Budapest Cafés
Refinement is the word at Café Gerbeaud. This is the café where indulging one's sweet tooth is elevated to an art form - you'll find the finest range of pastries in the city right here. Desserts have always figured prominently in the history of the café, one of the first owners was a Swiss confectioner. In fact, Emile Gerbeaud invented the Hungarian specialty known as konyakos meggy, dark chocolate with a cognac-soaked sour cherry in the center. Gerbeaud is big and always busy, so try to secure a table in the quieter vaulted section to the right of the long, central pastry counter.
Another must on the café trail is the elegant Café Mûvész whose location opposite the Opera House lends it a certain charged atmosphere. Pick a spot inside, where marble table tops and crystal chandeliers exude an Old World grandeur, or take a seat on the terrace for prime people-watching.Budapest's oldest café is the Ruszwurm in the Castle Hill district of Buda. This Biedermayer gem sports the same cherrywood paneling and quality service as it did when it first opened in 1824. And you can indulge in the same high-quality treats. The Ruszwurm's confectionery is so fabulous that couriers were once sent from Vienna to fetch it. Whatever you try - and we heartily recommend the Linzer torte or the ice cream - you can be assured that it's home-made.
The legendary Hauer Café, once a true competitor of Café Gerbeaud, has recently been reopened at Rákóczi Street. The beautifully restored rooms are in their old pomp again. The courtyard of the café has also been turned into an atrium.You can still enjoy a steaming hot Viener coffee accompanied by a Hauer cake, or a plate of Somlói Galuska.
Central Café was originally popular with writers for purely practical reasons: it offered a warm refuge from the cold rented rooms they could scarcely afford - and paper and ink were gratis. However, today you're likelier to rub shoulders with fellow tourists rather than struggling scribes. The Café - next to Ferenciek tere - serves as a restaurant as well, so you can take an early breakfast, an afternoon tea or coffee or a late evening supper in a refined milieu.
Other stops on the Budapest café trail: Café Angelika with neo-Baroque furnishings, marble floors, and stained-glass windows, Café Pierrot, on the site of a medieval bakery, and the nicely refurbished Lukács, former coffee house of the Communist police.No matter which café you settle into, remember that taking your time is what it's all about.
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