinema. Friday sees two features: Mikael Syrjälä’s Elvis & Onerva focuses on teenage love in a small-town community while Maria’s Paradise by Zaida Bergroth tells the story of a strange sect during World War II. The festival continues on Saturday and Sunday. All movies are in Finnish and subtitled in English and Hungarian, unless otherwise stated. Full schedule here.
Henri Gonzo’s Fran Palermo celebrate the Year of the Rat with a special performance at the A38 Ship. Currently working on a third album in London, with new material possibly showcased here, FP have livened up the Hungarian music scene since their early appearances in 2011. Congas, sax, trumpet and keyboards allow the Budapest combo to conjure danceable, sassy sounds with a little Afro and Mediterranean thrown in.
Hungarian singer Orsi Urbán runs through the full gamut of the jazz genre, backed by a trio of musicians on sax, piano and percussion. Either fronting a quartet or part of a big-band show, Urbán makes regular appearances at the Budapest Jazz Club, a converted classic cinema close to Margaret Bridge on the Pest side.
A simple, fun and communal way to refresh your wardrobe – bowl up to Budapest’s leading punk and metal venue of a Saturday morning, and browse the stalls of unwanted clothes. You can also bring your own, washed and ironed, of course, but you’ll have to provide your own price tags, hangars, racks and baskets. Free to enter for shoppers, tables 5,000-8,000 forints for vendors.
The film that gave a first start to the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck, this teen adventure has the ’70s written all over it, from the title to the fashions to the soundtrack of Alice Cooper and The Runaways. Revered by Tarantino, it presaged a whole genre of high-school movies. It’s also hilarious. Screened in English with Hungarian subtitles.
Of all the carnival parties in town, traditional at this time of year, the Tilos Radio one is usually the hottest. Long-established names from Hungary’s underground music scene – Tudósok, Zuboly – share the bill with the likes of DJ Palotai and the Elevated Crew as sounds fill the three rooms and garden space of the Dürer Kert until the early hours.
Lámpás, a bohemian cellar surrounded by a morass of foreigner-friendly party bars, is one of those classic Budapest venues that’s worth investigating whoever’s playing. Tonight it happens to be Sajnarana, a local five-piece who have coined their own genre, alternative herbarock, and whose folky/chanson style is created by a violin, cello, guitar, drums and two vocalists. Entry, of course, is free.
Held at the Akvárium Klub in the heart of Budapest, the Hello Piac Design Fair showcases eco-friendly, natural and exciting products by inventive Hungarian designers. There’s clothes, jewellery, design accessories, DIY and vintage home decorations, artisanal food products, natural cosmetics and more. By attending, you can support local creatives, as well as buy quality products created by the physically challenged.
Budapest’s biggest coffee-themed event, the CoffeeBar Bazaar, takes place atthe Millenáris Park over the weekend – this is the last day. The latest innovative and sustainable concepts in the coffee industry, championships, exhibitions, a free coffee-tasting cup, and plenty to sample – coffee, wine, schnapps, cocktails – are all included in the price of a ticket.
In the run-up to Hollywood’s big movie gala, the Művész Cinema is screening 12 hours of Oscar-nominated films, from 11am. Visitors can see the Joker, 1917, Little Women, Jojo Rabbit, The Irishman, Parasite, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Rocketman and more. Nearly all are screened in their original language with Hungarian subtitles. Check Sunday’s schedule on the Művész website – Magyar felirattal is original language with Hungarian subtitles, Színkronizált is dubbed.
Famously revived by Maria Callas when she gave the definitive performance at La Scala in 1955, La sonnambula was written by Vincenzo Bellini when in contractual difficulties with the Milan opera house shortly before his death in the early 1830s. Here, Czech Zuzana Marková stars in the role of Amina, while the award-winning Mirco Palazzi is Count Rodolfo.
Altin Gün (‘Golden Day’), straddling the border between the real and imaginary worlds, perform for the first time in Budapest on Sunday, at the A38 Ship. On their debut album On, the group show what happens when mixing Turkish folk songs which were passed on from generation to generation with a dirty blend of funk rhythms, wah-wah guitars and analogue organs. The songs have universal themes such as love, death, desire and destiny.
Banksy, the anonymous street artist and political agitator who emerged from the Bristol underground music scene, isn’t really an exhibition kinda guy. In the early days, when then manager Steve Lazarides sold canvases from the back of his car, Banksy had shows in London and Los Angeles. Since then, unless you happened to be passing a wall in Bethlehem or Dover, you could only follow the extraordinary rise of this artist provocateur through the Oscar-nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (on view here), a pop-up boutique near Central Park, the faux theme park Dismaland in Somerset, and sundry random short-lived projects across the globe.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Prices paid for his works, sometimes wall and all, have spiralled. In October 2019, his pertinent Devolved Parliament sold for nearly £10 million (400 million HUF).
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Meanwhile, his old mate Lazarides recently published a book of little-known early works, Banksy Captured, that sold out within days. He is also touring a show of old canvases and screen prints, The Art of Banksy – Without Limits, around the world, recently calling at Bucharest, Paris and Istanbul.
