eating out | thehub.hu | guide to budapest

Vámház körút 8 [map]
Pest, V, Kálvin tér (M3, T47/49), 3 min
Cuisine > International

Hankering for pizza? On a psychedelic trip to the moon? Have a hard-to-please group of friends all wanting to agree on someplace to eat? You’ve found your spot (but only if it's all three)!

The unassuming sign and facade that boasts of 990Ft (4€) pizza, leaves you ill-prepared for the world you're about to step into. You’re approaching another dimension. What lies within these walls is stupefying!

Unicornis appears to be the result of what happens when a few friends from opposite ends of the spectrum get together to run a restaurant. Probably their only bond is a penchant for LSD or magic mushrooms, which leaves them in no position to agree on anything!

The décor is analogous to what a 14-year-old fan of Dungeons and Dragons might do for their school art project. Styrofoam pockmarks the perimeter and is meant to look like a crumbling façade, in between white 'pillars' that stop mid-wall. A fire-breathing dragon and yes, of course, a unicorn, gallivant amidst a psychedelic space-scape beyond. The Neverending Story meets Flash Gordon but with zero budget and traditional Hungarian table booths.

Oh, and it’s not unlikely that you’ll hear 1990’s hit “Ice Ice Baby” followed by Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” to complete the oddest restaurant atmosphere in town.

What got me through the door of Unicornis in the first place was the cheap pizza, and it’s certainly the way to go if you're short on cash. You might assume that 990Ft only gets you a margarita, but you'd be mistaken, my friend. There are about two full pages of speciality pizzas, all a full 32 centimeters, all included in that same great price.

In keeping with the surroundings, there are some odd toppings too. The Barbecue pizza includes BBQ sauce, bacon, gyros(!), corn, onion, and peppers. It gets better. How about spicy sauce, Vienna sausage (hot dogs), bacon, corn, hot peppers, and fried eggs? While certainly not the most authentic pizza I’ve had in Budapest, it certainly wasn't the worst either. And psychedelic space beggars can't be choosers!

The rest of the menu is haphazard, to say the least. Yogurt, pickles and turkey legs make their way into various loose translations of the “burrito”. There’s a “wok” section, some Indian options, salads, and of course Hungarian specialities. They also have a vegetarian selection which goes beyond fried cheese and salad, with heartier options such as the veggie risotto.

Unicornis is absolutely not the place to impress on a first, second, third or any date! Likewise, bring your parents here, and it'll only confirm their suspicions that you're not eating properly. But if you're hungry at that end of town, with 1000Ft in your pocket, and in need of a giggle, Unicornis delivers. It delivers you into a mythological world where a boy who needs some food can find a restaurant that needs a hero.

Ráday utca 22 [map]
Pest South, IX, Kalvin ter (M3), 5 min
Cuisine > Italian American
Tel. 216-1412; 218-9382

Rating: 6.0/10

“...we dont have to drive it honey, we can park it out in back, and have a party in your pink cadillac.” (Bruce Springsteen). If you do have a party in Pink Cadillac, it’ll probably be a pizza party, or a pasta party, but it’s unlikely to be that memorable, not for the food anyway.

Table after table; parasol after parasol; menu after menu... woe betide the hapless tourist who returns from Budapest with nothing but memories of Váci utca, Liszt Ferenc tér and Ráday utca. There’s a holiday atmosphere, certainly, but the city’s tourist spots come with an obvious catch: you get watered-down Budapest at pumped-up prices.

Pink Cadillac has plenty of outdoor seating and the interior is fairly airy too, with much of the facade opening up for the summer. We took a table by the wall. After a few waiterless minutes, we thought we’d hit the button on the little box next to the table. (Note to manager - please change the text to read: “Hit the button if you want to piss the waiters off!”)

But I was briefly prepared to forgive the underwhelming service. A couple of strips of pizza bread with garlic butter were a pleasant enough, free appetizer while the pizza itself looked pretty appealing: no skimping on the olives and a fair amount of chicken too. However, the fusion of toppings didn’t add up to very much, getting through the doughy base became a war of attrition and no one offered me any pepper either.

