In 2024, The Pastry Shop Málna, in Óbuda, won the Pastry Shop of the Year award for the third time, achieving the highest ranking in the publication – and like Mihályi Patisserie, it’s become the second pastry shop in Hungary to hold the title of Hungarian Pastry Shop ‘Best of The Best’.

But it’s not only the sweetest locations but the most creative professionals that were recognised. This year, the Dining Guide introduced a new award: Pastry Chef of the Year Award. This acknowledges outstanding pastry chefs working in a restaurant setting.

One of the most spectacular elements in restaurants are the plated desserts. Their presentation and innovation deliver a superb dining experience.

Árpád Szűcs, head pastry chef of one of Budapest’s most impressive luxury hotels, the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, has created new restaurant desserts that stand out even at an international level. His excellent selection uniquely blends classic and modern restaurant desserts and pastries.

This year’s Dining Guide innovation was that a special section was dedicated to hospitality venues prioritising sustainability.

The result is that not only a Top 10 list of restaurants, but also a Top 10 list of pastry shops, was created encouraging businesses to seek ways of reducing their environmental footprint.

The Dining Guide believes that hospitality and sustainability can go hand in hand, where local establishments combine quality alongside caring for their environment, in both their city and their country.

Top 10 Pastry Shops according to the Dining Guide Top 100 Restaurant Guide:

1. Málna The Pastry Shop
2. Százéves Cukrászda (Gyula)
3. Auguszt Cukrászda Fény utca
4.Bergmann Cukrászda (Balatonfüred)
5. Chouchou
6. Egy csipet torta
7. Kollázs Brasserie & Bar
8. Gerbeaud Cukrászda
9. Harrer Csokoládéműhely és Cukrászda (Sopron)
10. The Ritz-Carlton, Budapest

Sustainable Pastry Shops: Dining Guide Top 100 Restaurant Guide:

1. Chouchou
2. Harrer Csokoládéműhely és Cukrászda
3. Apátsági Rege Cukrászda
4. Erdős És Fiai
5. Ideál Desszert
6.  Jardin
7. La Téne
8. Lujza & Koriander
9. Mon Petit Dessert Boutique
10. Vaj

The Dining Guide’s descriptions of the country’s best pastry shops:

Málna The Pastry Shop

1037 Budapest,  Bécsi út 57-61. Entrance from Dereglye utca

Five-year-old Málna The Pastry Shop in Óbuda became one of Hungary’s top quality pastry shops in its opening year.

The modern, French-style shop is a family business run by pastry chef Zoltán Kolonics and his wife, Ágnes Varga. Kolonics’s approach is driven by the renewal of traditional Hungarian pastry making and a contemporary reinterpretation of desserts. Málna's desserts are high-quality creations made with great expertise.

The pastry shop competes with wonderfully assembled cakes, while its signature desserts include Coffee-Raspberry Opera, 'Málna', Lactée Caramel-Raspberry, Apple Pie, and Esterházy.

Százéves Cukrászda

5700 Gyula, Erkel Ferenc tér 1.

Százéves Cukrászda is the second oldest pastry shop in Hungary, where guests can travel back in time over a cup of coffee and a cake, recalling the bustling atmosphere of old cafés.

Founded in 1840 by pastry chef András Salis, in a house built after the great fire of Gyula in 1801, this pastry shop still serves quality cakes and pastries, alongside handcrafted Cadeau bonbons and chocolates, complemented in the summer season by ice creams.

Auguszt Cukrászda, Fény utca
1024 Budapest, Fény u. 8

József Auguszt’s pastry shop is a key player in Hungarian pastry shop style. The founder, Elek Auguszt, opened his first shop in 1870 in Tabán, starting a family business that still strives to preserve its traditions and values.

Led by the fifth-generation József Auguszt, the business remains true to classic Hungarian pastry traditions while also embracing innovation. Among the three Auguszt Cukrászda locations in Budapest, the Fény utca shop, where visitors can enjoy a perfect blend of tradition and innovation, has consistently been rated the highest.

