During my studies, I spent a considerable time plundering the second hand bookshops of Múzeum körút- few things filled my student's heart with more joy than deciding it was (yet again) time to skip morphology and go treasure hunting. A very particular category of these treasures was a series of thin pocket books called Our Budapest, published by the Budapest mayor's office in the early 90's, cataloging places of special interest- bridges, cinemas, caves, the Danube promenade, the Castle district or coffee houses.
The two small volumes on cinemas and coffee houses are a particularly fascinating read today, as almost all the places mentioned are either long forgotten or changed beyond recognition. Of the coffee houses mentioned and pictured, only three would be instantly recognizable from their faded black and white pictures of more than two decades ago: Ibolya on Ferenciek tere, Rózsadomb on Margit körút and Bambi on Frankel Leo út.
It's however Bambi which must take the palm, as even the interior is basically unchanged and perfectly matches the description in the book: 'Few interiors dating back to the sixties have remained so untouched: a fairy tale ceramic city on the wall, ceramic turrets, only the story teller with the deep-throated, caressing voice is missing. Instead there is the click-clack of dominoes and an old lady from the last century, pondering the changes time has wrought. Red leatherette seats, mosaic flooring, geometric box shelves-everything in a complete unity of style.'
The domino players were there, so were several neighbourhood ladies out for a drink and locals dashing in for a quick espresso and a chat with the waitresses. Unavoidably though, tourists have also discovered Bambi- while not necessarily located on the main sight seeing artery, it is still close enough to the Danube and the castle to attract the occasional accidental visitor. Luckily Bambi seems to have a soothing influence on all those who seek it out, and the newbies blended in well into the sleepy summer afternoon's atmosphere of friendly chatting and beers and coffees being plentifully dispensed by the friendly staff.
While Bambi proved to be the perfect afternoon pit stop, earlier in the day we had started with an altogether different place. Mókusch cafe and deli opened only about a month ago on Moszkva tér, and represents the slick, hipster aesthetic of new wave coffee houses and breakfast spots.
They'd already won me over with their attention to detail, from the street sign to the coasters and mugs (also, I am very fond of squirrels), but my principle of good fonts mean good food worked yet again: the french toast with cheese and sour cream was perfect for a Saturday morning, and I didn't even complain about the coffee being dark roast. The blog's (recently not so) lazy co-photographer can also vouch for the desserts. Furthemore, they have pretzels. As I have recently been re-exiled into a pretzel free morning by their unavailability in my usual breakfast spot, I very well might ride trams 4-6 all the way to Moszkva in pursuit of happiness.
They'd already won me over with their attention to detail, from the street sign to the coasters and mugs (also, I am very fond of squirrels), but my principle of good fonts mean good food worked yet again: the french toast with cheese and sour cream was perfect for a Saturday morning, and I didn't even complain about the coffee being dark roast. The blog's (recently not so) lazy co-photographer can also vouch for the desserts. Furthemore, they have pretzels. As I have recently been re-exiled into a pretzel free morning by their unavailability in my usual breakfast spot, I very well might ride trams 4-6 all the way to Moszkva in pursuit of happiness.
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