In the seasonal round-up of beer gardens, for some reason, Kultiplex often gets left off the list. But not only has Kultiplex long had one of the city’s liveliest summer kerts, in the context of late-night dining, it also offers an excellent menu. This is not to say the food at Kultiplex is exceptional: it is not. That said, a full menu and a sit-down meal at a kert is a welcome amenity. On offer are Hungarian büfé standards: tócsni (like hash-browns) and fried cheese, as well as the de rigueur assortment of Serbian grilled meats that no boho hotspot can go without these days. And as we are in the midst of the Budapest Burgerwar™ and it has been said in the Caboodle forum that "to get the best burger you need to go to Keleti station and get a ticket to Serbia" it was clearly worth checking out.

I’ve sampled the Szerb Burger (Ft 700), made with pleskavica (basically a hamburger patty souped-up with ground lamb, onions and paprika), which rests between a sliced kalács. The use of the sweet, toothy kalács as a burger bun, which seems widely accepted in this city, was novel at first, but is beginning to outstay its welcome. Meanwhile, at some point a burger isn't "burger enough" to be considered for things like the Budapest Burgerwar, and this is probably the point.

Moving along, the above plate of cevapcici (spicy meatballs the shape of stubbed-out cigars, made of ground veal, pork and lamb, along with onion and paprika; Ft 790/€3.20 for five), arrived piping hot and straight from the grill, with a large portion of fairly standard fries (Ft 300). Unfortunately, you have to pay extra for ketchup, though I liked the ajvar (a Serbian sweet pepper-based condiment for meats) that came neatly contained in a cored red onion.

Kultiplex is also home to Tilos Radio, Hungary’s stalwart counter-culture radio station. Its presence sets the tone for the rest of the establishment: graffiti covers the walls inside and out (featuring a large mural by street artist and kert icon Attila Stark); it also is one of the few venues in town for underground punk and heavy metal bands from the "west," as well as a makeshift art-house cinema. Like most kerts that have been around a while, the age of Kultiplex's consumer base seems to be falling in direct correlation to the rising price of its drinks (I’m also thinking of Zöld Pardon here), which perhaps means a few too many drunk teenagers with "alt" haircuts.

A word of caution: on some but not all some concert nights, you have to pay the ticket price to gain entrance to the kert, so check listings before-hand to see what is going on.