budaveg – vegetarian Hungary your vegetarian home in Hungary

At the moment two lovely Italian girls are staying at the budaveg apartment, one of them, Chiara translated our website to Italian and we are very happy to give her and her friend a week’s stay in return! The are very busy during the day exploring Budapest, the museums and the christmas market, but last night we all went out to Napfényes Étterem, probably the nicest vegan restaurant in town.
The restaurant belong to a Rudolf Steiner inspired movement, and they promote healthy vegan food and lifestyle. They also have a vegan patisserie, organize cooking and lifestyle courses issue beautifully illustrated cook books and have a small health food store at the restaurant.


You’ll find there a fantastic selection of vegan dishes: soup, pizzas, pasta dishes, traditional Hungarian dishes, puddings and cream cakes from their patisserie, salads, and an impressive range of organic juices and teas.

We would have had a lovely time if our children hadn’t run amok in the restaurant; they were running up and down in and out of the kitchen screaming with delight. So much for lethargic veggie kids! Luckily the staff not only put up with it but even gave them some coloured pencils and paper and played with them to give us a breather and a chance to eat our delicious meals. Taking pictures is not my forte especially when I have to run after my kids. This is the only moment they actually sat on their bums.

James chose vegan breaded cheese with rice and peas, and tartar sauce, Lita chose “Fried Pancakes Filled with Vegetable Cream served with Mashed Potatoes and Onions”, Chiara and I went for the vegan Brassói with Lecsó, which is called “Ratatouille Seitan Cutlets” on the menu, and the kids got half portions each of yesterday’s special: Mixed Vegetable Pakora with Mashed Potatoes. The vegan Brassói with Lecsó is my favourite dish: lots of chips and seitan in a great spicy sauce! Here is a close up of the table:

The prices are great, mains are between 1500-2000 Hufs. We had a lovely time, but probably won’t go there (or any other restaurant) till they are at least ten, or go without them. So please it is your turn to dine out in style at a lovely vegan restaurant!
I’d like to thank the staff again for being so super nice!

Address: Rózsa u 39, District VII Tram: 4/6 at Király utca and walk, or 76 trolley bus.
Open: every day 9am-10pm
Vegan, non smoking, no alcohol, sells health food too
English menu, English spoken.
http://www.napfenyesetterem.hu/

We have been long time fans of the restaurant Napfényes Ízek- Sunny Tastes, they have superb vegan food and amazing vegan cakes. A few years ago they opened a vegan patisserie bit off the beaten track on the Buda side of the Árpád bridge. First they only sold entire cakes on order -which is great if you or a budaveg guest has a birthday- and delivered cakes to health food stores around town. We tried they vegan chocolate birthdaycake once and it was absolutely delicious and fooled non vegans thinking it was a “proper cream cake”!

A few month ago they opened a tiny shop right next door and now you can buy individual slices and ice cream. They are only licensed to sell cake, so it is not a real patisserie; there is no tea or coffee, and no seating area indoors, it is mainly to take away and to try the different tastes before you decide on your birthday or wedding cake.


I popped in the other day to pick up some treats for our family. There were four different ice creams and several different cakes, cream cakes and savoury ones. The lady was super friendly and we had a good chat about ingredients. All is vegan of course and they don’t use preservatives, colourants and artificial sweeteners. They use carob instead of chocolate,  cane sugar instead of beet sugar, and they use spelt wheat in many cakes, they also had gluten free millet cakes. Also they prepare some cakes with xylitol which has an amazing list of benefits, I am so impressed that I decided to try using it at home too.

