5Biwako Ramen House
Biwako fashions itself as a ramen house, but I find their non-ramen Japanese dishes to be their strongest suit: the donburi, the okonomiyaki, and the takoyaki. The restaurant is strategically located across the street from The Japan Foundation in Budapest's District 6, inside a plain, modest below-ground space.
If you've come for the ramen (€9), try it with the spicy miso base, which is flavorful and not too spicy at all. Biwako serves some of the best karaage (€6) in Budapest: juicy and tender chicken thighs coated in a crispy crust. I also enjoyed the seafood okonomiyaki (€5), a savory pancake strewn with squid and octopus and paper-thin bonito flakes, and the katsudon (€8), a rice bowl topped with breaded pork and a fried egg. The only letdown was the stale and spongy dorayaki, a Japanese dessert made from red-bean paste.
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