It is a strange phenomena in Budapest. Either you visit a traditional Hungarian restaurant with giant portions and average quality or you visit a gourmet Hungarian restaurant who alter the traditional courses and make something completely else out of them. Can Budapest Bisztro change this phenomena?
Last week I finally got to visit Budapest Bisztro with my wife. I had been looking forward to visit the place for a while as I had seen the ads on Facebook and they have made me curious about whether the legendary goulash soup really is as legendary as they claim.
Budapest Bisztró is located between the Liberty Square and the Hungarian Parliament, a very nice location, even though it is a bit outside the main tourist area. The interior of the restaurant is highly modern and it should absolutely be listed as one of the nicer restaurants in Budapest based on its look. Upon arrival they at once showed us our table and from our table we could even look at the chefs as they were cooking… cool!
The food at Budapest Bisztró
The first impression was good, but a restaurant should first of all be known for its food. What did we order? We ordered a portion of the legen — (wait for it) –- dary (if you have seen How I Met Your Mother you know what I mean) goulash soup as a starter, followed by two traditional Hungarian courses, chicken paprika with dumplings (Chicken paprika stew with Hungarian style homemade egg dumpling brulee) and bakonyi (Sous-vide method countryside chicken breast in its own skin, served with vegetables finished with a forest mushroom sauce). Next to one of the main courses we ordered a cucumber salad. For dessert we ordered a classic cottage cheese ball.
The goulash soup was served with home made strong paprika. The portion of soup was nice and it was really tasty. It might not be the best goulash soup I have tasted ever, but it was for sure a good one and can be warmly recommended.
I had high expectations for the main courses. Chicken paprika is one of my personal favorites, and I was not let down in Budapest Bisztro. This was not the giant portion like in many traditional Hungarian restaurants, but it was not the super small portion either, like in many gourmet restaurants. It was just perfect and an interesting thing was that you got to taste different kinds of chicken (both liver, leg and breast) together with the delicious paprika sauce. The dumplings were brilliant!
Both meals had the same in common that the chicken itself was really tasty (even without the sauces), so all honor to the chefs for their job. The mushroom sauce that came with the other meal was brilliant, though I would have enjoyed a bit more of it on my plate. Maybe next time?
The dessert was the way it is supposed to be, and my wife who is a really big fan of a sweet and tasty cottage cheese ball for dessert enjoyed it. She said it was just perfect (normally the cottage cheese or the sour cream is not sweet enough, but this time she did not say a word).
- My wife loved these cottage cheese balls
Final judgment
We finally got to visit Budapest Bisztro and we are very glad we did so. For those looking for a place in Budapest to eat the traditional Hungarian dishes in an authentic way, but still with focus on high quality, Budapest Bisztro is the place. For the dishes described in this article and two drinks we paid totally 12,000 HUF (10% service fee was included in the price). Not the cheapest, but I guess you have to pay for the quality. If you have the money and want to eat traditional Hungarian courses at its best, check out this place.
Ps: The restaurant is open from 7.30 in the morning until 24.00. In the morning you can enjoy a solid breakfast in the restaurant. During lunch time you can get good lunch offers costing about 1250 HUF and after lunch time you simply order from the menu, just like we did.
- Budapest Bisztro seen from the outside
Budapest Bisztro information
1054 Budapest, Vécsey utca 3.
Tel: +36 1 783 0788
