2 Best Restaurants in Budapest, Hungary

This pricey but laid-back, sepia-toned neighborhood tavern is on a hard-to-find street near the Óbuda end of the Árpád Bridge. Practically all the food here arrives in huge servings, which was just the way that Hungarian writer Gyula Krúdy (to whom the restaurant is dedicated) liked it when he was a regular customer. Dishes like the hot pot with marrowbone and toast, or lecsó (a stew with a base of onions, peppers, tomatoes, and paprika) are great comfort food on a cool day, and Romani music livens up the place in the evenings.

There are only three tables and a counter at this tiny homestyle restaurant not far from the basilica. It gets a lunch crowd early and bustles well into the evening with downtown professional types. Dishes Hungarian grandmothers make, including goose-dumpling soup and stuffed cabbage with pork, elicit smiles from most patrons.