Bergmann Cukrászda

8230 Balatonfüred,  Petőfi Sándor u. 64.

The Bergmann family’s long-standing pastry shop evokes the atmosphere of classic bourgeois patisseries and cafés. Their products reflect the style of the place, with high-quality classic Hungarian desserts and also the Bergmann café’s own creations.

The renowned Bergmann cream cake is considered one of the best, if not the best, in Hungary. In addition to cakes, the pastry shop also offers high-quality bread.

Chouchou
1136 Budapest, Hegedűs Gyula u. 23.

Chouchou’s new-wave, French-style desserts and traditional Hungarian cakes are dreamt up by Kinga Szász, a former economist. All desserts and chocolates are made on site using premium ingredients.

The pastry shop in Újlipótváros welcomes customers on Fridays with their handcrafted truffles, bonbons, chocolates and cakes; their creations can also be found in several specialty cafés around Budapest.

Modern, classic or innovative cakes can be ordered in advance, but even customers arriving on the last working day of the week won’t leave empty-handed from the Hegedűs Gyula Street shop.

Egy csipet torta
1055 Budapest, Szalay utca 4.

Café owners Levente Bíró and Alexandra Horváth have been providing flawless pastel-coloured cakes and desserts for weddings and other important events for eight years.

They first opened their doors in Szalay Street to customers in September 2023. It’s not an exaggeration to call this pastry shop a jewel box: its relaxing atmosphere, cosy interior colours and excellent service offer a friendly oasis in the bustling city centre.

The new-wave, French-style desserts are more like artworks than simple sweets, with the lemon tart, Sacher cake, and pavlova being the most popular.

Kollázs Brasserie & Bar
1051 Budapest,  Széchenyi István tér 5-6. (Zrínyi utca corner)

Árpád Szűcs, executive pastry chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, has been responsible for the luxury hotel’s pastries since spring 2023. He believes that to keep up with the world, one should not abandon the origin of cakes but modernize them while also preserving them.

A good dessert becomes exceptional through three things: excellent ingredients, proper technique, and the knowledge, passion, and message invested in it. The Kollázs pastry chef’s desserts are always freshly made; the St. Honoré and Paris-Brest are simply unmissable.

Gerbeaud Cukrászda

1051 Budapest,  Vörösmarty tér 7-8.

The legendary Gerbeaud Café has done much to make traditional Hungarian desserts known worldwide. Their pastry concept combines tradition and innovation, allowing both local dessert enthusiasts and visitors to Hungary to experience popular classics in a contemporary form.

The café, operating in a historic building, takes guests back to the turn of the century, offering traditional Hungarian desserts such as Somlói Galuska, Dobos Torte, Esterházy slice, or the Gerbeaud house cream cake.

Harrer Csokoládéműhely és Cukrászda

9400 Sopron,  Faller Jenő u. 4.

The Harrer pastry dynasty’s name is synonymous with generations of knowledge, experience and outstanding quality. The family business opened its first Hungarian shop nearly 30 years ago in Sopron, while the popular chocolate workshop has been in operation since 2009.

Karl Harrer, who once was Austria’s youngest pastry chef, believes that creating sweets is the most exciting creative process. He has competed in Canada, Japan, and Singapore. Harrer pastry products include not only well-known and loved cakes but also bolder, unique creations, all made from selected, ingredients of exceptional quality.

The Ritz-Carlton Budapest

1051​​​​​​​ Budapest, Erzsébet tér 9-10

Although the pastry shop at the Ritz Carlton Hotel cannot be considered a traditional pastry shop, it offers an exceptional selection that stands out locally, making it worth a visit for dessert lovers.

The luxury hotel’s dessert and cake selection is overseen by pastry chef István Mázas, whose name guarantees top-quality, premium ingredient desserts with a modern twist on classic traditions.

The Royal Chocolate Cake, one of the Ritz Carlton’s iconic desserts, is always available, also for take-away, but the Lemon Chello cake or Opera Coffee Cake are also highly recommended.

Copy-editor:
Marion Merrick 
Language editor and author: Now You See It, Now You Don’t  / Surprising Expats / Budapest Retro

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