Budapest is a great city if you want to discover Hungarian food without sitting in a restaurant for hours. Some of the most typical dishes can be eaten directly from a small stand, a market or a simple counter. They are usually filling, easy to eat and a good way to try the local cuisine while exploring the city.
From lángos to Hungarian sausages and kürtőskalács, these are some places worth trying.
Lángos – the Hungarian street food you have to try
Probably the most famous Hungarian street food is lángos. It is a round piece of fried dough, crispy outside but soft inside. The classic version is covered with garlic, sour cream and grated cheese.
One of the easiest places to try it is Retro Lángos Budapest. It has become one of the best-known lángos places in the city and offers both traditional and more unusual versions.
A simple lángos currently costs around 2,490 HUF, while the classic sour-cream-and-cheese version is around 3,490 HUF. There are also versions with Hungarian sausage, bacon, sheep cheese and other toppings.
One useful thing to know at the moment: the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út restaurant is temporarily closed for renovation, so the place to go is the Vécsey utca 3 location, close to Parliament.
What to try: the classic sajtos-tejfölös lángos with cheese, sour cream and garlic.
Hungarian sausages at Belvárosi Disznótoros
For something more local and much more meaty, Belvárosi Disznótoros – Király utca is an interesting stop.
The idea is somewhere between a traditional Hungarian butcher and a fast-food restaurant. You choose your meat at the counter and then add sides, salads or pickles. Their selection includes grilled sausages, liver sausage, blood sausage, roast pork and different marinated meats.
It is not elegant or complicated, and that is part of the experience. It is a good place to discover the heavier side of Hungarian food without booking a traditional restaurant.
What to try: Hungarian sausage with mustard, bread and pickles.
Bors Gastro Bar – a different type of street food
Not everything has to be completely traditional. Bors Gastro Bar, in Kazinczy Street, is one of Budapest’s best-known small street-food spots.
The place is especially famous for its soups and toasted baguettes. The menu changes regularly and the combinations can be quite creative. You can sometimes find Hungarian-inspired flavours mixed with much more modern ideas.
Expect roughly 2,000 HUF for a soup and around 2,800–3,000 HUF for a baguette.
It is also just a few steps from Szimpla Kert, so it works very well as a quick lunch while visiting the Jewish Quarter.
Street Food Karavan – perfect with friends
Almost next door is Street Food Karavan Budapest.
Karavan is an open-air street-food courtyard with several small kitchens in the same place. This makes it particularly useful when you are travelling with friends because everyone can choose something different.
It is not the place I would choose only to search for the most traditional Hungarian food, but the atmosphere is very Budapest: simple tables, music, people having drinks and food before going into the ruin-bar area.
You can find Hungarian-inspired dishes together with burgers, sandwiches and international street food, so it is a good compromise for a group.
Kürtőskalács – something sweet to finish
After all that savoury food, it is time for kürtőskalács, usually called chimney cake in English.
The dough is wrapped around a cylinder and baked while rotating, creating a caramelised outside and a soft inside. The traditional versions are covered with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, walnuts or coconut.
A good place to try it is Édes Mackó, beside Budapest Zoo and Városliget. It specialises in kürtőskalács and is run by Vitéz Kürtős. The shop is at Állatkerti körút 14–16, making it an easy stop when visiting Heroes’ Square or City Park.
Traditional versions are around 3,000 HUF, although there are now many more elaborate versions with chocolate, pistachio and different fillings.
What to try: cinnamon or walnut. They are simple, but probably the best way to understand what a real kürtőskalács tastes like.
Street food is part of discovering Budapest
Hungarian food can sometimes look quite heavy, but street food is probably the easiest way to start discovering it. You do not need to spend a lot of time in a restaurant, and many of these places can easily become part of a normal day walking around Budapest.
If you only have time for three things, try a classic lángos, a Hungarian sausage with pickles, and finish with a warm kürtőskalács.
They are simple foods, but they are also some of the flavours you will probably remember when you think about Budapest.
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