7 restaurants in Budapest you don't want to miss

There are many great restaurants in Budapest, and we visited a bunch of them during our recent trip. Wow! If you like well-prepared food, creative tasting menus and flavourful wines - then you should not miss a visit to the Hungarian capital.

Restaurants in Budapest

There are plenty of good restaurants in Budapest, in different price ranges. Since the price level is significantly lower than in Sweden, you can, if you want, take the opportunity to visit some slightly more luxurious restaurants. We were here on a blog trip with a food and wine theme, and this became a favourite. orgy in tasting menus, Hungarian specialities and local tasty wines. Absolutely fantastic!

The quality of the restaurants we visited was really high, and here we suggest a bunch of good restaurants in Budapest that are well worth visiting. Don't forget to click right or left on the food pictures to see more! Here you can also read more about food and cafés in Budapest:

1. Vendéglö a Kisbíróhoz

On our first night in Budapest, we had dinner at the Vendéglö a Kisbíróhoz restaurant, which is located on the Buda side, a bit outside the most central parts of the city. This restaurant serves mainly traditional Hungarian food, both in the traditional way and with a slightly more modern twist.

When we got here, the chef was keen to show off the best the kitchen had to offer, so a long line dishes were placed on our table. Wow, how much food there was! We tried many Hungarian specialities, such as the paprika-spiced soft cheese körözött, spicy sausages, foie gras with eel, mushroom soup, fermented milk soup with dumplings, duck and root vegetable gratin.

When it was time for dessert, the chefs got creative and served both tobacco ice cream and ice cream with bacon. Interesting!

• Price: Main courses mostly about 75-280 crowns (2019)
• Address: Szarvas Gábor út 8/d
• Web page: vendegloakisbirohoz.hu

2nd stand 25

Stand 25 Bisztro is a new addition to Budapest's restaurant scene, run by the chefs behind the Michelin-starred Stand restaurant, Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló. Located on the Buda side, within walking distance of the Kedjed Bridge, the restaurant is definitely worth a stroll. This is a top restaurant in terms of food, but with a relaxed atmosphere, where you can watch the chefs while they cook.

We had a four-course lunch here, and it was a real treat. We were served foie gras with buttered bread and quince marmalade, a fantastic goulash soup and venison with game sauce and dumplings. For dessert, we tried the Hungarian speciality 'somlói', which includes soft cake and walnuts. Here it was served luxuriously in a glass.

• Price: Main courses about 90-220 SEK (2019)
• Address: Attila út 10
• Web page: stand25.hu

3. textures

Textúra is the sister restaurant of the Michelin-starred Borkonyha (Winekitchen) and, according to its website, is a restaurant that wants to play with texture and consistency, and to let gastronomy meet art, maths and physics. Exciting, isn't it?

We tried the Textúra tasting menu, which started with foie gras coloured red by beetroot, served with fermented walnuts. Dinner then continued with a pork terrine and black pudding with broccoli. The black pudding was really good.

The main courses consisted of pike-perch fillet and venison saddle with a ragout of kohlrabi. The dessert was a nicely composed chocolate mousse served with raspberry ice cream. Yummy!

• Price: Main courses about 70-225 SEK, tasting menu about 660 SEK (2019).
• Address: Sas utca 6
• Web page: texturaetterem.hu

4th Mák Bistro

The chef of Mák Bistro, Janos Mizsei, is surprisingly young and has already won several notable awards at the age of 24. At his restaurant in Budapest, he uses local Hungarian ingredients, while drawing much of his inspiration from Scandinavian cuisine.

We visited Mák Bistro for a 3-course business lunch, and were served a delicious one. We both chose to start with a creamy and delicious potato soup. We then continued with catfish, which was served with cauliflower and minimelon.

For dessert we had a berry pie with a cream made from goat's milk. And then we were spoilt with some small cakes at the end. What a lunch!

