In every area of Budapest, you can walk past a butchers shop and see a counter where you can buy and eat a hot sausage with a mix of gherkin, pepper, and many other unrecognisable hot and spicy pickle vegetables, together with a large lump of bread. Standing amongst locals where you will undoubtably join in the banter of the early morning breakfast ritual.
The markets are one of the best places to get cheap, wholesome true Hungarian cuisine. You may have to wait a while, as many locals await their turn; seating is at times a little precarious and you may find yourself perched high on a stool, but the atmosphere is great and the food delicious.
No matter where you are or what time of day or night it is, you will always find somewhere to eat or drink in Budapest. I remember leaving a bar in Vaci Street at 04.30 - not a lock in, the door was open all night for those wandering past.
Stop off at “a hole in the wall” for a kebab or a McDonalds, Burger King, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, or dive in for a quick Pizza. There are plenty of Subway cafes and of course there are the Irish Bars, where you can pick up a very good hearty Irish breakfast, early in the morning.
Sushi restaurants are now becoming a very popular lunch time snack.
All around Budapest you will find Coffee Shops, where you will find many cakes and pastries for which Hungary is so famous. On every street corner you will come across specialised chocolate shops, pastry shops all of which sell delicious pancakes filled with creams or chocolate and the price you pay is pennies.
You do not have to find a sit down restaurant to enjoy a Chinese, an Indian, or a Thai meal, because in the streets of Budapest you will find many walk in quick food cafes.
Római part, or Roman bank, runs along the side of the Danube in District III, on the ancient site of Óbuda. Here you will find the best fish and chips outside of Britain - in fact I can honestly say, that they were better than any fish and chips that I have tasted anywhere.
On a hot Sunday afternoon the grassy waterfront is filled with families enjoying the sun. Children run up and down laughing and shouting, others play in the shade of the trees while their parents rest at a table full of lángos and fried fish, sipping fröccs or beer.
The air is filled with the smell of frying fish and the sound of palacsinta sizzling on the grill from the many small restaurants that line the promenade.
The food stalls sell freshly-fried hekk, an Hungarian fish which, when eaten with chips and pickled cucumbers.
How to get there: take HÉV train from Batthyány tér and take off at the Római Fürdő station. Walk to the river.
