One of my biggest faults as a restaurant critic is that I always end up waiting forever to publish reviews of places I’ve been to, in part due to simple laziness and incompetence, but also because I keep thinking I’ll go back to check it out again before offering my judgment. There are times, however, when even I am moved to get a write-up out right away, even when I shouldn’t, because I’ve only actually sampled a few things off the menu. Today’s “have to tell the world” story is about Artesano (follow link for contact details and user feedback) a small Spanish café/restaurant which opened its doors around a month ago on Ó utca in District VI. And by “today’s” story, I mean I just ate there today, and immediately ran back to the office and started writing this up, because it was that good.
First the backstory. The restaurant is in the premises of the former Mandarin Bár és Étterem, a nice, stylish little local with international food which, unlike the nearby Balettcipő, unfortunately never really caught on.
From my very, very friendly servers I learned that the owners are new, and the man doing the cooking is actually a Russian who, among other things, was in the kitchen back at the birth of “Top 33″ perennial Baraka. And from the three small things I got today, it’s pretty clear that the mysterious Vlad certainly learned some things along the way.
Above is a little amuse bouche of smoked salmon and aioli (garlic mayo) that came in advance of the two appetizers I ordered, not being sure if I wanted to commit to a proper entrée. Then came a wonderful double-shot starter consisting of a martini glass of gazpacho (up top; Ft 690, €2.80) and a cute little libamájszendvics (goose liver sandwich, Ft 400). Both were super; the soup a light, layered cocktail of tomatoes, pureed yellow pepper and a few drops of high-quality olive oil, and the sandwich, well, a delicious little nibble of Hungary’s favorite heart-attack food. Next up was the “Iberian” artichokes with shrimp, which was as good as it looked. Bravo.
I’d list some of the other things on the current menu, but the word is that it will likely be replaced within a few days. I don’t know if the plan is to directly compete with Pata Negra for the honor of the best tapas bar in town, or just to offer a nice mix of tapas and inventive spanyol-accented mains. All I know is that, given what I had today, I may be going back again as soon as tomorrow, and so should you.
Is “have to tell the word” some sort of hip-speak I don’t understand or a typo?
Typo – but see, that just shows how excited I was!
We stumbled upon this classy looking restaurant while walking the Opera surroundings in Pest on a Friday evening in July, and decided on a whim to have dinner there. We had a great dinner experience, and woul highly recommend this restaurants: original pre-dinner drinks and starters, and top professional table service. We had very nicely presented and excellently tasting fish dishes (sea bass and grilled salmon), and a great fruit Sabayon dessert.
We only ate there once, as toursits passing by, but if this is the usual quality of this restaurant, it is a firm candidate for you top 33.
J. Tack
We stopped by last week for an overdue visit. Table service was truly top notch, almost over the top with flourishes and so forth, but mitigated by the server’s awkward and appealing sense of comedy. The starters were perfectly done – perfectly grilled shrimp in a manchego fondue, and a grilled pepper salad with bitter greens and goat cheese rolled in toasted garlic. For me, those were the highlight of the meal. My wife loved her main (poached red mullet), although the paella I had was disappointing – it lacked something I couldn’t put my finger on, maybe the umami that comes from using a decent stock. And the mussels were the greenlip mussels that you see in too many Budapest places…big, but previously frozen and sold on the halfshell. I would have been much happier with run of the mill black mussels (live). And at the end of the day, I’m not sure it was worth the price, 15000 for two including a couple glasses of wine each. I’d feel a lot more enthusiastic about a recommendation if it was about a third less. Maybe the place is best for tapas and not mains?
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