Vegetarian places in Budapest

not always easy to be a vegetarian, especially when you travel in some eastern european countries. actually you are really lucky with budapest, it's not that eastern in the vegetarian line (:

my favourite place is the "Lébár" (juicebar), they offer very cheap and good vegan food and fresh juices here (Múzeum körút). good option for those who can't eat sugar or flour, too, they have very clever cakes and pastries. often you can find the vegetarian version of some hungarian dish like paprikás krumpli (paprika potatoes), gulyásleves (goulash soup) or jókai bableves (bean soup).
they are open every weekday between 10 and 18. it's very small place. next to it you can find the best organic shop in the country (in my opinion), with fresh fruits and vegetables also.

my second favourite place is the hummus bar, they serve delicious israelian veggie food like hummus and falafel. you can buy falafel everywhere in the city, but this is the only place where it's actually good. they have more restaurants. the nicest one is at the Kertész utca 39, here.
the other location serves the same food, but the place is not that lovely (Alkotmány u. 20.).



a nice option can be the belgian fries: the place is called Pár Perc Krumpli (some minutes of potato), they offer nice fries, many kinds of sauces and some vegetarian burgers. they also have more shops:
Ráday u. 1-3
Móricz Zs. körút 2.

at these places you can get filled by 2-3 euros, i don't really go to more expensive restaurants. you can always find something vegetarian at the turkish buffets (we have many). a good one is near the Nyugati train station, called Szeráj. their aubergine and spinach in joghurt is great.

I never tried, but looks nice the biodarshan vegetarian shop and restaurant.


there are some other options as well, but i should test them first. if you want to try something hungarian but veggie, there's the főzelék (made of any kind of vegetable, can't really explain, so check out the pictures). if you want to try the higher class version, the stand bistro is told to be good and cheap (4 eur) at lucnhtime. then there's lecsó (it can contain meat, ask about it before ordering), it's similar to the ratatouille, perfect summer food. and you can try some typical hungarian pastas, like túrós csusza (with cottage cheese, ask without bacon), mákos tészta (with poppy seed, it's sweet), káposztás tészta (with cabbage - it can be sweet and salty as well), etc. you will love túrógombóc, if it's made in a good way. in the restaurants they usually serve it as dessert, but at home you would eat it as a main dish. i prefer with sugar and tejföl (sour creme). and you can't miss lángos of course, but be prepared to something very heavy and oily (or greasy). best with tejföl and cheese, or just simply with some garlic. you can find it quite cheap at the central market. ok, i'll come up with more ideas later. ask anything in the comments.

central market strikes back

once, there was a post about the central market on the fővám tér. don't want to replicate myself or something like that, just to add some fresh photos. i won't describe them, come and discover it (sure, i'll tell you more about it, just ask me in e-mail).
it's lovely, believe your eyes.

the market again

maybe you already noticed that i'm in love with our central market. i found a great post about it in english from my favourite gastro-blogger, chili and vanilia. she's an expert, beleive her.

alternative market

every second sunday of the month a special market is organised at szimpla kert (or mozi), which is a very cool bar - i can recommend it also for the nights. i think i will write a post about szimpla, too, but now just about the market.
you can bring here anything to sell, self-made clothes, bags and accessories, old books or bakelites, and beautiful bulgarian icons. and you can come here also to buy them.
all the stuff is very creative, cool and "alternatively trendy", if you know what i mean. and you can sit down, drink a cold beer or a hot cocoa from a traditional red-spotted cup. and use free wi-fi...


so the place: 7th district, kazinczy street 14 (map).
the time: 10th of june, sunday, 13:00-19:00

Tunisian touristical days

life is always busy in the central market. this weekend tunisia will be the guest.
you can taste traditional food and drink, like fig-spirit, dates, olives, pastry and specialities of the arabic kitchen. you can learn a lot about their traditions, history, folklore. you can enjoy tunisian music and dance while you know more about water-pipes or henna-painting.

7th-9th of june
opening hours:
thursday and friday: 9.00-18.00
saturday: 9.00-14.00

polish touristical days

this week is for the polish. from thursday till saturday (31st of may - 2nd of june) they will be the guests of the central market (about this see the post below).
they will offer polish drinks and food, including cheese, and you can buy different polish handicraft products. the craftmen will also show you how they make them.
the band named "goral" from zakopane will play music during the three days.

the central market

there's a place where i always do the daily shopping: the central market on fővám tér.


it's big and beautiful.

i'm sure that your guide will recommend it, and yes, it's quite touristical, but i swear you, the hungarians do go there. like i do. and it's cheaper than other markets! i mean the food, not the souvenirs - i don't know a lot about them.
you have to choose the right stall, because some vendors are a bit rude and they usually don't speak languages - but they know the numbers (: you have to know that many times you can't choose which piece you want.
i don't want to say more bad things about it, because it really is a good place. for the cheaper fruits and vegetables of the season go to the left wing. on the right wing you can find a bigger variety, but it's more expensive. meat is also cheaper and fresher in the market.
when you step in, on the right hand you can find a stall full of cheese and some other stuff, they are always on sale.
in the basement you can find a normal supermarket, some smaller shops, and a special store full with quality food. it is called asia, but they offer everything from the world what you can't find in normal shops. it's not as weird as the chinese shops for example in london, it's more for the hungarian stomach.

opening hours (from the very morning, when you'll be sleeping)
monday: until 17:00
tuesday-friday: until 18:00
saturday: until 14:00
it's better to arrive not in the last minute, because in the last half hour they begin to close.

you can get here by tram #2, #49 or by foot from kálvin tér, blue metro stop (map).

and we have wonderful pictures.