12 Best Restaurants in Budapest, All Open in 2026

The best restaurants in Budapest in 2026 are Hungarikum Bisztró for traditional Hungarian cooking, Kádár Étkezde for a 1957 lunch counter, Stand for two Michelin stars and Bors GasztroBár for a good meal under a thousand forint or two. Every address below was checked against the restaurant’s own website or a dated 2026 listing before it went on the list, and three names that older Budapest guides still recommend were taken off because the kitchens behind them have shut.

Prices here are in Hungarian forint. Hungary uses the forint and has not adopted the euro, so a euro figure in a Budapest restaurant is a conversion rather than something you hand over.

The 12 best restaurants in Budapest

The 12 restaurants below are the ones worth booking, ordered from the everyday Hungarian classics to the international kitchens that give the city its range.

1. Hungarikum Bisztró

Hungarikum Bisztró is the traditional Hungarian restaurant most first-time visitors should book, and it sits at Steindl Imre utca 13 in District V, a five-minute walk from Parliament. The bistro cooks the canon rather than reinventing it: goulash soup with mini noodles at 4,300 Ft (about €12, $14, £10), crispy duck leg at 6,600 Ft (about €18, $21, £16) and beef stew with dumplings at 7,500 Ft (about €21, $24, £18). Starters run 3,500 Ft to 6,200 Ft (about €10 to €17, $11 to $20, £8 to £15) and main courses 5,700 Ft to 14,000 Ft (about €16 to €38, $18 to $45, £13 to £33). The kitchen serves 12:00 to 14:30 and 18:00 to 22:00 every day, and the restaurant takes online reservations only, which catches out walk-ins most evenings.

2. Kádár Étkezde

Kádár Étkezde is Budapest’s most famous lunch canteen and it reopened on 26 September 2025 after five years dark. The étkezde has stood at Klauzál tér 9 in the old Jewish Quarter since 1957, and Costes Group brought it back with the paper tablecloths, the sólet and the raspberry syrup topped with soda still in place. Bookings are for seats rather than tables, so you may share with strangers, which is how the room always worked. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 8:30 to 17:00, with breakfast served until 10:30 and lunch from 11:00.

3. Bors GasztroBár

Bors GasztroBár serves the cheapest good meal in central Budapest, a soup and a grilled baguette handed over a counter at Kazinczy utca 10. The menu changes daily and the soups are Hungarian ideas pushed somewhere odd, which is the point of eating here rather than at a canteen. There are only a few stools, the queue at 13:00 runs down the pavement, and vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options appear most days. Go at 11:30 or after 15:00 and you walk straight in.

4. Parisi 6

Parisi 6 cooks Hungarian comfort food at mid-range prices on Párizsi utca 6b, one street back from Váci utca in District V. Slow-cooked beef stew, goulash and lángos are the dishes people come back for, and the dining room is small enough that the same waiter looks after you all evening. Check the day before you walk over: Parisi 6 is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, opens at 17:00 on Mondays and Thursdays, and serves from noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

5. Aszú Étterem

Aszú Étterem pairs Hungarian cooking with the country’s Tokaj wines at Sas utca 4, next door to St Stephen’s Basilica. The wine list is entirely Hungarian and runs deep into Tokaj, with museum bottles such as 1912 and 1956 Oremus Aszú, and a 2013 Eszencia served the traditional way, with a spoon. Live music plays every evening, with Csicsó Német János and his band on a 148-year-old cimbalom. The dining room opens at 17:00 on Monday and Wednesday and at noon Thursday to Sunday, and it is closed on Tuesday. If Tokaj interests you more than the wine list can cover, trains to eastern Hungary reach the region from Keleti station.

6. Hoppá! Bistro

Hoppá! Bistro is the Michelin-listed bistro to book when you want the guide’s approval without a tasting menu, and it is at Október 6. utca 15 in District V. Michelin gives it a Plate rather than a star, which is the inspectors’ mark for good cooking and not the same thing as a starred restaurant, whatever older lists say. Chicken paprikash is the dish the kitchen is known for, the desserts run to túrógombóc and crème brûlée, and there is a 50-minute lunch menu for people on the clock. It is open every day, 11:30 to 23:00, which makes it one of the easier bookings in the centre.