Photo: Peterjon Cresswell / We Love Budapest
Last Saturday, 1 February, it reached Budapest. Specifically, the Tesla Loft, a space above the Story nightclub, tucked away at the back of the courtyard lined with classic neon from yesteryear. This, as the grand entranceway indicates, belongs to the Electrotechnical Museum, located in the same stately complex.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The first thing you need to know about The Art of Banksy is that his art, even in this hand-me-down form, doesn’t come cheap – 4,300 forints (€13) on weekdays, 4,800 (€14.50) at weekends when the place is, apparently, packed. (Each ticket displays your half-hour time slot from when you arrive.)
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
The second thing, along with it being unauthorised, is its huge sense of incongruity (Banksy? Exhibition?!? Oxymoron or what!?). This is augmented by the Hunglish phrases that cover the walls around the ticket office. Hunglish, a kind of English Hungarians think is English, continues throughout the documentation, as if Banksy himself has spent time in Budapest and decided to subvert the whole event.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Plus, of course, there’s that gift shop, plain as day when you walk in, proffering books, postcards and T-shirts (‘i’m banksy!’). Alongside, beneath a doorway bizarrely named ‘where’s Hollywood?’, the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, with the artist’s voice fuzzed out, plays on a loop. Across the room is a rather tacky display of Banksy’s tools of the trade, spray paint, stencils and so on. So far, so meh.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
Then comes the raison d’être for you parting with nearly 5,000 forints. Dating mainly to the period 2000-2004, the hall displaying the best of Banksy immerses the visitor into a world of bitter parody, vicious yet so vital. This is what has lifted an unknown street artist to a global, if still anonymous, phenomenon. These greatest hits, albeit copies, include Kissing Coppers (also shown in a classic red phone box), the Warhol-style Kate Moss, the rioter chucking a bouquet, and Samuel L and Travolta toting bananas in Pulp Fiction. And, however Hunglish, the documentation is enlightening. The story behind the aforementioned Tarantino parody – how fellow street artist Ozone created his own version before being killed by a Tube train, giving rise to Banksy’s own tribute – may be familiar to Banksy’s many followers in the UK but a revelation to Hungarians.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
And Hungarians would probably get the most out of this exhibition. The street murals that colour the streets elsewhere in District VII depict gentle themes such as Rubik’s Cube and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Here, you feel the artist’s red-hot anger at the world around him, the hypocrisy, the poverty, the prejudice. He’s doing something about it. Why can’t you? It’s a message that should spark some kind of reaction even in the most conservative of Magyar viewer.
Photo: Sándor Csudai / We Love Budapest
While jaded UK visitors may feel a sense of Banksy overkill, even cash-in, other non-Hungarians, plunged into a subversive universe that has changed people’s perceptions across the world, should come away with the satisfaction of 5,000 forints well spent.
Owner Zsolt has been a part of the Budapest gastronomy scene for decades – he has opened dozens of locations in recent years. One day, though, he sold up and went to try his luck in the States. While exploring New York and Florida, he fell in love with pie, the queen of American desserts, which has conquered both coasts and every state. From then on, Zsolt worked on two issues: the perfect pastry and a spot in Florida. Both came together, but as Florida is off-season at the moment, Zsolt came back, bringing with him everything that’s worth knowing about American pies.
Photo: Bálint Hirling / We Love Budapest
His tiny little shop has a few seats, a counter, old kitchen tablecloths and a ’70s’ throwback storefront that stops passers-by in their tracks, its sign saying ‘Half-price imported Italian leather shoes’.
Photo: Bálint Hirling / We Love Budapest
Here, pies are available in two sizes, a handful of mini ones at 990 forints, larger ones for 1,500 forints, regardless of the type. The mini variety can also be filling: salted-peanut-and-Nutella, for example, would satisfy four people.
Photo: Bálint Hirling / We Love Budapest
Zsolt would not be drawn on the secret of his pastry but points to the fact that what is on display has been made not according to the French or English recipes but the American one. These come in three varieties, savoury, sweet and tangy sweet, with vegan apple pie a fourth option. The dough is made fresh locally. Pies are not put into the oven whole, rather baked first so that the filling doesn’t ruin the pastry.
Photo: Bálint Hirling / We Love Budapest
Which pies come out of the oven depends largely on what time of day you arrive and, of course, what Zsolt has prepared – changes rely on the seasons. In general, sweet varieties dominate but there are always three savoury ones, two Hungarian and one American. Giving the foreign diner a taste of Hungary are the bean-and-pork-knuckle pie and an amazing layered-potato one that works brilliantly. Bacon pieces are hidden amid the standard ingredients, the garlic sour cream is fresh, and the thin top layer of pastry fails to overpower the overall flavour. America is represented by a classic Tex-Mex chili-bean creation that goes down a treat, all the comfort food of beef stew under a pastry lid. Again, the pastry is fresh and not saturated in juices.
Photo: Bálint Hirling / We Love Budapest
While the savoury pies are covered – Zsolt reckons that the meat would easily dry up otherwise – the sweet pies are open or lattice-topped. Strawberry is a classic, blueberry a must, raspberry is like grandma used to make, the mango-and-cream-cheese is exotic, the rum-and sour-cherry zingy, and the aforementioned salty-peanut-and-Nutella delicious. Pumpkin pie tastes like Thanksgiving, and the apple version, with its lattice top and rich seasoning, is America itself.
Tara Davis Travel in Hungary Tips 