We lived in Budapest for a while, and we sure enjoyed the local cuisine. It’s just different, and hard to describe. We frequently visited restaurants like Tüköry Étterem, where we enjoyed classic Hungarian dishes with reasonable prices and friendly services.
But every now and then, we splurged at some of the best fine dining restaurants in Budapest. If you ever visit this city, you owe it to yourself to try one of these places for a fantastically good time.
Tigris
You’ll find the Tigris restaurant in an old building that was built way back in the 1830s. But while it features classic Hungarian dishes and flavors, the atmosphere is modern and elegant.
The various dishes are certainly terrific, but the folks at Tigris are especially proud of their foie gras selection, as they’re exclusively sourced from a premium-quality Hungarian producer.
They also offer close to 10,000 different bottles of wine, including limited edition bottles from the famous Hungarian Gere and Szepsy wineries.
Textúra
This restaurant may feature fine dining, but the overall vibe is quite informal and even playful. It shows in the meals as well, with plenty of experimentation going on despite how the place is mainly about using traditional cooking methods like slow-cooking, smoke-curing, and poaching.
Come here, and you should really try the wild boar neck with cabbage, the masterpiece of executive chef Ákos Sárközi. Tamás Horváth and Zoltán Kalocsai, the owners of Textúra, are both rightly proud of the place, which is quite reminiscent of their previous Michelin-starred Borkonyha restaurant.
Nobu
Just because you’re in Hungary doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to traditional Hungarian cuisine. That just won’t do, especially if you’re staying for a long while in Budapest. That’s why there’s Nobu, which introduces an entirely new range of flavors to old-timers.
The restaurant is sure different, because they offer unique dishes inspired by South American flavors. What’s more, they create these dishes using variants of traditional Japanese cooking methods! You’ll understand how good the results can be once you try the yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño and the Alaskan black cod with miso!
Laurel
This is almost a brand-new restaurant, since it opened only in 2019. The atmosphere is decidedly more casual than you’d expect in a fine-dining restaurant, but it’s very relaxing.
For your first visit, you need to try the famous 8-course Chef’s Menu, which comes with the famous catfish stew along with the rooster broth.
If you’re a vegetarian, you’re also welcome here. The seasonal vegetarian menu changes after every 3 months. There’s also a vegan section that’s entirely plant-based.
Stand
This restaurant took the Budapest fine-dining landscape by storm, as it earned its Michelin star only 9 months after its initial opening. It remains one of the most popular fine dining restaurants in the city, as they offer more modern versions of classic Hungarian dishes such as goulash soup. Each dish is precisely made, and you’ll certainly notice how the chef paid attention to every detail.
Once you’re there, you have also got to try the somlói galuska for dessert. This is a traditional sponge cake that they serve with crème pâtissière and chocolate sauce. A single taste of this and you’ll consider the whole experience a success.
Baraka
This has been operating since 2001, and in the 20 years since, it remains one of the best fine-dining restaurants in Budapest. You’ll find it in the elegant fifth district, right within the historical Dorottya Palace.
Part of the reason why it’s so popular is because of their excellent plant-based menu, which is beloved by vegetarians and vegans in the city. But you don’t have to feel out of place if you’re a regular meat eater. Just try their signature fusion dish: pigeon with cabbage, quince, and buckwheat.
MÁK Bistro
Enter here, and you’ll certainly find the vibe simple, unpretentious, and quite relaxing. But you’re in for a literal treat, with what chef János Mizsei has to offer. This guy was regarded as the best young chef in Hungary back in 2014, and he’s even better now with more years of experience under his belt.
The place is famous for the unique combinations of ingredients and textures, even while they still mainly focus on featuring the best of Hungarian cuisine. But it’s not just Hungarian in nature, as the dishes somehow feature an interesting Scandinavian take as well.
You should start of the meal with the carrot, caviar and pine starter, before you go on with your favorite classic Hungarian dishes. Then finish off the meal with the poppyseed and sour cherry dessert, and you’re in heaven.
Babel
If you’re traveling to Hungary on the way to Dracula’s castle, then you have to make a stopover here. This restaurant is the center of modern Transylvanian cuisine in the entire country, and it’s good enough that it has even earned a Michelin star while doing so.
On your first visit, you just have to go with the 10-course tasting menu. That’s the proper introduction to dishes like the broth of Tokaj wine, celeriac and parsley, the beef tendon and radish, and the trout with lichen. If you’re a vegan, you can go with the 7-course vegan tasting menu as well.