Despite all the misery facing the entire restaurant sector, we haven’t gotten wind of many restaurants being put on the block by their owners. But one such prospective sale that we have heard of is worth a mention. According to property marketing site realestateworld.hu, you can buy one full-service Hungarian Restaurant for the seemingly bargain-basement price of €83,000, or just under Ft 25 million. But you’ll probably need to factor in the cost of a plane ticket just to check it out, because the place is actually in Thailand.
Phuket is Thailand’s largest island and the most popular tourist centre. Patong Beach is Phuket’s most visited beach. The restaurant is situated in one of the busiest roads of Patong, just 3 minutes walking distance from the beach. The Hungarian Garden is Phuket’s only Hungarian restaurant.
Have to love that last sentence, as it implies the demand for Hungarian food in Phuket is big enough there could conceivably be more than one Hungarian restaurant in Phuket. (This one is actually Hungarian-Thai.) Needless to say, if anyone has been to this place please oh please tell us how it was.
Unbelievable coincidence: Four of my son’s friends (all 19-20 yo) were there in early January(09) and mentioned something to my son.Amongst other things they did say was that both my wife’s and my own Hungarian cooking is a lot better than what they experienced.Keep in mind their ages.Without doubt it’s “LOCATION! LOCATION”!No doubt there would be a better customer base in Bangkok. I sincerely have doubts about a profitable customer base.Only very curious tourists would go and probably no locals.If I were to buy it I’d really need to see it sevral times during a year.If the owner is a Hungarian I have doubts that he started it simply because he just loves the place.Despite the Patong Beach location in Phuket the price seems too high for a mere 147m2(??) as in Melbourne take-away/take out places are about that size.One would also need a self-contained onsite place to live.Should any Hungarian really have the “guts”to venture into Asia I suggest China!They even know about Petöfi there and have a huge appetite/curiosity for foreign Cuisines, but the ULTIMATE place would be Japan if you have close to a Mill. Euros to invest.Good luck to the owners of “The Hungarian Garden”Restaurant.I now will definitely make a slight detour to check it out for myself on my next visit to the area(within-2-3 months).
Ps.Should anyone even consider opening a new Resto in Phuket or for that matter anywhere in Thailand-ONLY employ Caucasions for front of house and visible (to the patrons) staff.Credibility (or part thereof)!
It is only another crappy restaurant in another “sex town”, that’s all.
They should ask for the twinning with Budapest.
this may not be as strange as you guys seem to think. there had been a number of tv and written reports on white collar hungarian criminals taking up residences in thailand. last week a musician commented that he lives there 6 months of the year and assured the hungarian public that it was not the luxury one would imagine. so who knows. there may be high flying godfathers hankering after mother’s cooking. just ask godot