The Spaghetti Frutti di Mari was distinctly lacking in great shakes too: two very small prawns left the twirls of processed seafood to dominate. Tiring of my pizza, I swapped it for the pasta for a while. Then I swapped back.

So, what of the venue? It’s ok. Modern, cleanish, with all the character of a modern, cleanish non-Italian pizza joint. The bonnet of a Cadillac coming through the wall doesn't do a lot for me, apart from giving some credence to the name. (Personally, I think they missed a trick in failing to involve Elvis, Springsteen, or Clint Eastwood.)

If this doesn't sound like your bag of mild Americana or there are no tables that take your fancy, you could always go next door to Paris, Texas, where you'll find exactly the same menu at exactly the same price, and another slightly cosier variant of mild Americana. Either way, if you’re on Ráday and you want a pizza, you could do worse and you could pay more. On the other hand, if you're looking for above-average cuisine, take a drive in a different neighbourhood.

Food: 6/10
Service: 6/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Value for money: 6/10

Walk up Ráday utca from Kalvin tér and Pink Cadillac is on the left. They also do take-away. Raday, Caddilac, Cadilac, Cadillack, Caddilack
Andy Sz.

Andrássy út 76 [map]
Pest Centre, VI, between Vörösmarty utca and Kodály körönd (M1), 1 min
Cuisine > Italian

Rating: 7.9/10

The pizza has been stolen. Just look around Budapest and you’ll find Pizza Huts, Pizza Marzanos (the thinly disguised Pizza Express) and lots of pizza slices from quick-fire window hatches; all of which are about as Italian as my aunt.

For other pizzas that have surrendered their nationality, there’s the atmospheric, commie-style Marxim, the super-cheap, edible-if-you’re-hungry Den Haag and the dough-heavy Darshan. Even in my flat, you may well find the charred remains of a distinctly Germanicized Doktor Oetker frozen cardboard pizza-wannabe. But where are the bona fide Italian pizzas?

Only a cynic or a rival restaurant would doubt Millenium da Pippo’s Italian credentials. The waiter’s Italian. The pizzaiolo’s Italian. The house wines are Italian (and perfectly drinkable). The photos of the Ferraris and the unidentified relative in the Juventus jumper are most definitely Italian. The tiles on the wall are... left over from the restaurant’s former metro-themed incarnation. Still, they do nothing to upset a comfortable, intimate, relaxed feel.

The menu, in Italian and Hungarian, is the right way round and scanning through all the pizzas and pastas will take you a while. English menus, and indeed, the wine list, are available if you ask. There are also some meat and fish options, if you want to be a bit less predictable, but the prices do creep up.

Eating out, I usually find myself going for the pasta-avoidance tactic, no doubt a symptom of too often finding that I could have made the same thing myself, for a fraction of the price. There is, however, no need to doubt Pippo's range of fresh pastas. The Ravioli Mamma reminds me that my reliance on pasta as a safety net is bordering on the sacreligious.

For pizzas you get what you pay for. The bases were thin and light, and didn’t require a knife fight to cut, which justified prices that are a shade more than many of the city’s alternatives. I decided on the Pizza Buffon (team-mates Totti and Del Piero are also on the menu), which had quite a busy topping but was oddly under-priced. The answer was in the artichokes, which might been more expensive and more flavoursome had they been fresh! The more modest-looking but pricier Pizza Pippo, on the other hand, with parma ham and basil, was much closer to the mark.

Not without flaws, Pippo still leaves room for some competition. However, after a few months of unconsciously munching through various pizza pretenders, it's a welcome reminder of what pizza, and pasta for that matter, ought to be.

Food: 8/10
Service: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 8.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10

Only a short walk from Oktogon along Andrássy, in a Hősök tere direction, Millenium da Pippo is small but easy to find on the left side of the road. Alternatively, walking down from Kodály körönd, the nearest metro stop, it's on the right.
pipo, milennium, millennium, de
Andy Sz.

No matter how long you're in Budapest for, there are a few places we think you should really check out. So we've created: