Food Choice — Restaurant in Budapest

You don't go to Food Choice for the atmosphere, which resembles a small-town, hole-in-the-wall version of a fast food joint, with chartreus color walls, a counter at the rear where you order your food, four or five small tables and a glass-doored refrigerator holding the cold beverages on offer. Calling it unpretentious would be an overstatement.

But if you're looking for some authentic, home cooked Chinese food, it's hard to find better anywhere in Budapest, much less in the classy 5th district area, not far from The Basilica, US Embassy, Arany Janos Metro station and Szabadsag ter. And you can't beat the prices.

Two of us ordered what has come to be their signature dish, the Spicy Hot Pot, to share as our main course. It's a flavorful mixture of seafood (prawns, octopus, fish cakes), ham, several variations of tofu, lotus root, bamboo shoots, seaweed, black fungus, broccoli, cauliflower and more in a spicy, dark coriander seed and Szechuan peppercorn dominant sauce. It's a huge portion and absolutely delicious. Add some rice and perhaps a plate of jiaozi (dumplings) and it's more than enough to satisfy two hearty eaters.

There are many other dishes, most for one person, some for two, and the man taking our order (the owner?) was very helpful. There is an English menu available, too. It would be helpful to look at the photos others have posted here of the food before heading in, and then you can show photos of what you want to know about or order. He speaks Chinese, Hungarian and English.

We are looking forward to trying more dishes at...

I was attracted by the tasty-looking dishes in their presentation pictures on Google, as well as the good reviews, so I decided to deviate from my usual Chinese eatery and try this place. As I don't think cheese and Chinese food go together, I chose a dish without cheese from the menu (without pictures and the prices were hardly readable). But I ended up with a dish covered in around 1 cm of grated cheese. So why the cheese? I suspect it was to give the dish at least some taste. Or perhaps to cover up what was underneath: rice with one or two pieces of overcooked chicken, some peas and some squashy mushrooms. In any case, it was tasteless, non-chinese and overpriced (twice the price of my usual Chinese eatery, which has far better...

I found this place randomly the first time I've ever visited Budapest. I did not expect much, it looked like a pretty average restaurant to me - and I was so wrong. The impression I got while watching my food being prepared was that the cook takes time to perfect the food, try it, add what is needed. In short - the result was truly amazing. The second time I visited Budapest I spent like an hour trying to find this place again, because I forgot to write down the address. The parliament? Museums? Who cares. This is what I cared about. And once again - the food was great. Can't wait to visit the...