The gastropub craze officially reached Budapest with the arrival of the revamped Ring Café & Bar on bustling Andrássy Avenue in 2007, determined to break new ground in the capital’s restaurant scene. I’m not going to lie, I had my doubts. Too many places have hopped on the gastropub bandwagon in other countries before, only to overcharge customers for a mediocre nosh. However, though a hopeless skeptic at heart, I am always happy to be proved wrong. And boy, was I mistaken this time!
The gastropub phenomenon emerged in London in the early 1990s, when restaurateurs, influenced by modern French and Italian cuisine, decided to marry the great British pub tradition with contemporary flavors and culinary methods. The aim was to offer a quality dining experience for affordable prices, while preserving the casual and friendly atmosphere of local boozers.
At Ring Café, the informal and homely ambience is created by the tasteful décor – a warm combination of brown and cream colors – and furthered by the attentive and friendly service. Downstairs is the bar and cocktail lounge with comfy furnishings, upstairs the restaurant area with mouthwatering and oh-so-promising pictures of the chef’s creations hanging on the wall. We soon learnt from the chef himself that he is not a newcomer to the gastropub business, far from it. Having learned his trade in Dublin and at a London gastropub that sparkled with two Michelin stars, he values consistency above almost all, which means that the fresh, first-rate ingredients always come from the same wholesalers and they never cook without a recipe (not because they can’t but because of the exact measurements).
We couldn’t resist the sunshine though, so we chose a table outside. Perusing the menu, I was pretty impressed by the variety and the evident creativity of the chef. The choices include international dishes with local, French and Italian overtones and seasonal influences alongside Hungarian beef stew and the obvious goulash option. Unable to make up our mind (or simply greedy?), my dining companion and I decided to have small portions so that we can sample as much as possible in one sitting.
A divine selection of starters started off our ginormous feast, including paper-thin bresaola carpaccio with dried cherry tomatoes, shallots and fresh rucola, butter sautéed scallops with capers and zesty mango and celery salsa as well as papardelle in crème fraiche sauce, topped with virgin olive oil sautéed ham. Everything we tried got the thumbs up and the skeptic was silenced in me in no time.
And now let me rave about our artistically presented main courses a little, above all the sensational organic chicken breast, which was a far cry from the usual try-not-to-choke dry meat served at many places (don’t get me started on this). Served with honey and chili jus and fresh mixed greens, it was bursting with moist and taste and the risotto was also up to scratch. I was assured that my dining companion’s choice, confit pork belly served with jus and Anna potatoes (crispy outside and soft inside) was also phenomenal. The tender and succulent meat was in perfect harmony with the slightly sweet taste of daikon and green apple julienne – traditional Hungarian with a twist.
A little gal with a big stomach capacity (a god-given gift!), I always have room for dessert. Thrilled to have spotted my all-time favorite treat on the menu, I opted for a generous portion of sticky toffee pudding. Any lingering doubts I might have had completely evaporated when I tasted the moist sponge cake, enriched with warm butter-scotch sauce and gorgeous cinnamon ice cream. My dining companion chose the elderberry créme bruleé – light and refreshing and absolutely to die for.
And all this comes for a reasonable price. So reasonable indeed that you can even pop into the Dior shop next door afterwards…
Gabriella Emszt
From the menu:
Starters and soups
Porcini cream soup with thyme, cheese grissini
Bresaola carpaccio, dried cherry tomatoes, shallots, rucola and truffle vinaigrette
*
Main Course
Salmon steak with olives, parmesan bean purée, viege dressing,
tomato concassé, Italian broccoli
Rib-eye steak, Savoy cabbage, rosemary potatoes, porcini volute
*
Dessert
Sticky Toffee pudding, butter-scotch sauce, cinnamon ice cream
Créme Bruleé of the week, with shortbread
*
Lunchtime Menu
Two choices for about 1,000 HUF
Breakfast is also available till 1 p.m.
1061 Budapest, Andrássy út 38.
Tel.: +36.1.331.5790
www.ringcafe.hu