Come to papa

Frici Papa Kifőzdéje
7th district
Király u. 55.
Tel : 351 0197

Open daily: 11:00-21:00
Closed on Sundays

For those who remember the old Király street - a gritty amalgam of pawn shops, places to get shirts made or shoes fixed, and the odd Hungarian restaurant or kocsma - today it's virtually unrecognizable. The property development wolves have descended upon this funky little street, are tearing down historic buildings, throwing up new ones in their place and basically glitzing up/sterilizing the 'hood.

But if you're looking for a taste of the old Király utca - a place where mere mortals are still allowed - one still exists.
Frici Papa's "kifőzde" (an old school type of inexpensive Hungarian restaurant) offers a daily menu to diners looking for a quick bite. A menu board near the entrance lists the specials of the day.

The joint was packed the Saturday afternoon I stumbled in, but I found one empty table in the mezzanine and was soon joined by two teenage girls, who reluctantly admitted they frequented the place.

My goal was to ward off the weather's wet chill and fill my tummy. I ordered a hearty bean soup, loaded with chunks of ham. The waiter brought it out almost immediately with a big basket full of fresh bread.

The bean soup was comforting, but my company was not; the snotty teenagers bolted for a free table almost immediately, even though I was not paying any attention to their conversation and made quick work of my "bableves".

Still it was no coincidence the place was jammed with Magyars - here you'll find decent, cheap eats.

My check totaled a whopping HUF 638.