• Price: 3-course business lunch approx. 155 SEK (2019)
• Address: Vigyázó Ferenc utca 4
• Web page: mak.hu

5. Onyx

Onyx is the first restaurant in Budapest to be awarded two stars in the Michelin Guide. The restaurant was run until 2017 by Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló, and today chef Ádám Mészáros has taken over responsibility for the magical menus.

We tried the restaurant's 6-course menu, but as the chef enjoyed surprising us with extra small "surprise" dishes, "pre-starters" and "pre-desserts", we soon lost count. Everything was fantastic!

Even before the starters, we were treated to divine bread with equally divine foie gras mousse. One of the first starters was a small platter with several mini-dishes: tuna tartare, scrambled beans, "leek cannelloni" and an "egg yolk surprise". Then dinner continued with water buffalo tartare, foie gras in a small box, fish soup on sturgeon, Hungarian woolly pig and a beautiful chocolate dessert. Finally, everything ended with a smoking installation and a few more sweet surprises.

• Price: 4-course menu about 975 SEK, 6-course menu about 1100 SEK (2019).
• Address: Vörösmarty tér 7-8
• Web page: onyxrestaurant.hu

6. aranykaviár

Aranykaviár is a restaurant that focuses on caviar. After a small appetiser (which was served with tweezers!) we had a "Caviar Experience".

The chef brought out a black cart and presented three kinds of black caviar: Siberian Sturgeon Malossol, Osetra Malossol and Kaluga Imperial Caviar. He then washed a small area on the backs of our hands and served the caviar directly on the hand. Interesting!

The menu then went on to include smoked fish with caviar, lobster with artichoke soup and venison fillet with baked celeriac. We then had two exciting (and beautiful!) desserts: "egg caviar" and black beetroot with pear and lemon. This dining experience was perhaps, along with the Onyx restaurant, the very best in Budapest.

• Price: Tasting menu approx. 900 SEK (2019)
• Address: Ostrom street 19
• Web page: aranykaviar.hu

7. platinum in Tata

Platán is a restaurant located in Tata in Hungary, about an hour by car from Budapest. Considering how great this restaurant is, despite its location, it is worth mentioning among all the good restaurants in Budapest. The restaurant is run by chef István Pesti, who once ran a Michelin-starred restaurant in Budapest, but chose to start over in the countryside.

We had a fantastic tasting menu here, starting with a small salmon entrée and foie gras served with pumpkin. This was followed by onion soup, pasta with mushrooms and fish and "pig foot" with beans and kale. For dessert, a special little creamy pastry was served.

• Price: Main courses about 150-310 SEK (2019)
• Address: Kasely tér 6, Tata
• Web page: www.platanrestaurant.hu

Michelin-starred restaurants in Budapest

Currently, in 2019, there are six Michelin-starred restaurants in Hungary, all located in Budapest. Onyx has two stars and another five restaurants have one star each:

• Stand on Székely Mihály utca 2
• Babel on Piarista Köz 2
• Borkonyha on Sas utca 3
• Costes on Ráday utca 4
• Costes Downtown on Vigyázó Ferenc utca 5

More restaurants in Budapest

Need even more tips for restaurants in Budapest? Here are some more suggestions. Have you also visited any restaurants in the Hungarian capital? Please let us know!

SALT is located next to Hotel Rum at Királyi Pál street 4. It serves tasting menus - either 11 dishes for about 590 SEK or 15 dishes for about 715 SEK (2019). The menu is a surprise that is sealed when you arrive, and you can get it in a vegetarian or vegan version if you wish.

DSK is centrally located at Erzsébet tér 9-10 and serves Hungarian-inspired dishes in a relaxed environment. We had a really good goulash soup here with a beer, but really they specialise in wine.

Two films from restaurants in Budapest

Peter has put together two films from Budapest and our restaurant visits. Don't miss it!

More to see and do in Budapest

In addition to swimming, there are many other things to do what to do in Budapest. For example, you can shopping in Hungary's capital. You can also swimming in thermal baths or detect Budapest's caveswhich is a slightly different and exciting activity? Below you will find even more tips, both for Budapest and other parts of Hungary.

This trip was a press trip, organised by the Hungarian Tourist Board.