If you’re looking for the hottest restaurants in Budapest, look no further. Here’s what to expect: dependable dishes without culinary acrobatics, stylish interiors, overpriced plates by local standards, and a crowd consisting of tourists and chic locals. For more upscale options
Mazel Tov
Mazel Tov’s moniker is a hat tip to the neighborhood, which was once the city’s Jewish Quarter. And if there were a title for the hippest place in town, this would be a serious contender. The restaurant is located in the courtyard of a crumbling building built in the late 19th century. Despite its rough exterior, the inside has been updated with a very 2018 design scheme of lush greenery and exposed bricks. The cocktails, Middle Eastern mezze plates, and merguez sausage are all excellent.
Stand25 Bisztró
Chefs and partners Szulló Szabina and Tamás Széll left their Michelin-starred tasting menu endeavor in 2016 to launch a casual restaurant specializing in unadulterated, traditional Hungarian food inside a market hall-turned-food court. Within a year of opening, the unlikely Stand25 received a Bib Gourmand, and today the space is almost always filled to capacity. Must-try dishes include the goulash soup, lightened with hints of chopped celery; the layered potatoes; and the somlói galuska, a rum-soaked local dessert.
Dunacorso Restaurant
Restaurant is located in the heart of the city centre, on Vigadó Square, looking on Duna-korzó, this wonderful walking path along the Danube on the Pest side has always been a favourite meeting and walking place for people and there has always been a coffee-house or a restaurant on the site of our venue ever since the 1870’s,dunacorso restaurant is run by the same family for more than 40 years. Now it is already the third generation working here, thinking over and recreating traditional recipes.In the evenings the culinary experience is completed by live music.
Up & Down
Up & Down is not only a popular meeting place in the city, but also an imprint of the stormy history of Budapest, its diverse crowds, its uncommon residents and its inimitable atmosphere. At first it is surprising and cool, yet elegant in every detail. A world-class fine dining experience and an intimate bistro corner, Hungarian favorites with international aftertaste, re-blended by well-known cocktail classics, with friends, business lunch, date, coffee. For big days or short breaks. Whatever you desire, Up & Down awaits you with an engaging, professional team and an ever-renewing array of exciting food and drinks at the foot of Liberty Bridge, with stunning views of Gellert Hill.
Dubarry Restaurant
Restaurant is located on the most wonderful mall of the city, on Duna-korzó, while sitting on the terrace from March till October our guests can enjoy not only the beautiful, panorama of the town, which you can never get bored with, but also get some of that special „promenade atmosphere” in front of the Castle, near the Chain-bridge, this is the restaurant where we offer the exceptional view of Budapest together with its exciting gastronomy. The nostalgic old and the reformed new tastes of Hungarian cuisine combined with our own gastronomic family traditions that come from an experience of several generations already, determine the selection on the menu.
Kisüzem
Budapest’s grand-but-gritty architecture and lively alternative art scene come together at this raucous bar located in the old Jewish Quarter, currently the center of the city’s nightlife scene. The place draws a melting pot of local painters, musicians, left-wing intellectuals, and lately some tourists as well. Drinks are dirt cheap, but an extensive selection of top-shelf rums are also available.
Onyx
Onyx sits at the top of Budapest’s fine dining scene, and it’s also the city’s only restaurant with two Michelin stars. Chef Ádám Mészáros marries local ingredients with French technique, and the results are unfailingly delicious. Expect a classic fine dining experience complete with glass chandeliers, white linen tablecloths, and tableside service. The six-course tasting menu with wine pairing runs at 175 euros per person, which certainly isn’t cheap, but bear in mind that you would need to shell out even more for comparable haute cuisine elsewhere in Europe.
ZONA Modern cuisine Restaurant
One of the most beautiful places in Budapest, the neighborhood of the Buda Castle, provides the atmosphere for our venue, situated on the bank of the Danube with a beautiful panorama and live piano every evening, guests settle in for an unforgettable experience…that great experience should come back to the memory of our guest on a regular Sunday morning when the family asks where to have lunch, the magic of the soup; the splendor of the main course; the subtle beating of one’s heart should be the reminder, we want this to be the experience that will bring our guests back to ZONA time and time again.
Café Kör
This downtown restaurant is a neighborhood institution famed for its prewar Budapest ambience. In keeping with the bourgeois tastes of the period, the interior boasts a Persian-carpeted dining room and curvy Thonet Bentwood chairs. For a truly local experience, visit at lunchtime, when business people from the nearby financial district flock for cold fruit soups (in the summer), veal stew, oversized schnitzel, and vegetable stews studded with meatballs. Owner Gábor Molnár’s cheerful presence has been a constant since the opening in 1995.
Dorado Café
Specialty coffee has spread across Budapest at a head-spinning pace in recent years. Dorado Café, located in the hip former Jewish Quarter, stands out thanks to owners Emese Görföl, a local Hungarian, and Mario Jimenez, a Spanish native, who created an unpretentious and tastefully designed cafe. Go for the cold brews made from lightly roasted Ethiopian beans, or, if tea is more your speed, try the aromatic chai latte.