The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. The all you can eat lunch will cost you 3990Ft while dinner will set you back with 5990Ft. This price includes the food, beer, wine, sodas, juices and water. There is also a so called business lunch which includes all the food and water but none of the alcoholic drinks and other beverages. That costs 3000Ft which is a pretty good deal if you wish to have an extended lunch but you still have to head back to work afterwards.

We came to Ape Regina to have lunch, we were seated by our waiter, who was exceptionally friendly. He introduced the restaurant and explained everything very well doing an outstanding job. We all know that proper customer service is a very rare find in Budapest so this was a really positive start.


The all you can eat menu boasts appetizers, soups, freshly grilled meats and veggies, pizzas fresh from the oven, freshly prepared pasta, a large variety of ready made dishes, a salad bar and desserts. Trust me I really tried hard yet I wasn’t able to taste any of the pizzas and the ready made dishes due to the lack of belly capacity.

I started off with a Mozzarella salad, Sausages, Caponata, Caprese, Italian Ham, Mushroom salad, Stuffed peppers and Beef ragout soup. Our waiter brought us some tomato sauce to use it as a dipping sauce and some Focaccia.

All appetizers I had a very nicely balanced taste and outstanding presentation. My soup had quite a unique taste as it had some tomato sauce in it. This was unexpected for a beef ragout soup for a Hungarian guy. It looked like a goulash soup yet it tasted very much like Minestrone with beef in it. I asked later and it turned out that the head chef is from Italy so that is why the food here is not Hungarian made Italian but real Italian made by a native chef from Sicily.



I continued on to the grill section and asked for few of their items on the display. I asked for Spinach and cheese stuffed chicken, Veal stuffed with cheese, pork skewers and polpete. It is interesting to point out here that all the meats even the ones covered with bread crumbs are done on the grill and not fried in a fryer which makes them more healthy. I also ordered a ravioli with the chefs special sauce. While I was waiting on the pasta and the grilled meats to be ready, I stopped by the salad bar to have a look what they have on offer.

I really am not a salad guy to be honest with you so I mixed the one with bread cubes, chicken, mushrooms and pork in my salad bowl to see how they taste. I made the right choice here, all 3 salads were tasting very nice no lack of spices and I didn't need to use any dressings to make it acceptable to eat. Shortly after I finished my salad my grill plate was ready and served by our waiter.

I was very happy with everything on these two plates. My personal favourite was the polpete which had a distinctive garlic-lemon taste very similar to Lao Burgers but without lemongrass in it.

The next one served was the pasta I ordered previously. Ricotta and spinach stuffed raviolis topped with the Chef's own sauce. I found this combination particularly heavy but it was all my fault not asking what is in the Chef's sauce. This was the point when I reached 120% of my capacity so there was still room for some dessert. I managed to try all four desserts on the display. Tiramisu, Profiterole, Panna cotta and a chocolate cake all being top of their class in terms of taste.

Ape Regina is an excellent restaurant to go for lunch or dinner, dates, birthdays or family events. The Italian chef is a guarantee to quality meals and it is priced very well. They only opened about a month ago and I expect the number of people visiting to skyrocket in the coming months. I will definitely come back at least once a month but this time for dinner, so I can try their dinner wine selection.

Contacts:

Phone: +36-30-779-7545
Email: info@aperegina.hu
Address: 1065 Budapest, Podmaniczky utca 18. (Jókai utca sarka)
Web: www.aperegina.hu

By Zoltan Veress

About the author: Although I'm not an expat in Budapest, I was an expat for 13 years in various other countries, so I am an Xpat! I can look at Budapest with expat eyes and with those of a local, and the articles in this series about Budapest restaurants and pubs will try to feature both the new hip places and those you – not being a Budapest native – might not know about...

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