7. Bistro DiViN

Bistro DiViN is the ham bar that opened in 2012 as DiVin Porcello and changed its name in spring 2026, at the same address on Apáczai Csere János utca 7. The counter still carries Spanish, Italian and Hungarian cured hams, including Mangalica from the curly-haired Hungarian pig, and the new kitchen sits somewhere between a tapas bar and a bistro with a menu that turns over monthly. It serves daily from 12:00 to 23:00. If you are working from an older guide that sends you to DiVin Porcello, the sign has changed but the address has not.

8. Dobrumba

Dobrumba cooks Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Caucasian dishes at Dob utca 5, in the middle of the Jewish Quarter’s bar district. Cold and hot mezze carry the menu, so a table of four can order ten small plates and share, and vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes are marked rather than improvised. It opens every day from 12:00 to 23:30, which makes it one of the few good kitchens still seating people after 22:00. Book ahead at weekends, because the room is smaller than its reputation suggests.

9. Mazel Tov

Mazel Tov puts a glass-roofed courtyard in a ruined tenement at Akácfa utca 47 and serves Israeli and eastern Mediterranean food under it. Shakshuka, falafel, hummus, matzo ball soup and stuffed cabbage make up the core of what the kitchen calls a new Jewish kitchen. Doors open at noon daily, closing at 23:00 Sunday to Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday, though the kitchen stops an hour before the bar does. Come for lunch if you want the courtyard quiet and the light through the canopy.

10. Byblos

Byblos is the Lebanese and Levantine restaurant in the centre, at Semmelweis utca 1-3 in District V, a short walk from Ferenciek tere metro. Chef Osama runs the kitchen and the menu covers hummus, tabbouleh, falafel and shawarma alongside grilled fish and lamb, with vegetarian, vegan and halal dishes listed. The room is bare brick and white tablecloths, and it serves seven days a week. Reserve at weekends, when the mixed grill tables fill first.

11. Napfényes Vegán Étterem

Napfényes is the vegan restaurant with the widest menu in Budapest, at Curia utca 2 in District V. It cooks Hungarian dishes in plant-based versions, from seitan brassói to a vegan somlói galuska, alongside seven vegan pizzas, Asian rice-noodle dishes and a full patisserie counter. The restaurant opens every day from 11:30 to 21:00 and delivers through Wolt and foodora. It also runs vegan cooking courses, including gluten-free and raw workshops, if you would rather learn the dishes than only eat them.

12. KönyvBár & Restaurant

KönyvBár builds its tasting menu around a different novel every couple of weeks, at Dob utca 45 in District VII. The dishes take their cues from the book’s setting and characters, and a library of the previous choices lines the room, so the concept holds up even if you have not read that fortnight’s title. It serves Monday to Saturday, noon to midnight, and closes on Sunday. Book several days out, because the tasting menu runs to a fixed number of covers.

Michelin-starred restaurants in Budapest

Budapest has 7 Michelin-starred restaurants, 1 of them with two stars. The full list is below, in star order.

1. Stand. Stand holds two Michelin stars at Székely Mihály utca 2, cooking modern Hungarian tasting menus under chefs Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló. It is the only two-star restaurant in the capital.
2. Babel Budapest. Babel has held one star since March 2019 and sits at Piarista köz 2, near the Danube in District V. Hubert Hlatky-Schlichter founded it in 2008 and still runs it, with Kornél Kaszás as executive chef.
3. Borkonyha Winekitchen. Borkonyha has one star at Sas utca 3 and lists more than 200 Hungarian wines. Its degustation menus cost 39,000 Ft for four courses and 51,000 Ft for six (about €107 and €140, $125 and $163, £92 and £120), with wine pairings from 29,000 Ft (about €80, $93, £68). The menu has to be ordered by the whole table, and it closes on Sunday.
4. Costes. Costes was the first Hungarian restaurant to win a star, in 2010, and holds one at Ráday utca 4 in District IX.
5. Essência. Essência has one star at Sas utca 17 and cooks a Hungarian and Portuguese menu run by the couple Tiago Sabarigo and Éva Sabarigo.
6. Rumour by Rácz Jenő. Rumour has one star at Petőfi tér 3-5 and works as a chef’s table behind an unmarked door, seating a small group for a multi-course menu.
7. Salt Budapest. Salt has one star and a Michelin Green Star for sustainability, at Királyi Pál utca 4, with the entrance through Hotel Rum. Chef Szilárd Tóth builds the menu around foraging, pickling and fermenting. It serves Wednesday to Friday evenings and Saturday lunch and dinner, and is closed Sunday to Tuesday.

