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Sugar Budapest review

Posted on May 27, 2012November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

Not long ago I visited the Chocolate and Sweets festival in Budapest, and there I visited a stand made by the people from Sugar Budapest, also known as Sugarshop. Yesterday I visited Sugar as well, and now I know where to go throughout the entire year when there is no Chocolate and Sweets festival, because in Sugar Budapest you kind of have the chocolate festival feeling throughout the entire year!

Sugar is located in the end of Paulay Ede Utca, next to a quite famous restaurant in Budapest named Két szerecsen. It is located in a street parallel to the Kiraly street and the Andrassy avenue, so a very popular area of Budapest. The interior and everything is about sugar when you visit the place, so do not miss out on the toilets which have a cool look and your kids will for sure love it. The place is not only popular among kids, but among women who love sweets. During our visit to Sugar (I went with my wife of course) at least 75% of the visitors eating where girls/women, and they all seemed to love it.

Sugar consists of a Sugarshop where you can buy candy in loose weight, lollipops and other cool sweets. In Hungary this is exceptional, but if you visit other countries in Europe the Sugarshop is not so special anymore. But, when you move towards the confectionery/cafe area and start looking at the cakes it gets special. Here you will find cakes formed as hamburgers, Coca Cola jars, chocolate bars and much more. You will find standard cakes such as brownies and cheese cakes, but you will also find special cakes which you will not find anywhere else in Budapest. Take a look at the pictures, and you will understand what I am thinking about!

I ordered a plate with cheese cake, some strawberry shake (very small) and a macaron. My wife had some porridge with brownies on the top. We ordered a hot chocolate to the “meal” and the service was perfect and the food got on our table within a few minutes.

: Cheese cake menu in Sugar Budapest

The cheese cake tasted just the way it should, and the strawberry shake was wonderful. But, the macaron! Well, I have a feeling that I can not blame Sugar for this, but I have tried to enjoy macarons several time since its breakthrough a while ago, but it still tastes like crap. Anyone really like this stuff? Join the debate on Facebook or write a comment to this article if you have a meaning on the subject! So I did not enjoy the macaron, but that is not Sugar’s fault, but the concept of macarons themselves!

The hot chocolate was nice and all in all I do look forward to visit the place again sometime in the future, to try some of the other cakes I did not get to eat yesterday. It was so much interesting on the menu, that this is a place you need to visit a few times to get to taste everything that sounds good.

: Lots of candies in Sugarshop Budapest

So, when you are coming to Budapest, or if you already live in Budapest… do not miss out on Sugar Budapest, it is a kind of an attraction in itself and it will for sure be a hit among your children and your wife or girlfriend will also enjoy the place. My wife for sure did! Now you can enjoy some more pictures from Sugar Budapest so that you can prepare yourself for your visit. Beneath the pictures you will find the full address of the shop/confectionery.

: Porridge with brownies – yammi!

: Cool and creative cakes in Sugar

: They have quite some muffins in Sugar Budapest as well!

Sugar Budapest

Address: 1061 Budapest, Paulay Ede utca 48
Opening times: 12.00-22.00 (Monday), 10.00-22.00 (Tuesday-Sunday)
Tlf: +36 1 321 6796

Goose liver festival at the Buda Castle

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Budapest Guide

Maybe the number one Hungarian speciality when it comes to gourmet food is the Goose liver. Not everyone like it, but those who like it normally love it. And because of that, the goose liver has gotten its own festival in Budapest. On this festival lasting for three days you can taste all kinds of goose liver, drink Hungarian wine, beer and palinka, listen to famous Hungarian artists, and then eat some more goose liver while enjoying the rest.

The goose liver festival is arranged on the terrace in front of the Buda Castle, so you can enjoy a beautiful Budapest panorama while at the festival.

The festival is arranged at the following times:
June 1: 12.00-23.00
June 2: 10.00-23.00
June 3: 10.00-23.00

The one day ticket to the festival costs 1900 HUF, while the three day ticket costs 3800 HUF.

