A decadent dinner in Budapest
- Lucy and the lens
- Sep 3, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 5, 2018
Our quest to make it to Alabardos, a restaurant high on the hill near Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest, wasn't an easy one. We decided to walk there rather than take public transport, which turned out to be a mistake because we got caught in the mother of all storms! It did look pretty epic over Parliament, though!
We ended up jumping on a bus in an attempt to get to the restaurant before the storm, but by the time we arrived at the top of the hill it was torrential, and the restaurant hadn't even opened yet! We ducked into a cafe nearby that happened to sell beautiful hand-decorated biscuits - I wish I could remember the name of it - and I promptly managed to spill the beer Patrick had just ordered all over him.
In short, by the time we got to the rather classy Alabardos, we weren't looking our best. We were a little concerned when the maitre d' gave us a long, dubious look up-and-down as we stood there, windswept, rain-soaked, in our sandals, but after revealing that we had a reservation for the pricey tasting menu he led us quickly to our table.
Although disappointed by this immediate reaction to our less-than-classy appearance (we also noticed that several other people in casual wear were turned away during the evening despite tables being free), the service during the rest of the evening was outstanding, and the food equally so.
We ordered pinot gris that was the most beautiful shade of rose-gold I've ever seen: I kept exclaiming, "Look how beautiful the WINE is!" throughout the meal.
For such a traditional-looking restaurant, the food itself was beautifully innovative, with a delicate combination of flavours and textures. My favourite dish was the "quail three ways" served with rhubarb, as seen in the top right photo above.
It might have been one of the most expensive meals we've had, but this was our first experience of actually using a sommelier, we were treated like royalty after the initial rain-soaked incident, and the atmosphere was super cosy as the storm raged on outside. For all these reasons, it was an experience I won't forget.
The website:
alabardos.hu
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