Budapest Restaurants Part 2

The Apostalok Etterem (Restaurant)
Kigyo utca 4-6, near Ferenciek ter and the Vaci utca walking street

Originally opened in 1902, this restaurant is decorated with dark wood paneling, arched ceilings, and mosaic tile floors. The first time I ate here, I thought it must have been a converted church, but that's not the case. It has always been a restaurant featuring the 12 apostles at each of 12 large booths (more seating is available as well). The booths are not particularly comfortable, but the atmosphere is interesting.

Unfortunately, in the last year the restaurant has posted aggressive people at the door who try to get you to come inside and the older wait staff has been replaced by younger and less attentive waiters.

In my opinion, the food is no longer worth the price. The last time we went, I ordered a Caesar salad that was a few pieces of lettuce and a few slivers of chicken breast drowned in about a cup of mayonnaise for approximately $12. A friend who ate with us ordered the huge and well-prepared veal Schnitzel, but when he asked for something like Ketchup to overcome the dryness of the schnitzel, the waiter brusquely told them that the restaurant never served bottled condiments and offered no alternative!

The reason I include this restaurant on my blog is because the interior is truly unique, and I think it is worth a stop for a mid-afternoon dessert and cappuccino. If you try it for a meal and find that the service and food has improved, please let me know.

Subway Sandwich Shops, found throughout the city of Budapest

You can depend on the same standards for these fast food sandwich restaurants in Budapest (and most of Europe) as you expect at home. They aren't fancy, but they have reasonable priced sandwiches with fresh ingredients prepared to order. They have some of the best sanitation practices in Budapest, and usually some of their workers speak English. We often eat at Subway when we are looking for a taste of home or a lighter alternative to the heavier Hungarian menu.

In a country where a restaurant salad is usually slices of cucumber in a sweet vinaigrette or sour cream sauce, it's nice to order an iceberg lettuce salad at Subway where you can design it just like a sandwich. This is made easier by the fact that you can point at the ingredients you want through the glass case even if you don't know their Hungarian names.

There are a few differences from the U.S. Subways: when you order a meal (called a "menu" in Hungary) you can get chips or 1 cookie. In the U.S. they give you chips or 2 cookies. The dough for these cookies is shipped from the States, and it is one of the few places in Budapest where you can find a fresh American-style cookie. The other difference is that you are only allowed one refill on your fountain drinks.

Gyro Sandwiches--Budapest Fast Food
Although there are plenty of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and even a few Kentucky Fried Chickens in Budapest, the most popular and most prevalent fast food restaurants are those serving the Turkish gyro sandwich. Sometimes these are small take-out places serving only 4-6 items, but usually they include small or large buffets with a variety of Turkish dishes and a few Hungarian dishes thrown in as well. They almost always have a walk up window with one or two meats on rotating vertical spits (usually chicken and beef) where you can purchase your gyro in a paper cone for less than $3 and keep on walking down the street. However, the price is the same if you eat it on a plate inside or at the outdoor seating many of these restaurants provide.

When we spent 5 weeks in Turkey on a mission trip 10 years ago, gyros (known as doner kababs) became one of our favorite inexpensive meals. These sandwiches have been served on the streets of Turkey and Greece for centuries, and they are now the most popular fast food in Europe. Read my travel blog on Croatia (http://hemadecroatia.blogspot.com/) and you will find that the city of Dubrovnik has prohibited all of the typical fast food chains but has allowed a Turkish gyro restaurant to locate within the ancient city walls.

Some people believe that the revolving spit evolved from the time when soldiers used long knives to roast meat over an open flame.

Szeraj Turkish Restaurant--Maybe the best Turkish buffet in Budapest, Corner of Szt Istvan Krt and Honved u.
Take the 4 or 6 tram and get off at the first stop on the Pest side of the Margit hid. Walk away from the Danube until you see this large restaurant on the corner with outdoor seating and a huge inside dining area with two loft areas (one of these lofts is a smoking section). Clean bathrooms are downstairs. At meal times there will often be a line out the door.

This is my favorite Turkish restaurant in Budapest with the longest buffet line I've seen in the city. At the beginning of the line you can order gyros and meat specialties, or choose from a selection of Turkish pizzas and casseroles which are heated to order. Try the red lentil soup (piros lencse leves) for about $2.50 a bowl--it's delicious with a slice of Turkish flat bread (available on trays atop the glass cases about mid way down the buffet line). Then there are about 20 salads to choose from like grilled eggplant with garlic, chopped cucumbers with chicken breast and carrots, cole slaw and potato salads. After this a variety of baklava is ready to be served up and lastly soft drinks, mineral waters, Turkish tea, or coffees. Oh yes--they also have rice pudding which my friends claim is wonderful (not something I'd ever order myself). You can have a gyro (also available at the walk up window outside) for as little as 500 huf ($2.50) served up with your choice of yogurt sauce or hot sauce and fresh garnish. Or you can have a complete meal with a meat dish, soup, salad, dessert and drink and spend between $5-$10.