I got “krémes” which is a custard cake and sacher torte- a jam filled chocolate cake, both very traditional in Hungary. The  ”krémes” was almost like a real one, really creamy, lovely taste, the sacher was also very delicious, though it didn’t remind us of the sacher but rather an English Christmas pudding. Yumm, just look at our daughter:

Napfényes Cukrászda
1037 Budapest, Kiskorona u. 8.
Tel: 06-1-242-3229, 06-20-315-3333
http://www.napfenyescukraszat.hu/ 

Open: Monday-Sunday 10-6 pm

A vegan restaurant where the chef doesn’t do any cooking? Intriguing, isn’t it? This was my first raw food restaurant experience, since this is the first raw foodie place in Budapest. Raw food for most of us means salad with fresh juice but here I was presented with a selection of  main courses and cakes.

Mannatural is well hidden in a small market building though right in the city centre a few minutes from Arany János metro stop. There is a seating area at the bar and at big stone tables and the place is surprisingly sunny!

They had two main dishes on offer and I chose the stuffed paprika with sweetcorn sauce and salad, which was very tasty. I dived in and only remembered to take a photo after I had eaten half of it. But click on the photo and it will take you to the Mannatural album on flickr with some pro images of their dishes. Around me every other customer was eating the chocolate cake which looked really delicious but it was one of the rare moments of my life when I just didn’t fancy a pudding. (No I wasn’t sick just had an ice cream half an hour earlier). I asked a friendly guy next to me at the table and he confirmed that it was indeed just as yummy as it looked.

Ákos, the manager was behind the bar and was happy to answer my questions about the food and the restaurant. They opened 5 weeks ago and at the moment they only open at lunchtime, however they have now an area on the first floor as well where they are going to hold active and passive raw food classes- which means you can watch and eat or prepare the food with the chef. Also in November they open their raw, vegan patisserie!

They also do home delivery, you can check the actual offer on their website.
He assured me that they are vegan, the only exception is honey in the lemonade. 80% of the ingredients come from organic sources and they in fact have 3 organic (biodynamic)  gardens around the capital from where they get their fruit, vegetables and honey. All food is made of fresh sprouts, grains and vegetables and special blenders and ceramic knives are used for the preparation. They have a blog in Hungarian with great recipes.

Mannatural is in this market building, the entrance is from Hold utca or Vadász utca.

Address: 1054 Budapest, Hold u. 13
Open:  M-F: 11:00-15:00
http://www.mannatural.net/index.php?oldal=fooldal

Bio ABC is one of the best equipped organic food shops in Budapest and right next door they run a cute little vegan eatery and juice bar.  They are on the “little ring road” between Kálvin Square and Astoria.

This is a vegan eatery, with the exception of honey in some cakes, and the majority of the ingredients are from organic sources. They do salads, fresh fruit and vegetable juices and couple of warm dishes a day. Today for example they had carrot, apple, beetroot, melon, orange and sand thorn juice. There were soups, and three main dishes, all vegan of course. I chose the special offer (which you can always check on their website) and it was potato, squash stew, tofu, grain burger and salad; it was 850 Hufs, very tasty and quite a good deal, don’t you think?


I also got a plum strudel for pudding; 350 Hufs. There were a selection of cakes, some sugar free, some made with cane sugar. My plum strudel was delicious, full of real fruit.

They seem to follow the Rudolf Steiner “grain of the day” in their menu- with one exception: on Thursday they have buckwheat instead of rye. The small place was packed when I was there;  nice to know that so many are into vegan food in our corner of the world! There is only space for 6 chairs and many people get a  take-away, in fact all the food is prepared by 10 am and people are encouraged to pick up their lunch early to avoid queueing.

Address: Múzeum krt 19.
Phone: +3613173043
Open: 9am-6pm
http://www.bioabc.hu/

Just a 5 minute walk from the budaveg vegetarian apartment you can find the nearest vegetarian cafe: Keleti Életmód Centrum.

It is in fact a lot more than a cafe: it is an alternative health centre, a health food shop and an organic vegetarian cafe. They serve organic fruit and vegetable juices, coffee, teas, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, warm meals, healthy cakes, sugarfree deserts, organic ice cream, etc: there is food for vegans, diabetics, gluten intolerants, and people on a candida diet.  Most of the dishes are vegan, some lacto vegetarian, and they are always clearly marked. They aim to serve exclusively organic food, at the moment roughly 90% of what they serve is organic.
They open at 8 in the morning and offer a good breakfast selection: pastries, porridge, soya sausages, sandwiches and of course coffee and tea.

