With the Budapest Burgerwar™ now being joined with the Budapest Asian Invasion™ to form a massive, two-front campaign to eat as much foreign food as possible in the Hungarian capital, it's only natural that our next burger up is ázsiai. Or at least somewhat.

Truth be told, I was pretty bowled over to find a burger on the menu at the Goa Café and Restaurant (click link for contact details and user reviews) when I stopped by for dinner with a few friends last week. Though maybe without cause; the regular menu of the swanky pan-Asian joint on Andrássy út has a back page filled with sandwich options, of which the proffered burger was only one. That it was on the menu was not the only surprise.

For one thing, the name of the burger was distinctly different in English - in which it was called an Angus beef burger - and (I assume) the original Hungarian, where it was called a bélszín (beef loin/tenderloin) burger. Meanwhile, though it was billed in both languages as being topped with brie cheese and shitake mushrooms, my very friendly server instead said it had "five cheeses" on it, but without being able to quickly list all five. Or maybe unwilling to list all five, because when I asked her about the spicing of the burger meat itself, she said it was a "big secret."

While I can't tell you what that spice mix is, I will say it's pretty tasty, as is whatever type of meat they are using to make the patty. Bun-wise, it was also above par, though my bottom bun was a bit too dry and crumbly, no bun-pun intended. The fries, too, were fine, as was the very welcome little green salad. My biggest complaint would be that, as usual in Budapest, my burger wasn't cooked as I ordered it (medium-rare), and that there's no great need to have "big secrets" about what you are stuffing in your buns.

Finally, note that in real life the thing is much bigger than it looks in the bottom pic, and I would argue that, at Ft 2,550 (€11) this burger is actually quite fairly priced when compared to other local "luxury" burgers, or considering that it's probably the only pan-Asian burger in town.

How They Stack Up:

Meat: (8/10)
Bun: (8/10)
Trimmings: (9/10)
Service/Setting: (9/10)
Affordability: (5/10)
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Total Score: 7.8/10