5 places for Jewish Food in Budapest

‘Stone Soup’ is a trendy restaurant near the ruin bar area, in a building that used to house a Jewish butcher’s. The interior is decorated with old paraphernalia, the cuisine is Hungarian with a modern touch and the friendly student waiters speak English. Upstairs there’s a space for events.

This split-level, highly traditional, so-called glatt kosher restaurant – meaning that the food they serve meets the strictest religious prescriptions – is right in the middle of the Jewish Quarter, next to the orthodox synagogue. There’s seating for no less than 100 guests, thanks to the three private rooms.

This place attracts an artistic and academic crowd, who love to bring their international friends here to taste the light and modern take on traditional Jewish courses. There are two kinds of degustation menus, which is unusual in this kind of restaurant, and an excellent wine selection.

This family-run place grew out of a sausage bar near the Eastern station and became the most renowned Jewish-Hungarian restaurant in Budapest. The food here comes in large portions and is made from ingredients that are produced in an ecological farm. The founder didn’t really care about kosher or not: “Everything is kosher that tastes good.”

This cosy Hungarian-Jewish restaurant was established in 2001 by a Hungarian woman who worked as an economist in Amsterdam before moving back to Budapest to realise her dream. On Fridays musicians play klezmer music during dinner, on other nights there is live piano music. There’s also a tiny theatre, but plays are only in Hungarian.