At lunchtime they have a set meal of two dishes, the menu changes from week to week, you can check the menu on their website or pick up the small flyers in the shop. You can call and order lunch in advance or just pop in but they are normally sold out of the set menu by 3 pm. I had a seitan sandwich, a langallo Hungarian style, a bit like a pizza with grain sausages, and a tofu-plum cake- all really delicious.

The cafe has a lovely atmosphere, small tables and nice decor, and lots of books to entertain you! In the summer you can sit outside and enjoy the breeze from the Danube and the nearby park, you can also ask for a takeaway.

The natural practitioners are upstairs offering everything from massage to kaballah and NLP.
The health food store is well stocked with vegan delights; soy and seitan sausages and slices, organic bread and pastries, juices, jams, glutenfree and diabetic products, organic fruit and vegetables.

They have a very generous loyalty card: for every 1000 hufs you spend, you’ll get a stamp- when you have 10 stamps you get a breakfast for two!

Open: weekdays 8 am-8 pm
1137 Budapest, Pozsonyi út 16.
Tel.: (1) 339-0209
info@eletmodcentrum.hu
http://www.eletmodcentrum.hu/

Closed down in 2012 unfortunately!

The newest vegan cafe in Budapest is right in the city centre; a few minutes walk from Deák tér, on Paulay Ede street. The place looked inviting and the people lovely on their facebook page and we were eager to try out their vegan delights.

The place is tiny but they made the most of it I guess. As you enter you pass the counter and can see into the kitchen. You can place your order, then go upstairs where there is a small seated area which can seat 12 people.
They do vegan burgers (tofu and bean burgers), burgers with chips/ french fries, hot dogs, vegan spreads, salads, and soya shakes. Every day there are two special dishes which are posted early morning on facebook and their blog.

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I had bean burger menu with lemonade and my friend tried the tofu burger (in the background), and I have to say they don’t go stingy on the portions; those burgers were huge and really filling! The prices are very friendly, good value for money.

Address:  1061 Budapest Paulay Ede 8.
Open:  Mo – Th : 11.30 – 20.00, Friday: 11.30 – 22.00, Saturday: 15.00 – 22.00

http://gorillavegabufe.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GORILLA-VEGA-B%C3%9CF%C3%89-vegan-vegetarian-restaurant/127044247370486?sk=wall_

Update: this restaurant unfortunately has closed down.

I was eager to try this new vegan restaurant ever since I become aware of their existence, the dishes just looked amazing on the website. I have known the manager Gábor from a Hungarian vegetarian forum and I think it is awesome that a seriously committed vegan like him start a veggie business. Good luck!

Loving Hut I found out is a franchise inspired by Supreme Master Ching Hai who promotes vegetarian lifestyle because of spiritual and environmental reasons.

The restaurant is extremly well located right at the Váci street at the Pest side of the Elizabeth Bridge, and is open everyday from 10 am to 10 pm. Nice calm decor in the restaurant and very friendly and fast service. They have a wide menu both oriental dishes, Hungarian and even burgers. I tried two (I went there twice I am not that greedy) first time the mock duck called”Pekingi specialitás”. I don’t know what duck should taste like but this seitan dish was delicious.

Loving Hut Mock Duck

On the next occasion I went for the “Loving Hut burger menü”- guess what soy burger with chips and ketchup, yum yum. Tasted great and they are generous with their chips!

Loving Hut vegan burger menu

Next time I’ll probably try the vegan gulyas…

Loving Hut
address: 1056 Budapest, Irányi utca 9.
Tel: +36 (1) 7876609
Open every day 10am-10 pm
http://www.lovinghut.hu/