Best Trofea Grill restaurant in Budapest

Posted on May 2, 2012March 27, 2024 by Budablogger

Before you come to Budapest you probably don’t know to much about the different restaurants in Budapest and you wonder where to go to grab some good pieces to eat. One of the most popular restaurants in Budapest is Trófea Grill, but to be right, it is not really one restaurant, but a restaurant chain with currently six restaurants in Budapest. If you divide the restaurants into categories you can divide it the following way based on ownership:

Trófea Grill 1:
Visegrádi Utca (Visegrádi utca 50/a), Margit Krt (Margit körút 2), Király Utca (Király Utca 30-32)

Trófea Grill 2:
Mexikói út (Erzsébet királyné útja 5), Óbuda (Laktanya u. 3-5.), Újbuda (Szerémi út 7)

The restaurants mostly look the same and they have the same principle meaning that for a set price you can eat and drink as much as you’d like. The prices vary between 3200-5500 HUF (3800-5500 for Trófea Grill restaurants in category 1), depending on what time of the day you’d like to visit the restaurants, but if you consider the amount of food and drinks you get for the price, it isn’t really that high no matter when you go. What also describes the popularity of the Trófea Grill restaurants very well is the fact that it is packed not only with tourists, but also with locals. The chain is especially popular for birthday parties as they offer free birthday cake to the one celebrating their birthday, so do not be surprised if you hear a happy birthday song on the loudspeakers as you grab something to eat in one of the six Trófea Grill restaurants. Most tourists end up in the restaurants listed in category 1, but if you wonder where to go, you should keep on reading, because here comes the part giving you my own personal favorite restaurants.

The best Trófea Grill restaurant!

Since this article is written by Budablogger it is only portraying his views and thoughts, so you might disagree when I here write down my thoughts on which is the best Trófea Grill restaurant in Budapest. There are many things that must be taken into consideration before you can make such a statement, but when deciding which Trófea Grill restaurant is the best in Budapest the most important factors where: Location, cuisine, atmosphere and the restaurant itself.

If location is important, then the three central restaurants located in Visegrádi Utca, Margit Körút and Király Utca are natural winners. If it is a matter of cuisine the restaurants at Mexikói út, Visegrádi utca and Margit Körút are the winners. They have a good selection of food you can get fried in front of your eyes, they always have a good selection of traditional Hungarian courses and they serve 100% orange juice and so on (which for example Trófea Grill Óbuda does not). All restaurants have a good atmosphere, but the restaurant in Visegrádi Utca is not at all as nicely looking as the one by the Margit Körút, which looks very modern, just like the one in Király Utca. Unfortunately the restaurant in Király Utca lacks some of the great courses served in the other restaurants, and that is why I always pick other Trófea Grill restaurants to the one in Király Utca. The Trófea Grill in Újbuda is good, but last time I visited that one they only had very special Hungarian courses, which most Hungarians would be skeptical to eat (Pacalpörkölt or Tripe stew), and with several such courses next to one another it was in fact hard to find something to eat among the already prepared courses.

: Cakes at Trófea Grill

I could keep going for a long time, but if I have to pronounce a winner my personal favorite would be the Trófea Grill restaurant by the Margaret Bridge (Margit körút), closely followed by the Trófea Grill restaurant in Erzsébet Királyné utca (Mexikói út). If I have to choose what Trófea Grill restaurant I would not return to at all it would probably be the one in Király Utca and the Újbuda Trófea Grill.

Many tourists get invitations to the Trófea Grill restaurant in Király Utca while walking on Deák Tér, and as they end up there they totally enjoy it and often return later, as they are so satisfied and fall in love with the restaurant. It was the same for me first time I visited a Trófea Grill restaurant.

This article has though been written not after visiting the restaurants once or twice, but after visiting the restaurants at least 25 times. And after that many visits you get favorites among the six restaurants, and as I also mentioned, some restaurants I’d rather not return to if I have the chance to influence the decision about what Trófea Grill restaurant to visit.

: Best Trófea Grill in Budapest – Margit Körút

Breakfast in Szamos

Posted on April 27, 2012November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

Szamos is a famous brand in Hungary. They are first of all known for their marzipan, and then comes the confectioneries. In Budapest you can find Szamos shops and confectioneries in lots of places, for example in Árkád, in Mammut, in Allee, in Savoya Park, in Polus, in Szentendre, at Budapest Airport and lots of other places. The biggest Szamos and the one with the best location is probably the one located at Vörösmarty square, but yesterday we visited the Szamos confectionery and store located by the Grand Boulevard, within the walls of Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal.

