A city trip to the Hungarian capital Budapest is highly recommended. Budapest is not only a very beautiful city, you can also eat very tasty and cheap. You will find cozy breakfast shops, cozy lunch places and attractive restaurants with dishes from all over the world, and all for a very affordable price! We are happy to share our tips for cheap and tasty foods and restaurants in Budapest with you.
Kurtoskalacs
As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to start a morning in Budapest than with Kürtoskalács. This traditional delicacy is still made by hand every morning. Strips of dough are rolled over a wooden handle and then smoked in a kind of oven over the fire. The still warm sandwiches are then dipped in a topping of your choice. You can choose from cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, coconut or almond. Whatever you choose, they are all delicious! The headquarters of Kürtoskalács can be found at the beginning of the popular shopping street Vaci Utca. In this small restaurant you can have a nice breakfast, but you can also take the Kürtoskalácz with you and eat it on the way. In addition to this location, you will also find a number of street stalls in various places in the city where this delicious delicacy is sold. You really can’t leave Budapest without tasting the famous Kürtoskalács.
Vaci Utca 31, 1052 Budapest
2 spaghetti
At 2 Spaghi you will without a doubt find the best pasta in all of Budapest. This restaurant is located in atmospheric Gozsdu-udvar, a semi-covered passage full of restaurants and terraces. Especially in the evening it is very busy and cozy here. 2 spaghetti was founded by an Italian who is originally from Naples. He is the owner and chef of this cute little pasta place. The pasta is still freshly made here every day. The menu is therefore different every day, but there is a choice of at least four different types of pasta and three different sauces. If the lasagna were on the menu, I would definitely go for it, but actually every dish was delicious. In addition to pasta, Spaghi also has a number of delicious Italian desserts, such as tiramisu or mascarpone with strawberries. We spent less than 5 euros per person for this delicious meal.
Gozsdu-udvar, Kiraly Utca 13, 1075 Budapest
Elysee Bistro
Elysée Bistro is a place we stumbled upon by accident. It was Sunday morning and we were to fly home that afternoon. We got up early to enjoy the city as much as possible, but all the breakfast places were still closed. We decided to walk to the parliament and right next to the parliament we found a small bistro that was already open. Of course I was quite skeptical, because how can a restaurant so close to the main attraction of the city be good. How wrong could I be. It turned out to be a super cute bistro with delicious food that was also very affordable. And then you also get a great view for free. In the summer you can also sit outside on the terrace, so that you have an even better view of the immense parliament building.
Kossuth ter 13-15, 1055 Budapest
La Pampa
Steakhouse La Pampa falls into the category ‘you can make it as expensive as you want’. It looks very chic and you can also order the famous Japanese Kobe steak here, which costs no less than 100 (!) euros per 200 grams. However, many of the main courses at La Pampa cost less than 10 euros, so you can also go here for an affordable meal. We have been to this lovely steakhouse twice now. My boyfriend, a real meat lover, was so impressed the first time that he was eager to go back on our second visit to Budapest. Even if, like me, you are not a big fan of meat, you can still enjoy delicious food here. In particular, the different types of empanadas were my favorite, but according to the men I should especially recommend the steak mix and the Argentinian angus tenderloin steak. And make sure you leave some room for the delicious desserts.
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Utca 21, 1065 Budapest
Besides all that delicious food, you also want to see as much of this beautiful city as possible. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be expensive either. Check out our top 10 free sight-seeing places in Budapest here.
