Mátra Borozó

Opened in 1948, Mátra Borozó is one of the oldest and quirkiest bars of Budapest, a genuine throwback. Instead of a regular bar counter, a simple metal box equipped with wine containers stands in the middle of the space. Owner Gábor Abendschein, donning a white lab coat, mans the bar with a perennially world-weary expression as he shleps over to prepare your fröccs (a wine spritzer, the most popular order). He uses a measuring ladle that wouldn't seem out of place in the permanent collection of the Hungarian Museum of Hospitality. The classic fröccs – two parts wine, one part sparkling water – won't set you back very much.

The dim rear section offers an intimate hideaway, not to mention the “secret room” in the very back, attached to the kitchen. Be sure to the food: the toasted sandwiches, the körözött-layered (Liptauer) finger foods, the roasted sausage, all of them bearing Gábor's idiosyncratic aesthetic sensibilities and culinary principles. As do the artworks on the walls, which alternate between darker and lighter themes; regular customers gifted them to Gábor and some are available for sale.