Uncle Kádár made everything work

Pántlika doesn't need a long introduction for the Budapestians. At least one of your friends has already visited it; generally people know about Pántlika by word of mouth, not by some flashy marketing strategy. The hut was the BNV's (International Market in Budapest) pavilion, so it has been standing there for 40 years. It has a quite colorful and twisted history, but since 2009 the new owner got this retro style going with the Márkameggy, the lamp from the Socialist Party's official bungalow in Balatonaliga, or other items from the sunny days of the socialist realism.

Because in Uncle Kádár’s time (János Kádár, the leader of the socialist party 1956-1988) everything was working better. Hamburgers were not here while Kádár was alive, so we should definitely check this one out in a retro restaurant. Pántlika is very close to PeCsa, Erzsébet Királyné Street and Hermina Street, and it's not that difficult to find it. Once you're there, it will be perfectly clear what the big hype is all about: the waiters are friendly, the interior and the outside place is full of retro and chilling in the City Park is always nice - especially in good weather.

Pántlika attaches a very convincing hamburger menu to the basic menu. They offer 12 different kinds of burgers with extra topping options. They have the classic burger (1460 HUF), then the special ones are named after big cities of the world. They have burgers from London (classic burger + cheddar cheese), Rome (classic + mozzarella, olive, rucola), Berlin (classic + cheese, spicy pickles, bacon), Athens (classic + feta cheese, olive, dried tomato), San Pedro (classic + cheddar cheese, bacon, jalapeno, eggs), Budapest (classic + wintersalami, mackó cheese, eggs, fermented cucumbers), Acapulco (classic + jalapeno, cheese, sour cream, bacon, avocado), Jerusalem (classic + hummus, roasted onion, dried tomato, olive), New York (double meat, double cheese, double bacon, eggs), Sidney (chicken, cheese, olive) and Delhi (vegan with roasted ewe-cheese, rucola, olive). You can choose any of the toppings from here, so you can create your own burger if you want.

The food is filling, and the atmosphere is great even in light rain as well. Being so close to the City Park is cool, because after a good meal, you can take a small walk right away.

Groovy Gravy

The giant slice of white bread with considerable amount of fat on it was part of every Hungarian's childhood, since our grandmas preferred to prepare it for us in the afternoons. Szaft on Tópart redefined this kind of attraction and took it to a whole new level. The slice of huge white bread is still the base, but the topping can be any kind of gravy from now on. You'll get the sauce in small glasses (390 HUF/1 deciliter). The goulash's (can be made from chicken gizzard, beef or pork) gravy was a great idea, because traditional Hungarian cuisine with a few beers or a glass of wine is quite popular in these open-air places.

The best description about the food would be: it is tasty, not too fatty, usually contains meat, and fresh bread is highly recommended with it. Nothing special, it's just traditional Hungarian. It is quite filling, so it's perfect for a summer afternoon or evening.

Of course you can ask for proper goulash as well in Szaft which has to be as tasty as the gravy. Its quality is as fair as its price (around 1000 HUF) which results a best buy for a good meal. There's Lecsó for the veggie-lovers (990 HUF), and hake (1390 HUF), lángos (300-450 HUF) and hamburger (890 HUF) gives us some Balaton feeling since we're quite close to the water. The hamburger won't make our top 10 list though.

Good lemonade (550 HUF) is the right match for the gravy, but we can go with wine, beer or different cocktails from late afternoon after the DJ turns up the volume.

Szaft

Address: 1146 Budapest, Olof Palme Walk 5.
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday: 10:00 - 04:00
Phone number: 0036-30-740-8758

Pántlika bisztró
Address: 1146, Budapest, on the side of City Park, opposite to Hermina út 47, next to PeCSa
Opening hours: Monday-Sunday: 12:00 - 22:00
Phone number: 0036-70-376-9910

Published on XpatLoop.com with the permission of: We Love Budapest