24 of the Trendiest Restaurants In Budapest in 2024

Head to Mazel Tov if you like the ruin bar concept in theory but prefer things more upscale. This Middle Eastern restaurant inside Budapest's buzzing Jewish Quarter does have a disintegrating facade like other ruin bars, but the inside is a different story: Cheap drinks have been upgraded to cocktails, ham & cheese sandwiches to mezze plates, self-service to hostesses, and weathered furnishings to modern fittings with lush greenery.

The dishes arrive without delay to ensure that tables turn over quickly in this popular restaurant. The shawarma plate and the merguez, a North African sausage made from beef here and paired with beets, tahini, and matbucha, are reliable. You can safely skip the undersized and underseasoned beef kebab. Cocktails and plenty of Hungarian wines are available. Reservations are a must as the place gets mobbed by people every day of the week.

Fogasház, a more traditional ruin bar – these days more like a club – is next door if you'd like to compare and contrast.

Kiosk is a hip restaurant in the heart of Budapest, favored by trendy locals and tourists in the know. The restaurant has at least two things going for it: a stunning view of the Danube and the Elisabeth Bridge from its outdoor patio, and a dramatically high-ceilinged, industrial-chic interior. (The historical building houses a Roman Catholic high school upstairs, in fact, there's a chapel right above Kiosk.)

Kiosk aims to please all tastes with a diverse menu that includes everything from salads to burgers, from pastas to steaks to Hungarian classics. Despite the wide reach, the dishes are tasty and reliable, with mains in the €12-16 range. The goulash soup is especially good, as is the updated mákosguba, a traditional bread pudding soaked in vanilla custard and laced with poppy seeds. In the warmer months, follow the throngs to the outdoor terrace, where the action shifts to. Advance booking is a must.

Fleischer is a buzzy restaurant along the tree-lined section of Nagymező utca in Budapest's District 6. Kudos to the owners for having retained the name of the bespoke shirtmaker’s workshop that had long occupied the premises (the same team runs the comparably lively Két Szerecsen across the street). The inside, decked out in subway tiles and crammed with tables, projects fashionable bistro vibes.

The menu consists of foreign and local classics: bouillabaisse, eggplant salad, catfish paprikash, marinated pork belly, and nudli, which are gnocchi-like dumplings served with fruit preserves and sweet poppy seeds. The dishes are tasty, I just wish the portions were a little heartier. The wine list features some of my favorite producers, such as Figula (for olaszrizling), Heimann (for kékfrankos and kadarka), and Oremus (for Tokaji). Bookings accepted only by telephone (+36 30 080 9333).

After your meal, you could drop in to Zsivágó, one of the coziest bars in Budapest.

Enso is a hip Asian-inflected fusion restaurant a bit outside of downtown, in the working class part of Budapest’s District 8. Part of Enso's coolness stems from its premises: you enter the rundown pre-war building on Baross utca, then schlep through the nondescript courtyard to arrive at the dim, exposed brick dining room. There, chic servers scurry under the high ceilings decorated with hanging paper lanterns.

The food is a mishmash of global favorites: from duck ramen to chicken taco, from oysters to marinated trout, from Brazilian cheese bread to Wagyu beef. Most plates are meant for sharing. Although on the small side, they're very tasty, especially those kissed by the charcoal fire, such as the grilled broccoli. Vietnamese coffee, cocktails, Japanese beers, sakes, whiskeys, and Hungarian wines are all available.

Prices are on the higher end – a few small plates with a drink can quickly add up to €40-50 per person. A word to the wise: Plan on an early dinner here, as Enso closes at 10 p.m. Open Tuesday to Friday.

Opium is part of a successful Budapest restaurant group in charge of several pan-Asian establishments, such as Sáo, Khan, and Quí (right next door). The owners, originally from Vietnam and some with a background in fashion, have proven themselves brilliant at creating spaces that might be described with adjectives such as: cool, trendy, fashionable, buzzy, and fun. The interiors are always imbued with good taste, enveloped in greenery and warm wood and filled with catchy electronic music.

What Opium and its sisters aren’t known for is the inventiveness of their kitchens. Instead, the menu is a veritable collage of basic pan-Asian dishes: from Chinese dumplings to Japanese tempura to Vietnamese soups to Thai curries to wok noodles. They're consistently average and a bit overpriced at €15-20. Try veering toward the Vietnamese selections (most of the kitchen staff is Vietnamese) – pho soups and the bun cha, for example. All this to say that Opium can make for a happy time if an atmosphere-forward dinner is what you’re mainly after.

Located inside the tourist-heavy Gozsdu Udvar, Spíler is one of the most popular restaurants within Budapest's buzzing Jewish Quarter. The massive space features three Instagrammable dining rooms that operate at capacity most evenings (also at full noise level). The menu comprises reliably made international bistro and diner fare – nachos, wings, salads, burgers — alongside traditional Hungarian classics (goulash soup, paprika sausages). Local wines and craft beers are available to pair. Mains are €15-20.

101 Bistro is a recent addition to Budapest’s growing group of hip pan-Asian restaurants. It’s the type of place where ear-catching Japanese hip-hop drifts from the speakers and a sleek wood-paneled interior with small tables and low backless stools evoke the dining rooms of Tokyo.

Chef Márton Keve, who cut his teeth abroad, is in charge of the kitchen, which draws inspiration from the food of Taiwan. Think braised pork rice (lu rou fan), packing tender cubes of pork belly sitting on a bed of firm rice grains brightened with sugary soy sauce and thin slices of ginger. The concept is small plates, many of them vegan, such as the excellent fried sweet-sour eggplants. 101 Bistro isn't cheap: a dinner with drinks will set you back €40-45 per person or so. After your meal, you could head next door to Nemdebár, one of the coolest bars on the Buda side.

Bestia is a fashionable restaurant located right by Saint Stephen's Basilica, one of Budapest's most visited attractions. With prime views onto the Renaissance Revival church and crowd-pleasing hits blasting through the speakers, Bestia has quickly become a tourist-favorite. The lively restaurant specializes in pricey Josper-grilled steaks and barbecued pork in addition to the usual suspects of city-center restaurants (burgers, goulash, mac & cheese). A full-service bar serves craft beers, bespoke cocktails, and Hungarian wines.

Babka is a Middle-Eastern restaurant in Budapest named after the Ashkenazi Jewish bready cake that originated in Eastern Europe. Perhaps the restaurant's moniker is a hat-tip to the neighborhood, which is home to much of Budapest’s middle-class Jewish residents. The snug, dim interior complete with vintage furnishings and hardwood floors is very inviting.

The Israeli and Middle Eastern dishes are pricey and a bit hit-or-miss. On a recent visit, the lamb kofta (€18) arrived with a distractingly sour side of parsley salad, and the namesake Babka dessert was a far cry from the moister, richer, and softer versions that catapulted this baked good into cult status around the world. All this at prices that are high by Budapest standards: €15-20 mains.