Open for breakfast, popular for lunch
Published in the Budapest Times, Aug 2005
Gerlóczy Kávéház has a sort of French bistro feel, elegantly simple with dark wood furniture and unadorned walls. One of its more eye-catching features is the deep bar on the ground floor, behind which the waitstaff stand and prepare some of the food themselves on inlaid cooking plates. This eaterie on a quiet street near Deák tér was opened this spring by Tamás Nagy, who runs a gourmet cheese shop nearby.
While it must be nice in the evening - when, from Tuesday to Saturday, harpist Gergely Gertner adds to the mood - Gerlóczy seems most suited to a business chat over breakfast or lunch. I dropped in at noon with a real estate consultant, who commented on the advantageous location, close to many places of work. It seems that staffers at city hall around the corner have discovered the place - we spotted Mayor Gábor Demszky among the diners.
Gerlóczy is a godsend for those of us who get frustrated trying to get breakfast in this city, where cafés never seem to open until 9. This joint opens its doors at 7, and its breakfast offerings include ham and eggs for HUF 590 and croissants baked in-house.
The menu also has sections like “Light dishes,” such as roasted veal liver with polenta (HUF 1,300), “Hungarian dishes” such as pork chop with letcho (HUF 2,240) and “Grill kitchen,” which includes a rumpsteak for HUF 1,980. There’s also a good choice of desserts and wines.
We went for the lunch menu, a limited array of courses from which you can pick two for HUF 1,200 or three for HUF 1,500. Our choices included a good meaty salmon starter, a succulent ravioli and a slice of fresh melon with ice cream. We finished with a fine Lavazza cappuccino.
A small but nice detail: the water-taps in the beautiful washroom have the letters M and H on them. Yes, it’s Hungarian - meleg (warm) and hideg (cold).
