Budapest for foodies

Best restaurants

Budapest eats on its own clock, and the 12 restaurants here are best read by their hours as much as their menus. The list stays inside a tight set of postal codes: 1011, 1013, 1051 and 1054. Hungarian and regional cooking anchors it, with a fish house, an Italian ristorante, a Japanese room, a Vietnamese kitchen and two fine-dining bistros around it. The schedules differ sharply: one address shuts at 20:00 and takes Sunday off, another runs to 00:00 every day of the week, and a third opens only from Wednesday to Saturday. This is a list for visitors who would rather plan a meal than stumble into one. Skip the laminated picture menus aimed at passing foot traffic, pick a time, and turn up when the door is open.