It is one of those ideas that seems so obvious, you can’t believe it hasn’t been done before: take a traditional Hungarian butcher shop, add a few up-market flourishes, and emphasize the pre-prepared food rather than the meat counter. Half the customers in most butchers are eating a quick, inexpensive sausage or pork knuckle anyway, so why not cater to their comfort? That is exactly what the very centrally located Belvárosi Disznótoros (loosely translated as the Inner-City Pig Platter) does, and does very well.

For those who are too intimidated to eat at a rough-looking hentes, with their grizzly aprons and grizzlier miens, Belvárosi Disznótoros offers a cleaner, more welcoming atmosphere in which to enjoy a quick stand-up lunch. But don’t be fooled: the sausage - from hurka (blood and liver links) to small, spicy kolbász - is the real thing, in all its greasy goodness. Better still, if you have a few minutes to spare, the cuts of beef and chicken that are marinating behind the counter can be grilled to order. Also on offer is a variety of roasted poultry and game: pictured is a duck drumstick and thigh - which, with a side, bread, and drink, was still an inexpensive lunch of less than a thousand forints. No matter what you try, owner Vadász Tamás serves great fast slow-food (or slow fast-food?) and unlike most butchers, you won’t be made to feel ashamed if your meal is not too orthodox Hungarian-cuisine standards.

Condiments include soy and hot sauce, and the traditional choice of sides like pickles and white bread is livened up by coleslaw and potato fritters. This is a gentler, more sophisticated sausage break. But you should you not be tricked into believing Belvárosi Disznótoros exists as a novelty to gauge tourists: prices are comparable to traditional butchers shops, running two to three hundred forints per 10dg of sausage. Smoked pork knuckle and rotisserie chicken are also reasonably priced. If you want to cook at home, in the back of the space at the small butcher’s counter you can find a variety of well-chosen, gourmet cuts including beef tenderloin, mangalica salami, and duck breast; the butcher himself looking avuncular and tidy. Unlike many butchers, which rush to close in the afternoon, this one stays open until eight.

Only two months old at the time of writing, there are a few kinks that at might be worked out at Belvárosi Disznótoros. Some of the international touches seem to be there for their own sake: for instance, I would prefer a Hungarian Traubi soda to the Malaysian Aloe bubble drink on offer. In fact the whole drinks refrigerator seems a bit anti-Hungarian: even the beer is a German brand. And if they are trying to draw on the tourist foot traffic of the Fifth District, a second language behind the counter might help. Still, this place should be a hit with foreigners and locals alike. As the gentleman Hungarian next to me commented to his wife when sampling the spicy Asian beef, "Dear, we have found a very good place."