A newly-discovered gem in B-town (thanks to our discerning eye), Toscana Gusto is a cozy café, a mucho-gusto delicatessen, a Tuscan-Hungarian cultural meeting point, but above all, a feels-like-home pretty little place in leafy Buda. The shop is totally and utterly 100% Tuscan, from the terracotta flooring through the oh-so-mouthwatering marinated vegetables and award-winning prosciuttos to the warmest welcome we received upon entering this friendly, mini version of Tuscany.
A newly-discovered gem in B-town (thanks to our discerning eye), Toscana Gusto is a cozy café, a mucho-gusto delicatessen, a Tuscan-Hungarian cultural meeting point, but above all, a feels-like-home pretty little place in leafy Buda. The shop is totally and utterly 100% Tuscan, from the terracotta flooring through the oh-so-mouthwatering marinated vegetables and award-winning prosciuttos to the warmest welcome we received upon entering this friendly, mini version of Tuscany.
Pretty amazed by the wide variety of products, it was explained to me by Zsuzsa Orbán, co-owner of the place and an ultimate fan of Tuscan culture and gastronomy, that she had been travelling around Tuscany (lucky her) cherry picking the best manufacturers of the region for more than two years to put together such a great selection; all top-notch, hand (and heart)-made products. The shop and its selection lack anything with a supermarket or mass produced feel. As Zsuzsa said, “We don’t have suppliers or contracted manufacturers, we have friends whom we trust, and therefore we swear by the high quality of their products.”
While sipping my glass of Spuma Bionda (a soft drink with a ginger-like taste), I browsed the wine selection; all from small, traditional wineries where “wine-makers still tell bed-time stories to their barrels”. The pastas are all made by a small family-business founded in 1700; they still use a recipe from 1893 (apparently even the Moon’s position counts) and a biodynamic method for grinding the native Tuscan wheat. Believe it or not, they even put the name of the mill on the bag that your pasta’s wheat was ground in! Next to the extra virgin olive oils – hand-picked, cold pressed and of the highest bio-qualification –, I discovered raspberry and strawberry infused balsamic vinegar, vegetable pâtés, chestnut and orange jams, acacia honey jam-packed with chunks of fruit, Mokarico coffee and pesto galore (Tuscan ones, of course, that are made with parsley, not basil). What’s more, if it’s not your taste buds that are hungry for Tuscany, but your eyes, you’ll find a wide selection of hand-made folk art pieces.
Toscana Gusto is both a café and a delicatessen, and the reason for this was unveiled in Zsuzsa’s brief but honest answer: “Well, once you’ve tried our sandwiches, lattés or any of the marinated vegetable bowls in our café, be prepared, as you’ll definitely want to take them home to treat yourself whenever.” We bet!