Working on our article about breakfast in Budapest we planned on visiting Bock Bistro, one of the best restaurants in Budapest with great wine and high class food. Some other sites also wrote about the culinary experience of enjoying a breakfast at Bock Bistro, and therefore we planned on enjoying a breakfast there ourselves. As we got there the doors where closed, and after asking some questions around in the building we found out that breakfast is no longer available in Bock Bistro. There we stood hungry in front of closed doors, so quickly we had to find somewhere else to eat some breakfast, and since Szamos is located only 150 meters from Bock Bistro, that became our final destination.

It seems to me as if Szamos have the same breakfast menu available in all their places, so whatever Szamos you visit you will have the chance to eat Continental Breakfast, French Breakfast, Ham and Eggs, Wiener Breakfast and Hungarian Breakfast. These are the standard offers, but on their menu you can also find toast which is available throughout the entire day, but if you want it for breakfast, that can of course be arranged.

We ordered a ham and eggs, one standard omelet and a toast. In addition we had a cup of tea, a glass of water and a cocoa. Even though it was almost empty in the place, it took a while for someone to take or order, but when they first came, service was perfect. The final price of this order was 4000 HUF, and in that price the service fee of 15% was included.

: Ham and eggs and a toast in Szamos

The portions were quite normal, and though they were smaller than the portions you get at for example Fruccola, most people will feel full and satisfied after one portion of food. The omelet needed salting, the cocoa was without any sugar so that needed to be added manually, the toast was nice and my wife was satisfied with the ham and eggs. While most restaurants offering breakfasts add some special bread besides your breakfast, Szamos only gives you a small standard white bread baguette cut into small pieces besides the meal.

After the breakfast we did not sit with the feeling that we were too full, and thus the cakes offered looks very tempting. We skipped those this time, but it might be that the next time we drop by Szamos it will be to eat cakes, and not to eat breakfast. Everything was too standard, nothing made it an experience to remember, except from the fact that I ate together with my beautiful wife and son, so next time I will much rather look for a new place instead of returning to Szamos. If you are a tourist looking for an easy breakfast one day and you see a Szamos sign nearby, this can though be an option to consider.

: Tempting sweet and salty cakes/pastry in Szamos

Tejivo Budapest review

Posted on April 25, 2012November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

Located next to McDonalds on the Erzsebet square (Deak Ferenc square) Tejivo has a perfect location and it has since its opening turned into a big success, and currently it is a super trendy place to hang out for a bite to eat and something to drink in Budapest. Budablogger likes to be trendy so off he went to Tejivo to check what is going on.

Tejivo is a Hungarian word which means Milkdrinker in English. That is perfect, because I am a big milkdrinker… a very positive start. As we got there it was packed with people (I guess it is space for 30 guests on the inside, 35 at the most) and about 10 people on the outside. To get something to eat I had to get into line and wait for the five people in front of me to place their orders. A few minutes later the line was even longer and there were at least 7-8 people standing in line to get something to eat and drink. Why is this so trendy, and is it worth standing in line?

In Tejivo you can get different things to eat; sandwiches with ham, salami, cheese, then you will find different yoghurts, toasts, sweet porridge and some sweet desserts. In addition they have cocoa, home made ice tea, milk shakes and some other drinks.

We wanted to try as much as possible as we first visited the place, so we drank a cocoa and an ice tea, and we ate toast, sandwich with mangalica (special Hungarian pig) ham and a sweet porridge. The toast was served warm, while the sandwich and the porridge was cold. My wife wanted some hot porridge, so on request they placed it in the microwave and then it became hot in a few seconds. The porridge, the sandwich and the toast all tasted well, and especially the porridge had a special taste to it, almost lemon taste, which made it both special and good. The mangalica ham was delicious and the toast was fine. The home made ice tea tasted like at home when I made hot tea, add some sugar and put it in the fridge, so nothing special. The cocoa gave a little surprise, because normally when you go out to eat you get hot cocoa, but in Tejivo you get it served in a cold way. The taste was nice, but I would probably have preferred it served warm instead.

