As the owner and inventor of pizza, lasagna, pasta carbonara and hundreds of other mouth-watering calorie bombs, Italy probably has the most beloved of all the national cuisines in the world. On the occasion of the International Day of Italian Cuisines (17 January) we’ll guide you through some of most authentic Italian restaurants of Budapest!
Casa Mia Trattoria
1136 Budapest, Pozsonyi út 39.
Situated on the quaint and leafy Pozsonyi utca, Casa Mia serves pizzas so good, that anyone who’s ever tried them swears that it’s the best they had. So why not see it for yourself? Working only from the highest quality Italian ingredients, the menu includes all the staples of Italian cuisine such as meat ravioli with pesto and linguine with mussels and squid, with freshly sourced fishes and heavenly sweets, as well as a couple of Jewish dishes, making it Casa Mia Trattoria the city’s only Jewish-Italian restaurant. Whenever you feel like you need a trip to the warm culinary landscapes of the Boot, just drop by this quiet, traditional Italian trattoria and let yourself be overtaken by the Mediterranean flavors!
Taste the Dolce Vita at Bocanova
1142 Budapest, Kassai tér 14.
In the Zugló neighbourhood of Budapest there is a place where family recipes and an elegant atmosphere combine together to bring lovers of Italian cuisine an impeccable culinary experience, that will stay with their taste buds (and memory) for a long time. The menu of Bocanova Restaurant focuses on traditional Italian dishes prepared from original Italian ingredients with the deepest respect for the given meal in peculiar, and the culinary rules of the country in general. With about 30 pizzas to choose from and an equally respectable amount of pasta dishes and risotto specialties (from cannelloni with ricotta to risotto al nero), you’ll definitely spend a great deal of time until you can make a decision. Any way you choose, you won’t regret it.
Bocadolce is the restaurant’s own confectionery, situated in the same building: they offer home-made cakes (complete with gluten-free and paleo options, too!), dreamy Italian desserts and various other pastries like the Hungarian pogácsa. Their protein cakes are so good that you can even find them at gyms!
The team behind the brand also knows the importance of coffee in Italian culture: that’s why they came up with their own artisanal blend, named Boca Mokka.
It consists of large Colombian, medium sized Guatemalan, and varied in size Brazilian coffee beans, as well as 10% robusta coffee, for extra creaminess and deeper flavors. Buy some for later use and enjoy the flavors of Italy inside your home!
Last but not least, we have to say a few words about the Bocanova’s latest endeavour, the Bocanova Beach. Located just outside Budapest on the shore of Lupa Lake, in the summertime it looks as if a piece of the Italian seaside was moved to Hungary. A sandy beach, palm trees, colorul cocktails, pizza galore, a wakeboard course and fantastic parties await you during the sunny season just a fifteen-minute drive from Budapest’s city center.
Culinaria Italia
1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 2-6.
Located on the first floor of the Mammut shopping mall, Culinaria Italia has been awaiting customers with only the most excellent foodstuff, beverages and ingredients of Italy for 10 years now, sourced straight from the home of pizza, Roman law and Maseratis. Constantly looking for novelties in the food market, this shop does what so few do: in case you’d need something they don’t have at the moment, they’ll get to work and turn every stone to make sure you get it. Whatever Italian specialty you want to make, just know that you can count on them. If you can’t make it to the shop, order online and they’ll deliver your purchase wherever you are in the country!