Dinner as a show at the Corinthia

Two restaurants inside the Corinthia hotel on Erzsébet körút 43-49 sell the evening as much as the food. Caviar & Bull, from the Maltese chef Marvin Gauci, serves a Mediterranean and Hungarian menu daily from 17:00 to 23:00 and runs winemaker dinners with Hungarian estates through the year. Uncensored, by the same chef, hides ten tables behind a series of doors and runs a chef’s journey menu against 360-degree video mapping and music from each country on the route. Uncensored seats once a night at 19:30 and only from Thursday to Saturday, so it is a booking to make before you fly.

Where to eat by cuisine in Budapest

Budapest’s kitchens sort into five groups that between them cover most of what visitors search for.

• Hungarian. Hungarikum Bisztró, Kádár Étkezde, Parisi 6 and Aszú Étterem cover the range from canteen to wine restaurant.
• Middle Eastern and Lebanese. Dobrumba, Mazel Tov and Byblos are the three to know, all within a short walk of each other in Districts V and VII.
• Italian. Ape Regina runs Italian dining rooms on Podmaniczky utca and Vécsey utca, and Trattoria Venezia keeps a long-standing following for pasta and pizza in the centre.
• Japanese. Yama Budapest is the sushi and Japanese kitchen that stays in the city’s top rankings year after year.
• Vegan. Napfényes has the broadest vegan menu, and most of the Middle Eastern kitchens above list vegan dishes as standard rather than as an afterthought.

What Hungarian food to order in Budapest

Order goulash, pörkölt, chicken paprikash, lángos and Dobos torta and you have eaten the Hungarian canon. Goulash (gulyás) is a soup in Hungary rather than the thick stew the name suggests abroad, and pörkölt is the stew people outside the country usually mean. Lángos is fried dough, and a market stall version with sour cream and cheese beats a restaurant plate of it. Dobos torta closes the meal with sponge layers, chocolate buttercream and a sheet of caramel on top. The full list of iconic Hungarian dishes goes further, into túrógombóc, halászlé and kürtőskalács.

What a restaurant meal costs in Budapest in 2026

A restaurant meal in Budapest in 2026 runs from roughly 3,000 Ft for a counter lunch to 51,000 Ft for a starred tasting menu. At Hungarikum Bisztró, a bowl of goulash and a main course comes to about 11,000 to 18,000 Ft (about €30 to €49, $35 to $58, £26 to £42) before drinks. At Borkonyha, the four-course degustation is 39,000 Ft (about €107, $125, £92) and the six-course 51,000 Ft (about €140, $163, £120). Bors GasztroBár sits at the other end, where soup and a baguette is a full lunch. Wider prices across Hungary follow the same pattern: Budapest costs more than the rest of the country, and District V costs more than District VIII.

A service charge, the szervizdíj, is added by many Budapest restaurants and is normally 10% to 15%. Hungarian law allows it as long as the restaurant tells you in advance, usually with a line on the menu, and itemises it on the receipt. Read the bill before you add anything: if the szervizdíj is there, a further tip is optional.

Where to stay near the restaurant districts

Stay in District V or District VII and almost every restaurant on this list is a walk rather than a metro ride. District V holds Hungarikum Bisztró, Aszú, Borkonyha, Essência, Byblos and Hoppá!, and it is the quieter half. District VII holds Kádár, Dobrumba, Mazel Tov, Bors and KönyvBár, and it is louder at night because the ruin bars are there. Compare rates in both before booking, because a street between the two can change the price by a third. Hotels across Hungary are listed with cancellation terms, and Trip.com is worth a second look for the same dates. Our own guide to hotels in Budapest narrows it further by district.

Food tours and tastings in Budapest

A guided food tour is the fastest way to try eight Hungarian dishes in one afternoon without ordering eight main courses. Market tours of the Great Market Hall, Jewish Quarter walks and Tokaj wine tastings all run daily from the centre, and most last two to four hours. Prices and start times change through the year, so the live listings below are more use than a figure written down.