The price for all of this was 1700 HUF, and then I forgot to tell the fact that we also ate a cocoa roll. What made it all cheaper was the fact that they have quite some menus reducing the price, and as we bought some of the standard menus we saved some money doing so.

Tejivo is trendy, but I guess I am not going to be very trendy in the future. It is nice to have been there, and I am glad that I tasted it all, but it did not steal my heart forcing me to return back again in the near future. Of course it is nice knowing about this place in central Budapest where you can get a tasty sandwich and bring it with you if you are in a hurry, but I will probably go try something new in the future instead of returning to Tejivo. But, I know lots of others who will do exactly the opposite; instead of finding a new place they will rather return to Tejivo, so I am not worried that Tejivo will end up like most other shops and bars that have opened at the same place (they all ended in bankruptcy).

If you are in Budapest and want a light meal, check out Tejivo!

: Tejivo seen from the outside

Tejivo Budapest

Sütő utca 2, 1052 Budapest
Opening times: 7.30 – 22.00

More flights to Lisbon from Budapest

Posted on April 24, 2012December 13, 2017 by Budapest Guide

Since the bankruptcy of Malev other companies are getting more and more popular. We all know that RyanAir launched flights to 32 destinations from Budapest after Malev went down, and several other companies also launch new routes. Earlier today I read that WizzAir will launch two new routes from Debrecen to Milan and to Eindhoven (in addition to their existing route from Debrecen to London Luton). From the official web page of Budapest Airport we also got the information today that Tap Portugal will add even more flights to their existing route between Budapest and Lisbon. Last year the company brought more than 50,000 passengers on this line and this year they will hopefully transport even more people with even more flights added. This means that there will be two flights leaving every Saturday from Budapest to Lisbon, instead of one earlier.

Not long ago someone asked us whether it is possible to fly directly from Budapest to Paphos in Cyprus, this beauty of a city where the summer lasts for around 8 months a year. But, unfortunately we can not help out with flights to Paphos, at least not direct ones. But, if you look around, it is possible to fly with KLM to Amsterdam, and there you can change flights and fly on to Paphos.

Earlier Malév had a route to Cyprus, but it was not to Paphos either, so that would not help out under any circumstances. But, if you would rather visit Israel instead, then the amount of flights between Budapest and Tel Aviv was raised earlier this week, so it looks like it will get easier to visit Israel as well! Good luck with your flight tickets and have a nice holiday!

Die Hard 5 in Budapest: Where things are happening and when!

Posted on April 24, 2012November 27, 2013 by Budapest Guide

Yesterday we wrote about the fact that Bruce Willis (alias John McClane) is in town and that they were filming in the sixth district of Budapest yesterday, in the area around the Vörösmarty Utca. That was the first day of filming, and today it will continue. So, if you would like to see what’s going on, or at least meet up with some (un)polite police officers protecting the area, pay a visit to one of the following places:

Where things are happening, and when!
April 24: District VI, Vörösmarty utca.
April 29: District VI, Városligeti fasor.
May 3 (from 8:00 p.m.) and May 4 (from 6:00 a.m.) District V, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út, Arany János utca, Andrássy út.
May 5-6: District XIV, Fine Arts Museum (Szépművészeti Múzeum), Dózsa György út 41.
May 8 (from 6:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.) District XIV, 1956ers Square (56-osok tere), near the corner of Damjanich utca and Dembinszky utca.
May 14: Return to the beginning (Szabadság tér)

The rumors say that Budapest is not the real location of the story, but Moscow, but who knows? What is for sure is that traffic chaos will be caused by this filming, and for people living in the areas it means parking their cars somewhere else and walking home (showing ID to prove that they live in the mentioned areas). A bit inconvenient, but that is probably the price to pay to have a start like John McClane walking around in the streets of Budapest.

This morning we noticed on Facebook a picture that someone claims to have been made yesterday. It is just a fake, but a quite funny one, at least for Hungarians. Thanks to Andrassew David Igor for posting it!

Bruce Willis walking in Budapest? — Bruce Willis - manipulated picture... not really from the filming in Budapest!

