I know I sound like a broken record, but it never ceases to amaze me what “trend slaves” Budapest restaurateurs are. Given the choice between simple good eats and some highfalutin’ new concept, décor or foreign cuisine, most seem to immediately take the latter. One result is the bizarre and horrific fact that there are very few recommendable “white tablecloth” restaurants in this city serving traditional Hungarian fare after dark. Conveniently, the trend slaves usually go out of their way to advertise their slavishness, meaning you can spot them from a kilometer away. More unusual are those places that seem to be following a much-hyped new trend, but go out of their way to hide it – or don’t even know they are following it.
The trend I am alluding to is what in the UK is known as the “gastropub,” which as the name implies is a pub that serves fancy food. Interestingly, the term bubbled up in London around the same time Hungary was emerging from Communism (1991, to be exact). It is now a common fixture in those bits of old Blighty where the people are rich and fancy enough to only say things like “old Blighty” in deeply ironic terms, preferably over a pint of fancy beer (but probably wine) and plates of upmarket eats that would drive most traditional British publicans to drink. At its best, a gastropub can offer perfectly-cooked baby lamb chops and wilted spinach in the glorious confines of a historic British ale house; at its worst, a characterless watering hole with chicken wings at frog legs prices.
Like I said, I doubt that the proprietors of the Dunaparti Matróz Kocsma are consciously trying to follow the British gastropub model. From what I can tell, the kocsma – which by the way, does mean “pub” – is part of a chain focusing on Belgian-style beer and food, including the nearby Henri Belga Söröző and Pater Marcus Belga Apátsági Söröző és Étterem, as well as the neighboring Horgásztanya Vendéglő. Meanwhile, the look and name of the place – which translates roughly as “Danube Shore Sailors’ Pub” – clearly suggests a nautical theme, and the menu features food from the countries through which the Danube flows, from Germany all the way to Romania. The “about us” page on the restaurant’s spiffy website says the aim of the owners was to create a place where people could have something to eat or “where friends can meet and can chat with the girl behind the bar.” It also notes that the pub specializes in rum-based cocktails, and is the only place in Hungary where you can get the “Delirium Tremens” brand of Belgian beer, which offers a shocking alcohol content of 9.5% (“recommended for sturdy sailors”). Finally, the menu takes the form of a cute little newspaper (above), and the guys in the kitchen wear blue-and-white striped tops, just like real sailors.
As for the food, all I can remember was how stunningly slick it was for a place mostly filled with people downing beers and shots. Having forgotten to take notes, or a proper camera able to shoot through the gloom, I can only offer a little taste of what I and my three other “shipmates” ate. Up top is a bowl of beer-spiked fruit soup (note: all the serving dishes were square); just above a very fancy plate of some sort of Asian-tasting turkey dish, and finally an “Austrian”-style bécsiszelet (below; what made it “Wiener Schnitzel” was the potato salad sitting under the szelet). Aside from the turkey thing – which as I recall also included some chicken, and was pretty yummy – everything was at best so-so, including the service.
In addition to the outlandish presentation, the prices also struck me as genuinely gastropubby, with the bécsiszelet going for Ft 2,990 (€11.80). Note that, at the equivalent of £9.45, this is probably what your average middle-manager in London would pay for a simple cutlet on a square plate in his expensively renovated local.
The reason I’m getting all upset is that, as with the UK gastropub phenomenon, clearly these guys are onto something. A nice, heaving little kocsma that served imaginative or at least high-quality food would be a fantastic addition to Budapest’s dining scene. But some square plates containing unnecessarily ornamentation and expensive food isn’t the answer. (Though it does explain why most of the people in the joint other than us were downing beers and shots rather than eating.)
So hats off to the captain and crew for intrepidly sailing off into the unknown, but they should tack closer to home port if they want to keep the passengers from jumping ship.
To my recollection, many of the reviews of restaurants do not mention the quality of the service. Why is this? As we all know, this is likely the most glaring weakness of many restaurants regardless of their expense. There needs to be more publicity for places that have consistently great service.
Whoops. I just re-read the above article and saw it buried. (“everything was at best so-so, including the service.”)
Nevertheless, please focus on the service as well and say what exactly the wait staff is doing wrong so that managers can be constructive about the criticism.
Vladimir: Good point. But there is a reason why at least I don’t write so much about service when doing restaurant reviews (others who write for the site may have their own rules/reasons). Anyway, my feeling is that in general the dining experience offered by many/most restaurants in Hungary is very inconsistent, meaning that one meal is often quite different from the next, even if you order the same dishes, etc. And the most inconsistent thing is the service. So basically, unless the service experience is fantastic or atrocious, I never tend to draw much of a conclusion. Meanwhile, unless one is going to actually “out” the bad/good server by name, it’s pretty hard to expect the proprietor to punish/reward said “waitron” for what they’ve done wrong/right (to the extent they would ever see/care about the review). But in general, yeah, I think you are right, and the next time I do a review I will pay a little closer attention to the service. Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and it’s a pleasure to serve you!
I don’t know whether you sound like a broken record, but as a Hungarian, your first paragraph reflects perfectly my opinion on not just the restaurants, but pubs generally in Budapest. When I go abroad I seek out places that don’t try to be pretentious but offer the everyday experience of the national cuisine and drinking enjoyed by locals. Is there any normal Hungarian restaurant in Budapest thats not catering primarily for tourists? Or are we Hungarians just not mature enough so that we don’t either seek fancy&fake overpriced places or the most undemanding bottom-budget stinkholes?
In March 2008 I visited Budapest from England. I ate in 7 different restaurants and visited about 12 bars.
The food in The Sailor was excellent (I ate there 3 times!) the prices were fine and reflected the quality of the food. The beer was fantastic and the service was unrivaled in the whole of the city. It’s quite simply the friendliest place in the city with an atmosphere that makes you want to stay all night. I highly recommend a visit.
I was in the Kocsma last week and it actually saved our trip. The food was awesome. Reading the review it amazes me that people that are travelling to Hungary (Budapest) are ordering a Wiener Schnitzel. And on top they the impertinence to write a review about it…
just try the Halaszle soup… you’ll feel like in paradise..
Dear Sándor,
The answer to the question you ask at the end of your post is conditional on economics and and the level of economic development. Eating out is a luxury in a nation where the wages are so low compared to other developed nations.
I’ll never forget when we took my grandmother out to a restaurant. She was 74 years old at the time, and it was her first time ever in a restaurant! This was actually typical of her generation, especially the country folk. That legacy of poverty still lingers, and finer restaurants are out for many Hungarians.
Dear FL:
For me it is a good sign that in the last three years we’ve seen more and more Hungarian guests in our favourite restaurants in and (mainly) around Héviz – although they are maybe inexpensive by German standards but really expensive for Hungarians.
Out of main season nowadays often the majority of guests is Hungarian, sometimes families with three generations enjoying their meals.
Of course most of them couldn’t affford going to a restaurant twice a week.
It’s similar maybe to the situation forty years ago in Western Europe, when going to a restaurant was really something special …
This also tells me that we are not the only ones who appreciate the efforts of the staff and the quality of the food.
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