Budapest restaurants that older guides still recommend

Three restaurants that appear on many Budapest lists are no longer trading, and one has changed its name. Check the list below against whatever guide you are reading.

1. M Restaurant. M Restaurant on Kertész utca closed in September 2020 and has not reopened. Lists that describe drawing on its paper-covered tables are describing a room that is gone.
2. Laurel Budapest. Laurel served its last dinners in July 2024 after five years on Kertész utca. It never held a star, only a Michelin recommendation, so any list calling it starred was wrong twice over.
3. Onyx. The original Onyx closed in 2020 and its two Michelin stars went with it. The team now runs Onyx Műhely, an experimental workshop on Vörösmarty tér, which is a different proposition and is not a two-star restaurant.
4. DiVin Porcello. DiVin Porcello became Bistro DiViN in spring 2026. Same address on Apáczai Csere János utca, same ham counter, new name and a monthly menu.

Frequently asked questions about eating in Budapest

The questions below come up most often before a first trip.

Do you need to book restaurants in Budapest?

Yes, book the popular restaurants, and book the starred ones weeks ahead. Hungarikum Bisztró takes online reservations only and turns walk-ins away most evenings. Uncensored has ten tables and one seating a night. Counter places such as Bors GasztroBár take no bookings at all, so timing rather than reserving is what gets you in.

Is a service charge added in Budapest restaurants?

Yes, many Budapest restaurants add a service charge of 10% to 15%. The restaurant has to tell you in advance and list it separately on the bill. Where it appears, an extra tip is a choice rather than an expectation; where it does not, about 10% is the local norm.

Is alcohol served in restaurants in Budapest?

Yes, Budapest restaurants serve wine, beer, spirits and cocktails, and Hungarian wine lists are the interesting part. Tokaj, Villány and Eger all appear by the glass in most decent restaurants. For drinking rather than dining, the places to have a drink in Budapest run from ruin bars in District VII to rooftop terraces on the Pest side.

Which Budapest restaurants close on Mondays and Tuesdays?

Kádár Étkezde closes on Sunday and Monday, Aszú Étterem and Parisi 6 both close on Tuesday, Parisi 6 also closes on Wednesday, and Salt closes Sunday to Tuesday. Hungarikum Bisztró, Dobrumba, Mazel Tov, Napfényes, Bistro DiViN, Byblos and Hoppá! all open seven days a week, which is what saves a Monday evening.

What else is worth doing in Budapest between meals?

Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion, the Chain Bridge, Széchenyi Thermal Bath and the Great Market Hall fill the gaps between lunch and dinner, and most sit within a 30-minute walk of the restaurant districts. The museums in Budapest cover the same ground in bad weather, and the full run of things to do in Budapest sets out a first-timer’s order. In December the Budapest Christmas Fair on Vörösmarty tér becomes an eating destination in its own right, with chimney cake and mulled wine sold in the square. Trams and the metro connect all of it, and the transportation options are cheap enough that few visitors need a taxi. If you want context for the country you are eating in, the facts about Hungary cover the language, the thermal springs and the Rubik’s Cube.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Five details from checking these restaurants in 2026 will save you an evening.

1. Book Hungarikum Bisztró online, not by phone or in person. The restaurant states that reservation is required and that online is the only channel, so turning up hopeful at 19:00 usually means walking on.
2. At Borkonyha, the degustation is a whole-table decision. The four- and six-course menus can only be ordered for everyone at the table, and a party of 10 or more has to take the degustation, so agree it before you book.
3. Kádár Étkezde books seats, not tables. You reserve a place and the staff seat you where there is room, which may be next to strangers. Bookings are for dining in only, not takeaway.
4. Salt has one daytime service a week. It opens Wednesday to Friday evenings only, plus Saturday lunch at 12:00, and closes Sunday through Tuesday, which rules it out of most short city breaks unless you plan around it.
5. Tuesday is the quiet day for Hungarian dining rooms. Aszú and Parisi 6 both shut, and Parisi 6 stays shut on Wednesday too, so line up Hungarikum Bisztró, Dobrumba or Hoppá! for a Tuesday night instead.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh. The team covers Budapest and the rest of Hungary for independent travellers, including the restaurants, food tours, wine regions and hotels worth booking, and updates this page when kitchens close, prices move and opening days change.