Bruce Willis dying hard in Budapest

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Budapest Guide

April 24 update: Die Hard 5 in Budapest: Where things are happening and when!

It has for a long time been known that quite a lot of “A Good Day to Die Hard” (Die Hard 5) will be filmed in Budapest. If you are interested, you might want to check out the sixth district of Budapest today where cars are removed and the streets are empty due to one reason: Bruce Willis is in town and filming today! To check it out, take the tram to either Király Utca or Wesselényi utca, and start walking towards the area near Dob utca, Vörösmarty utca, Csengery utca and so on, and you will for sure see either some police officers protecting the area, or if not, maybe you will meet John McClane himself?! (John McClane is the name of the character played by Bruce Willis).

Check it out! If you are not in town, then you can wait until 2013. That is when the film will be released and you can see all your favorite spots in Budapest (hopefully) on the movie screens all around the world!

Gospel in Budapest

Posted on April 11, 2012February 14, 2023 by Budapest Guide

As of April 28th there will be arranged gospel concerts in the heart of Budapest, in a beautiful church in Vaci Utca, every second weak. The choir is lead by one of the best singers in Hungary, and this will be a great gospel event, worth checking out. If you are interested and like gospel music, you can read more about the gospel event at our page about the gospel event.

At the page about the gospel concerts you will also find a video so that you can know more about what to expect, you will find the chance to reserve tickets and also information about dates and time for these gospel concerts. Read more…

MAK Bistro Budapest review

Posted on April 10, 2012November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

A new star is rising in Budapest, and the name of it is MÁK Bistro. The restaurant has a rustic feeling to it, and it is almost hidden away in the very center of Budapest, only one minute away from the beautiful Chain Bridge on the Pest side of the city. MAk Bistro opened in 2010 and has since then received lots of great reviews, making it one of the most trendy restaurants in Budapest at the moment, but it does not feel to touristic, which is a bonus.

In the Dining Guide 2012 edition and in the Gault&Millau restaurant guide for 2012 MÁK Bistro was listed among the top five restaurants of Budapest. That is quite a job from such a young restaurant, and as I visited the restaurant earlier I was curious to get to know the place better.

During lunch time the restaurant offers two or three course lunches. The price for a two course lunch is 2800 HUF and for three courses the price is 3500 HUF. No drinks are included, so you should add 500-1000 HUF to the bill, and then the service fee, which they automatically add to the bill as you get it. Therefore a lunch for one person here with three courses will normally end up somewhere between 4500-5000 HUF (of course depending on how much you drink).

I (Budablogger) am not so much of a gourmet, so therefore I was curious to see how I would like the food in the restaurant. If it gets to advanced and with to many strange spices and ingredients, I often miss the traditional Hungarian courses. But, today something happened, as I enjoyed all the three courses, and also the „free” courses given along the way. The first course was a soup (Parsnip velouté) which was tasting completely different from most soups I have ever tasted in Hungary, but it was interesting and delicious. The main course (Pink perch with buckwheat pasta) was made from fish with buckwheat pasta, and even though it felt strange at the start, I enjoyed it so much that as all the fish was gone, I took what was left of bread from the table and started to put it into the sauce left from the main course to enjoy them together.

The dessert (Cottage cheese-pomegranate dessert) was extremely fresh and the combination of fruit, cottage cheese and something similar to crunched biscuits made it a perfect end to the lunch menu.

The menu at MÁK Bistro changes continuously, making it an interesting place to visit over and over again, and the prices are not at all scary. Main courses if you come during dinner time cost somewhere between 2500-5000 HUF normally, and they use lots of traditional Hungarian ingredients, though with lots of turns and twists to it. This makes MÁK Bistro a super place to visit if you want to eat upper class food in Budapest with nice prices, great service, a central location and with high quality. Be surprised and enjoy your meal as you visit MÁK Bistro.

MAK Bistro Budapest

Vigyázó Ferenc utca 4, 1051 Budapest
Tuesday – Saturday from 12.00-15.00 and 18.00-24.00
Telephone: +36307239383

What others have written about MÁK Bistro.
Their distinguishing trait is the consisting use of excellet raw material, prepared with the care it deserves… outstanding desserts bring an upbeat ending to your meal. (Gault&Millau 2012)