Belvarosi Lugas Etterem. Described by a local expert on the Rick Steve’s forum as “GOOD BASIC HUNGARIAN FOOD IN A NICE LOCATION.” I’m not knowledgable enough to know what constitutes “Hungarian food,” but thought this was pleasing, quite affordable, and indeed a nice location. Dark, cozy, and intimate on the inside, and a nice place to retreat from the warm sun.
My romaine lettuce was… bizarre. To be fair, the menu mention mayo… But I was not expecting the salad to basically be dressed like a potato salad (which I guess sort of makes sense, given the relatively proximity to Germany and Austria??? And I think there was actually potato in the salad). Chicken was nicely seasoned but the flesh itself was nothing to write home about.
Not pictured: the fish soup special of the day. Not sure how interesting a picture of a red-colored broth would be. DELICIOUS. Again, that same subtle, sophisticated seasoning. Deep umami. Some nice chunks of fish. Partner said that pike perch seemed common in restaurants, so that’s what he assumed this was. I have no idea what pike perch tastes like, but the flesh of this fish was every so slightly sweet. Really homey and comforting.
Partner ordered the “egg dumpling,” which was essentially spaetzle w/ some scrambled egg. Again, really weird, but tasty (but too heavy for a lunch meal, IMHO). Cucumber salad tasted a lot like a japanese picked cucumber salad w/ less pickling juice.
Borkonyha.
Many thanks to @catholiver for the rec. Located down a charming side street w/ many eateries. Interior is really quite lovely.
The menu is a bit odd b/c they list some of the ingredients and that’s it. The tasting menu included a ton of pigeon (incl a pigeon ragu). We went a la carte.
Bread: I often think squid ink is a bit of a gimmick, but here it added some nice salinity to the bread. The smoked butter was SO DELICIOUS. I could eat that stuff all day long. The red topping was some sort of eggplant and maybe some pepper? Very tasty.
Partner’s salad was nothing particularly special (some of the greens were kind of “stringy” – I think by design).
Foie gras was FANTASTIC. Partner thought it was too fatty, but I thought it was just perfect. 
One of the best bites I’ve had. Side of pickled pepper and onions were a nice way to cut the fat.
After the foie gras, most everything else we had there was merely very good. It’s not a knock on the restaurant; the foie gras was really that good.
Amuse bouche of kohlrabi and… ? Can’t remember. There was a lot of kohlrabi floating around the entrees that night (is it a common veg in Central Europe)? Tasty enough.
Partner had the red perch. The terragon dressing was DIVINE. I had the lamb, which was a piece of saddle and… something else (I couldn’t quite understand what the server said). I don’t know if I’ve had lamb saddle b/f. It was a bit dense to cut, but tender enough when biting. Flavor was quite muted. The other piece had a gamier flavor, which I enjoyed. There was pistachio in the various places dish, I think including the green squirts on the right side. Unknown lamb part + acidic pistachio cream (which tasted more like pesto to me) was really, really good.
Beans were soy and something else, plus rhubarb and more kohlrabi. I think I might’ve enjoyed the beans + veg more than the saddle (which was a bit too subtle for me).
Dessert was trying a bit too hard to me. A stiff-sh chocolate mousse w/ tapioca pearls and a matcha cream. Can’t recall what flavor the ice cream was. The chocolate had a curious tang to it that I think I’ve also tasted in a chocolate bar at the Turkish grocery store near us in LA (Agora). Flavors didn’t quite meld for me.
Some free petit fours to end the evening. One was a half macaron w/ fruit; the other was… chocolate and hazelnut? (but a “dry” preparation). I very much liked the chocolate and hazelbut.
Partner had 2 Hungarian wines (both white). I cannot recall the vineyard, although I’ll try to get partner’s pics of that. For me, the first one was more pleasant (crisp and light and quite fruity).
An excellent meal overall and well worth visiting. Our food (incl 1 glass of champagne, 2 glass wine, 1 glass of carbonated grape juice, all of the food pictured above, and 15% service fee) was $198. That seemed like a very good deal to me, given the service (which was wonderful).
Having said all that, I would’ve have minded if the food was a little less clever. But I wonder if chefs feel like they need to do that get Michelin stars.
